PREVIEW | Tour de France 2024 stage 17

The 2024 Tour de France will feature a special edition, beginning with its Grand Depart in Florence and Emilia-Romagna, just across the border in Italy. In a departure from tradition, the race will conclude in Nice for the first time in many years instead of Paris. Scheduled from June 29th to July 21st, let's preview the upcoming stage.

A mixed day. It is one where the breakaway should succeed but the start is completely flat. The GC riders could be called for action in the hilltop finish to Superdévoluy, which comes after the explosive Col du Noyer (7.8Km at 7.9%).

It's a mixed day, an interesting one actually, breaking the traditional format of the Tour. The next day should be for a breakaway or sprint, and so the GC riders won't necessarily save themselves. The climbs are more explosive which provides a different challenge, but they are still hard enough to make differences. With the completely flat stage start - and mostly flat two first thirds of the stage - there is a serious chance that the main climbers will fight for the win, bonifications and look to put their rivals into difficulties.

The Col du Bauard opens things up, 6.9 kilometers at 7% which ends with 32 kilometers to go. But all eyes will be on the first-category ascent to the Col du Noyer. At the end of a relatively easy day, we can see some serious wattages on this climb. It slowly rises in gradient all the way to the summit and it ends with only 11.5 kilometers to go. It goes above 10% towards the end, this can make bigger differences even than some high mountain stages because it will not be all about pacing.

But the stage does not ends in it's summit in fact. A very fast descent leads the riders into the final hilltop at Superdevoluy. The ascent is 3.9 kilometers long at 5.7%, it will not be enough to create meaningful differences, but it can lead to an interesting fight for the stage win for sure.

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Prediction Tour de France 2024 stage 17:

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