On Stage 17 the Tour heads to the Alps with the top 4 riders all within 30 seconds of each other. The next two days in the mountains should provide ample opportunities for attacks and could shake up the overall standings. Starting in La Mure riders will first face the Category 2 Col d'Ornon, the easiest climb of the day, followed by the HC rated Col de la Croix de Fer and finally the Category 1 Col du Télégraphe and immediately the HC Col du Galibier. The final climb is a 17.7 km beast with an average gradient of 6.9% which features extremely steep sections over the last 4.5 km. The final 28 km descends to the finish in Serre-Chevalier.
| Stage Type | |
|---|---|
| Stage Distance | 182.63 km |
| Estimated Time | 05:05:24 |
| Avg. Peloton Speed | 35.88 km/h |
| Avg. Pulling Power | 337.98 watts |
| Avg. Pulling Yaw | 2.52 ° |
The Tour has never been this close going into Stage 17, with 3 riders all within 30 seconds of the current leader Chris Froome. Froome has a strong Time Trial so GC contenders will need to make time gains in the next two days to be in contention in the TT. Froome's biggest competition in the TT should come from Rigoberto Uran, who has won a time trial at the grand tour level as the 2014 Giro d'Italia. In Stage 17 the big attacks in the GC will probably wait for the final HC climb up the Col du Galibier. There is a steep section at 153.5 km where a final sustained attack could get a gap over the top. The first 10 km of the run into to the finish in Serre-Chevalier is technical but the final 18 km straightens out so any break will need 30 seconds or more to hold off a charging group. A single GC contender will be hard pressed to stay away and might want to save the legs for the mountain top finish coming up on Stage 18.
Analysis was performed by modeling the peloton as a single rider using front of the pack drag characteristics and pulling power targets. Take a look at the entire race plan that was used for this analysis, which includes additional features, metrics and downloadable files.
Stage 17 Race Plan: https://www.bestbikesplit.com/client/72908