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Tour de France stage 17 Live - Pogacar wins atop Peyragudes but fails to crack Vingegaard

By Stephen Farrand
last updated

UAE lose Majka but go on the attack in the Pyrenees

The profile of stage 17 of the Tour de France

(Image credit: ASO)

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Bonjour and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 17 of the 2022 Tour de France.

As the Cyclingnews blimp takes height, the riders are signing on and preparing for the second of three intense days in the Pyrenees.   

UAE Team Emirates are one of the last teams to sign on but in some breaking news, the team confirms that Rafa Majka will not start.

"Unfortunately Rafal Majka will not start stage 17 of the Tour de France today," the team said. 

The loss of Majka means Pogacar has just three teammates to help him challenge Jonas Vingegaard.

Is this today's stage winner? Well, he seems in a good mood. 

Israel Premier Tech are the last team to sign on after Hugo Houle's stage win yesterday. 

Today's stage starts in Saint-Gaudens in the Haute-Garonne, on the plain between Pau and Toulouse. 

This is what the riders face today. 

The climbs are not high but are historic in the Tour and always inspire some intense racing.  

The jersey leaders have a special place on the start grid. 

As well as Rafa Majka, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) is another non-starter today. 

C'est Parti! 

Today the riders cover 3.5km of neutralised riding before the stage starts. 

The opening 50km of the stage, until Arreau, are flat but we expect them to fast and full of attacks. 

Allez! 

We immediately have attacks, launched by Michael Woods.  

Neilson Powless attacks again, keen to try to get into a break. 

124km to go

Vingegaard is caught down the back, so makes an effort to move up. 

120km to go

Mads Pedersen lines out the peloton. He is trying to set-up teammate Giulio Ciccone. 

115km to go

Trek up the pace again. They're trying to smash the peloton to pieces on the flat roads.

To read more about Rafa Majka's thigh injury and what his loss means to Pogacar, read our full story below. 

It's interesting to see that Jumbo and Ineos are trying to get riders in the attacks. 

110km to go

Now van Baarle surges ahead with Connor Swift of Arkea.

The intermediate sprints comes in 14km in Le Barthe-de-Neste. 

Van Baarle and Swift have a 20 second-gap after 25km of fast racing. 

100km to go

Gruppo compatto again. 

Pidcock is there again.

There are two Israel riders in the  new attack, plus Van Aert, who is ready for the intermediate sprint.

There are eight riders in the van Aert surge. But the peloton reacts and they're caught. 

1km to the intermediate sprint.

Alpecin lead it out but van Aert is there too.

Philipsen takes it and 20 points but van Aert is 2nd and scores 17 points. 

Van Aert is mathematically assured of the green jersey. 

There are more surges and a spat between Bettiol and Dombrowski. 

The pace is hurting some and Fabio Felline of Astana retires. He was perhaps sick and unable to hold the pace.

The riders are 15km from the start of the Col d'Aspin and the attacks keep coming. 

Guillaume Boivin (Israel) and Owain Doull (EF) are clear.

80km to go

75km to go

This is the Col d'Aspin.

Only Doull is out front as the peloton climbs the Col d'Aspin at speed. 

Thibaut Pinot attacks off the front and ten seconds. 

Woods is there too. 

Lutsenko joins Pinot and the two push on at speed. 

Pinot is climbing in the big ring. That's how fast it is out there. 

70km to go

Van Baarle is trying to get across with Mühlberger, Leknessund and Uran.

There is a group between Pinot and the peloton.

There are 15 in the group, including Simmons, Ciccone and Geschke.

More riders try to jump across to the big group, including Chris Froome.

3km to the summit of the Col d'Aspin. 

65km to go

DSM are trying to set up Bardet and drag him into the attack. 

Bardet is 1:00 behind. He has two riders in the attack and so they need to help him to get across.

Up front Geschke and Ciccone will soon start fighting for the KOM points behind POinot and Lutsenko. 

Pinot is the first to the summit of the Col d'Aspin.

Ciccone attacks but Geschke stays with him and then bears him to the summit.

The chasers are only 15 seconds behind, with others at 40 seconds and the peloton at 1:15.

The riders dive down through the trees for 5km but the next climbs begins straight after.

The Hourquette d'Ancizan includes two sections.

Jumbo remain in control of the peloton. 

55km to go

UAE have taken over on the front of the peloton and are hurting some riders. 

The answer is Tom Pidcock, who is riding alongside the Welshman.

Now Pidock is dropped as Mikkel Bjerg does huge work on the front of the group for Pogacar.

50km to go

The yellow jersey group is down to 20 or so riders. Thomas is alone for Ineos but has teammates Castroviejo and van Baarle ahead in the big attack group. 

Yates has lost 2:00 to the Vingegaard group. 

Pinot leads over the top of the Cat 2 Hourquette d'Ancizan climb.

Geschke has a mechanical problem and so can't contest the sprint with Ciccone for more KOM points.

