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.
Favourites 17th stage 2024 Tour de France
*** Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Oier Lazkano
** Laurens De Plus, Neilson Powless, Magnus Cort, Stephen Williams, Nico Denz
* Michal Kwiatkowski, Frank van den Broek, Simon Yates, Davide Formolo, Javier Romo
Another interesting read: route 17th stage 2024 Tour de France.
Tour de France 2024 stage 17: route, profile, video
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