DISCUSSION Tour de France Stage 17 | Is Wout van Aert wasting energy instead of helping Visma's main goal?

Stage 17 of the Tour de France was the last chance to see a bunch sprint, and the pure sprinters didn’t want to miss the opportunity. After so many hectic and fast-paced stages, the riders in the peloton surely needed a break in a transition stage like this one. However, the day was not as peaceful as some might have expected.

The breakaway of the day consisted of 4 riders, including the stage 11 winner Jonas Abrahamsen, Vincenzo Albanese, Quentin Pacher, and Mathieu Burgaudeau. The calm in the peloton was disturbed when INEOS Grenadiers decided to light up the race with around 100 km to go. They set a grueling pace on one of the climbs, attempting to create a split in the peloton that would eliminate the pure sprinters from stage contention.

Their attempt ultimately failed, and the peloton regrouped. However, with 45 kilometers remaining, Wout van Aert made a move to intimidate the peloton by launching an attack to catch the breakaway, but he fell short of reaching them.

The bunch sprint resulted to be chaos, as a hard crash in front of the peloton formed a split with only a reduced number of riders in the position to fight for the win. It was Jonathan Milan who took his second stage victory in the Tour de France, which helped him to get closer to his long-awaited goal of winning the jersey.

Once the stage finished, we asked some of our writers to share their thoughts and main takeaways about what happened today.

There's never a boring day in this Tour it seems, with INEOS Grenadiers lighting it up today with their 2025 tactics. The attack had little hopes and logic, but the way they pushed on that first climb of the day threw the day's 'plan' off for many riders, led to several attacks and a very fast pace that overall added to the excitement on the day. Wout van Aert's move on the final climb was similar, but if he had bridged across to the front it would've been incredibly dangerous for the peloton. Ultimately the gap was too big and the Visma rider burned off energy for nothing.

We had a collaboration of many teams to work towards a final sprint, otherwise the steam train Jonas Abrahamsen could've won once again - it wouldn't be a surprise really - and in the final sprint, the rain and high speeds led to a tense and exciting finale. Unfortunately several riders did go down, never a pretty sight to see. Jonathan Milan's victory, in the absence of Tim Merlier alongside him, was expected in the final sprint.

A hard-fought escape, with Abrahamsen selling his victory very dearly. The day would have been perfect had it not been for the crash in the final kilometre that left Milan with the win in his hands. Once again he was fortunate and I still say that the strongest won, but not the best. INEOS set an impressive pace on the first climb of the day for what? After all, their sprinter also struggled. Let's figure out their strategy.

Wout van Aert attacking on the last climb? Yeah... but before the climb, he expended a lot of energy to rejoin the peloton because he had a mechanical breakdown. I didn't understand the Belgian's movement either. The rain has reappeared and it looks like it's going to keep the peloton company in the Alpine stages. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, which is going to be brutal.

The day was predestined to be another boring flat stage, with little to no action happening. The two short climbs in the middle of the stage could give wings to a breakaway to fight for the win, but it became evident quite soon that the peloton would not allow that. With only four riders up the road, the peloton had every advantage and all the odds in its favor.

But Ineos Grenadiers had a different plan. I understand the move from the theoretical point of view: Axel Laurance has a good tip of speed, and he is better at climbing than Jonathan Milan, Merlier, and co, but the execution was not good at all. Anyway, it is the third week of the Tour, and we could see more teams trying desperate strategies for a stage win; it is understandable at this point in the race.

I was not expecting Wout van Aert to be one of the riders trying a desperate move, if I am honest. It is surprising to see a Visma rider having the freedom to try a movement like this one. In this specific case, and knowing it was Wout van Aert who launched the attack, it made some sense, although it didn’t work out in the end.

At this point in the race, with just 4 stages left, I don’t think Van Aert’s role will be determinant for Vingegaard’s attempt to win the Tour. Victor Campenaerts, Simon Yates, and Sepp Kuss are showing good legs, and they should be his main support during the climbs, so I don’t think it is a big deal that Van Aert wasted energy for no reason today.

The sprint finish was a bit chaotic in the end. We’ve had 5 bunch sprints so far, and only 2 of them didn’t have any crashes in the last kilometers. As an interesting fact, both Merlier and Milan have 2 stage wins each, but Milan has never beaten Tim Merlier when they both have sprinted together. Yet, it is almost certain that the Italian will win the green jersey.