The riders face a fast 10km descent on narrow Pyrenean roads. 

Bjerg leads the peloton down the descent. He seems to be trying to keep the peloton within range of the attackers, perhaps so that Pogacar can try to win the stage and take a 10-second time bonus.

This descent is twisting and narrow. Pinot takes his foot out on one corner. 

Pinot and Lutsenko lead the chasers by just 30 seconds as Simmons dives down the descent. 

35km to go

30km to go

Enric Mas needs a bike change. 

The Col de Val Louron-Azet starts very soon. 

The Col de Val Louron-Azet has started and UAE are again setting a fast pace with Bjerg and then McNulty ahead of Pogacar.

27km to go

Gaudu and Mas are also cast to the wind as McNulty sets a high pace with 7km still to climb.

McNulty has shredded the GC group. 

The Col de Val Louron-Azet is splitting the attack group too, with Pinot dropped.

Kuss is dropped by McNulty's work. 

Thomas cracks! 

UAE lost Majka this morning but have taken control of the race. 

Thomas is 10 second back. 

This is a huge performance by Big Nut McNulty.  

Pogacar is spinning his legs, while Vingegaard is alone and pushing a bigger gear.

21km to go

McNulty and Pogacar grab a bidon near the top of the Col de Val Louron-Azet. 

Pogacar attacks!!!

He surges over the top of the Col de Val Louron-Azet but Vingegaard was quickly on his wheel. 

18km to go

15km to go

Pogacar backs off from McNulty by a few metres after the American's bike twitched earlier. 

The riders are nearing the Peyragudes, the climb to the finish. 

McNulty is dragging Pogacar and Vingegaard to the foot of the climb.

It's the last chance for feeding now, judges are allowing it until 5km to go. 

8km to go

The climb starts and Pogacar discards a bidon to save weight for the climb. 

Bardet has caught the Thomas group but they're 1:20 behind and losing time.

Bardet signals to Thomas to work together but both riders seem tired.

Pogacar and McNulty take a last bidon from the roadside, pouring the cold water over their head and shoulders. 

5km to go

Thomas is trying or limit his losses and Bardet is riding to move back up the GC but they are suffering under the huge effort. 

Gaudu, Quintana & Co are suffering at 3:00.   

This is a huge ride by McNulty. 

4km to go

Who looks the freshest of the three? 

Can Pogacar attack Vingegaard in the steep final kilometres? 

2km to go

Pogacar does not seem to have much more than McNulty today and nothing more than Vingegaard.

The final Km is at 13% 

Last km

Thomas is as 1:40.

Just 700m to go. 

300m to go.

Both are suffering on the 13%. 

Pogacar comes back to him and wins the stage!

It was shoulder to shoulder but Pog won it and took a ten-second time bonus.  

But Vingegaard was right on his wheel. He took a six-second time bonus and so only lost 4 seconds to Pogacar in the GC battle. 

McNulty is third and Thomas fourth at 2:05.

The chasers are coming in. 

Bardet and Lutsenko finish at 2:30. 

Every rider is given a push beyond the finish area. 

Here's the winning shot.

These are the full stage results via our friends FirstCycling. 

Everyone suffered and lost time behind the Pogacar, Vingegaard and McNulty group today. 

Tadej Pogacar failed to drop Vingagaard but found solace in his stage victory. 

Pogacar prefered to focus on his win than the overall battle. 

Pogacar thanked all his teammates. 

Despite failing to distance Vingegaard and still at 2:18, Pogacar insisted he is optimistic about trying to win the Tour. 

Today's time cut is 37:04.

There were a few shake-ups in the GC today. 

Here's Pogacar on the podium as the stage winner. 

He still leads the best young rider white jersey competition too. 

Pogacar was hugely grateful to McNulty. 

There's always a race within the race. This is Fabio Jakobsen's incredible sprint to the finish to stay inside the time limit and so stay in the 2022 Tour de France. 

Jakobsen made it to the finish of stage 17 on the altiport at Peyragudes with only 18 seconds to spare before being time cut.

Teammates Florian Sénéchal and Yves Lampaert, who had stayed close to Jakobsen for a whole day, were waiting for their leader past the finish line. 

Here's a series of photos that show Jakobsen's battle to stay in the Tour.

Jakobsen made it.

Jakobsen collapsed onto the barriers after going so deep. He was nut hurt.

Indeed, he lived to fight another day.

This is another view of Jakobsen's emotional battle to finish inside the time limit. 

Here's the Flemish television view of Jakobsen's battle to finish inside the time limit.

To read about UAE Team Emirates' incredible turn around and the superb performances of Mikkel Zberg and Brandon McNulty for Tadej Pogacar, and then his stage win, click below to see our full report, growing photo gallery and full results.

Thanks for joining us today for our full live coverage, we will be back on Thursday will full live coverage of the final stage in the Pyrenees. 

We'll see on Thursday if Pogcar and Vingegaard are still friends.  

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