After almost three weeks of racing at the Tour de France, only seven teams have come away with stage wins – and with just one remaining stage almost certain to end in breakaway success, the importance of stage 17 to Gap on Wednesday cannot be underestimated.
The following three days will be contested by the GC riders and the pure climbers, while the final stage into Paris is destined to end in a bunch sprint, so for the teams out of the race for the GC, without a sprinter and with nothing to show for their efforts, the 208km run between the Pont du Gard and Gap will either bring joy and redemption or further misery.
So far in this year's Tour de France, the only teams to have won stages are Jumbo-Visma (four), Deceuninck-QuickStep (three), Mitchelton-Scott (three), Lotto Soudal (three), Bora-Hansgrohe (one), Bahrain-Merida (one) and Groupama-FDJ (one) have won stages in the race. The 15 teams without victories include major squads like Team Ineos and Movistar, but the rolling terrain towards Gap will not only be targeted by riders with one-day pedigree but also squads with little chance of success in the final batch of stages.
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From those other teams that haven't won so far, CCC will pin their hopes on Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet, while Sunweb will back Australian Michael Matthews. The French teams without wins will throw everything they have into making the break, while Astana, EF Education First, UAE Team Emirates, Trek-Segafredo, Katusha-Alpecin, Wanty-Gobert and Dimension Data will follow the same pattern. The number of riders in the break will also be important. The stage is long, and the temperatures are set to remain high. Therefore, having a leader in the break and teammates to help and then drop back for bidons will be influential.
Even the teams with wins so far in this race will look at stage 17 as an opportunity. Unlikley candidates for the breakaway, however, include Groupama-FDJ and Team Ineos. The latter hasn't yet featured in a break this year, and both teams are likely to protect their legs in the mountains, with their GC riders – Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal at Ineos and Thibaut Pinot at Groupama – hoping to win the Tour overall in the Alps this week.
Making the break
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