Tour de France 2025 stage 17 preview - The sprinters return

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As the Tour de France heads towards the Alps, and recovers from a savage ascent of Mont Ventoux on stage 16, stage 17 takes the riders from Bollène to Valence on what is a typical transition day in the third week of the race.

The sprinters that have survived the mountains thus far - aided by a controversial time cut extension on stage 13 - will try to muster up the strength to contest the stage win. With two categorised climbs and a broadly lumpy profile, though, this stage offers a real carrot to a committed breakaway and could set the stage for a difficult day controlling the peloton for Soudal-Quickstep and Lidl-Trek, as the teams will try to deliver Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan to a clean sprint finale.

Given the flat terrain, it’s a fairly short stage at just 160km in length, and so aside from the sprint teams, most of the peloton will treat today as a transition stage where the aim will be to emerge unscathed ahead of the mountain stages to come.

The run-in to the finish in Valence is fairly straightforward, with the only difficulty being a left turn in the final few hundred metres, which will make positioning key for those wishing to contest the stage victory.

Given his solid hold on the green jersey, and the relatively modest solitary stage win so far, we expect Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) to make a statement with a victory in today's sprint.

Stage 17 Sprints

• Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne, km. 47.9

Stage 17 Mountains

• Col du Pertuis (cat. 4), km. 66.3
• Col de Tartaiguille (cat. 4), km. 117