Jonathan Milan managed his second stage victory at the Tour de France. In the rain of Valence, the Italian won half a bike length. Exactly on the flame Rouge one kilometer before the finish line, a fall broke out many opponents. Only eight professionals sprinted for victory in the pouring rain. Jordi Meeus took second place, Tobias Lund Andresen finished third.
Milan clearly had the best legs at the final. The 24-year-old went into the wind 150 meters before the finish line, passed Meeus and Davide Ballerini at the top and brought his lead to the finish. Phil Bauhaus became the best German tenth.
In the fall on the home stretch, half a dozen drivers went down. Biniam Girmay was also affected and kept his shoulder. Tim Merlier, the most successful sprinter with twelve season victories, was stopped by the fall. The Belgian was lucky and could stay on the bike. Florian Lipowitz finished the finish line in the field of classification drivers at the same time with the day winner.
Probably no more chances for sprinter
The 17th stage went over 161 kilometers from Bollène to Valence. There were only two mountain ratings in the 4th category. For the sprinter it was probably the last chance of a stage win. Before the final in Paris, two mountain stages follow and a hilly stage with a classic character. And in Paris it will very likely not be able to win a sprinter this time. As with the Olympics, it goes over the Montmartre. The drivers have to go three times on the last day of the tour over the Paris local mountain.
After the start, an outlier group quickly found itself atypical for this tour. Vincenzo Albanese, Quentin Pacher, Mathieu Burgaudeau and Jonas Abrahamsen were able to break away. After 30 kilometers, the quartet had two and a half minutes ahead. At the top of the peloton, Lidl-Trek with Jonathan Milan in the green jersey in the green. The Italian was only eleven points in front of Tadej Pogacar before the start in the sprint ranking and had to score to wear the jersey in Paris. Pogacar could pass Milan with further stage wins in the Alps.
Soudal Quick-Step, successfully the day before at Mont Ventoux with Valentin Paret-Peintre, supported Maximilian Schachmann the peloton’s pace. With Merlier, the Belgian team also had a candidate for the daily victory in the ranks. The Belgian already won the 3rd and 9th stage.
Milan and Merlier have to let them tear off
Merlier held back after 48 kilometers during the sprint rating and saved his strength. He has no realistic chances of the green jersey. Milan won the sprint of the main field and scored eleven points. The maximum possible 20 points secured Abrahamsen.
The first mountain ranking of the day then caused excitement. On the 3.7 -kilometer climb to the Col of the Pertius with an average of 6.6 percent slope, Ineos tightened the pace. The sprinters with Milan and Merlier were left behind, and the runaway’s lead shrank to seconds. Lidl-Trek ordered Quinn Simmons and Soudal Quick-Step Jasper Stuyven back to the sprinters. After all, the fast men made it back into the main field. After that everything calmed down again and the lead of the top group grew back to over a minute.
Van Aert attacks the 2nd mountain ranking
The second mountain ranking of the day at the Col de Tartaiguille was 3.6 kilometers long, but with an average of 3.5 percent had a moderate slope. This time Milan and Co. could not be surprised, the Italian drove at the very front in the field. However, there was an attack. Wout van Aert really went out of their way and had already driven out for around 20 seconds at the mountain ranking. As a soloist, the Belgian tried to get to the top group – in vain. Van Aert dropped back.
When the rain is set in, the peloton then went towards Valence. 30 kilometers before the finish, the outlier quartet was only 67 seconds ahead. So the Sprinter teams had everything under control. Four kilometers before the finish, the Abrahamsen field swallowed as the last outlier.
Mountain at 2304 meters on Thursday
The tour of the tour continues on Thursday. And it goes high: the destination at the Col de la Loze in the French Alps is 2304 meters. Before that, the professionals on the 18th stage have to be over the Col du Glandon (1924 meters) and the Col de la Madeleine – a whopping 5500 meters of altitude must overcome the professionals on the 171.5 kilometers. Most recently, the tour in 2023 at the Col de la Loze station. At that time, Pogacar had to take a violent defeat. The Slovenian broke completely and lost several minutes to the later tour winner Vingegaard. The stage won Felix Gall in 2023.