Olympic champion Richard Carapaz wins Tour de France Stage 17
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EasyPost's Richard Carapaz celebrates winning Stage 17 of the Tour de France.
REUTERS
SUPERDEVOLUY – Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz won Stage 17 of the Tour de France after the remnants of a breakaway finished ahead of the main pretenders in the High Alps on July 17.
EF Education-EasyPost rider Carapaz dropped Simon Yates to ride the final 10km solo and win his first-ever Tour stage after finishing third overall in 2021.
The former Giro d’Italia champion, who won the Tokyo Olympics road race, had worn the overall leader’s yellow jersey after his efforts in the second stage to Bologna. However, it was his maiden stage victory that he will remember for life.
“We came with the illusion of winning a stage and today was a very hard day. But we always attacked and, in the end, it was one of the stages that I will remember forever,” Carapaz said.
“I took advantage of my moment very well. I knew the last climb, I had gone over it very well in the morning... and we did it in a very smart way and it was a beautiful victory.”
The 31-year-old Ecuadorian also hailed the Tour de France for being the toughest race in cycling.
“Here in the Tour come the best, that’s why it’s the best race in the world,” he added.
“Each team come with their best version, with their best men. The competitiveness here is very, very high. It’s the best race because it’s the best level.”
The highly competitive nature of the Tour was on full display via the leading trio.
Overall leader Tadej Pogacar, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel kept their powder dry until late in the medium mountain run.
The rivals then produced an entertaining scrap, with Evenepoel finishing 10 seconds ahead of Pogacar, with Vingegaard losing two seconds to the leader.
Pogacar of Slovenia had been the first to try his luck and Vingegaard was unable to follow. Evenepoel, however, closed the gap, while Denmark’s Vingegaard then caught them both on a daredevil descent. Belgian Evenepoel then broke again, and finished strongly to consolidate his third place overall.
A group of over 30 riders broke away early on a balmy day in the south as they climbed to the ski resort of Superdevoluy.
Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay retained the green jersey for best sprinter with 387 points to Belgian Jasper Philipsen’s 354.
Stage 18 on July 18 is billed as one of the prettiest, with lakes and mountains in Haute Provence and an opportunity for the one-day specialists during a 179.5km ride from Gap to Barcelonnette. AFP
