Tour de France 2024 Favourites stage 17: Breakaway day

foto: Cor VosStage 17 of the Tour de France is pretty straightforward. After a virtually flat run-up of about 140 kilometres, the riders face three climbs in the last 40 kilometres. These climbs aren't too challenging, so there's not much for the GC contenders to gain. Which paves the way for a successful breakaway. (Slideshow route/profile)

Interestingly enough, the breakaway is likely to form on the flat section – probably after a prolonged battle. Obviously, a breakaway that forms on the flat will mostly consist of riders who excel on that terrain. But they’ll have a hard time in the mountainous finale. A climber who manages to sneak into the breakaway, on the other hand…

The beginning isn’t completely flat, by the way. It’s actually a slight uphill drag almost the entire time. After 134.4 kilometres, the riders reach Gap. Soon after, there’s a short descent before the mountainous final hour kicks in.

First, the riders tackle the Col Bayard (6.8 kilometres at 8.1%) and then the Col du Noyer (7.5 kilometres at 8.1%). From that last summit, it’s 11.5 kilometres to the finish in the Superdévoluy ski resort. This section starts with a descent and then it’s a 3.8 kilometres slog at 5.9% to the finish line.

In short, breakaway specialists with climbing – and, preferably, also fast – legs have a great chance to win the 17th stage of La Grande Boucle.

How the race unfolds depends on the standings. Therefore, we’ll update this article during the Tour de France.

Favourites 17th stage 2024 Tour de France

*** Derek Gee, Pello Bilbao, Richard Carapaz, Maxim Van Gils
** Tom Pidcock, Neilson Powless, Magnus Cort, Stephen Williams, Nico Denz
* Santiago Buitrago, Wout Poels, Simon Yates, Davide Formolo, Jesús Herrada

Another interesting read: route 17th stage 2024 Tour de France.