tour de france 2024: stage 17
by Rémy Rossi
Stay in school
EF Education-Easy Post enjoyed a great start to this year’s Tour, claiming the yellow jersey as their own during Stage 4, but their chase for a stage win hadn’t borne fruit. But it’s not for lack of trying— the team has been a ferocious presence nearly everyday with plenty of representation in promising breakaways. The team’s popular RaceTV video series has featured sport director Charly Wegelius repeatedly motivating his riders— that they’ve been doing everything right and showing serious strength. Results will come.
And I’d say that Wegelius’ report is a fair one. Even the Eurosport commentators have been thoroughly impressed with EF’s animation of the race, consistently launching Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz, or Neilson Powless into the break. Stick with the game plan if it’s going well. There are 21 chances for a stage win. All we need is one.
Ironically, thedropouts.studio also firmly discourages dropping out and quiting. If you keep trying, you might even win a Tour de France stage one day.
Classmates matter
Satelite riders played a big role in the final part of the stage for the Tour’s current 1-2-3 placings. The calvary Jonas Vingegaard depended on took the form of Christophe Laport who held back (nearly at a standstill) from a group futher up the road. After Pogacar attacked, Jonas couldn’t follow but Laporte pulled his leader back to the yellow jersey on the descent.
Then there were Pavel Sibakov for Pogacar and Jan Hirt for Remco Evenepoel in the closing kilometers. Remco scurried up the road, distancing his two GC rivals, but Jonas could rely on Van Aert and Benoot to help him minimize any time losses. In the end, Evenepoel gained 10 seconds on Pogačar who was followed by Vingegaard 2 seconds behind. Big team efforts and smart placing along the road prevented time gaps from exploding among the Tour’s three best riders today.
Pink Panther
Pogacar may have been titled the Pink Panther during his domination of this year’s Giro d’Italia, but Richard Carapaz shares the honor today. Plus, there are actual panthers that live in Ecuador— so there.
Richard Carapaz is now the 110th rider to complete a Grand Tour triple, meaning he’s won a stage in each of the epic three-week races. Today also marks the first Ecuadorian stage win at the Tour de France, ensuring that the entire continent is yet again beaming with pride at the reigning Olympic champion. His attack on the Superdévoluy was expertly executed to leave Enric Mas and Simon Yates behind. Carapaz acknowledged that he thought he raced very intelligently on the day, confessing that the team studied the last climb in detail and discussed it at depth that morning.
Stage 17 Report Card
A+ for Richard Carapaz and the entire EF Education-Easy Post team. Hard work pays off.
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