I’ll leave you there – thanks so much for reading, and for all your greatly-valued interactions. Here is a first write-up of the day, and we will have more from Jeremy Whittle later so keep your eyes peeled for that. Bye!
A visual of how Trentin did it:
Another look at Matteo Trentin's dominant performance on Col de la Sentinelle, soloing away from his breakaway companions at the bottom of the climb and averaging 40.9km/h in the last 20km.#TDF2019 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/mHdNwKbIvA
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 24, 2019
The peloton are sailing over the line to warm applause. It’s been, if we’re honest, a pretty uneventful stage except for that fine late effort from Trentin. But it’s been beautiful. No harm for the leaders to enjoy the scenery today, before the really knife-edge stuff kicks in. Today was a bit of a breather really: from tomorrow, it’s on.
Updated
Trentin finds some words after that sapping sprint to the line:
🎙 @MATTEOTRENTIN "C'était vraiment émouvant comme final. Gagner sur @LeTour , en finissant comme ça, c'est juste incroyable !" #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/OQfXveIAC0
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 24, 2019
Incidentally Mollema came in at fourth, and Teuns in fifth.
The peloton have about 10km left so I’ll stay with you until Alaphilippe and company are safely over the line.
Trentin takes the plaudits, and plenty of hugs from his Mitchelton-Scott team. The peloton, where tempers frayed a little bit earlier, are approaching the descent. I can see Alaphilippe there but today has, unless something really weird happens now, just been a holding pattern for him and the main contenders.
As (eventually) expected, it finishes like this:
1 – Trentin
2 – Asgreen
3 – Van Avermaet
Matteo Trentin wins stage 17 of the Tour de France!
It’s his third-ever stage win and it is richly deserved – he’s timed everything perfectly here and was just brilliant on the climb.
Updated
1.1km to go: Trouble back in the peloton! Tony Martin involved in a bit of niggle with a competitor. It was brief but if I can find out more, I’ll tell you.
2km to go: It’s Trentin, then Asgreen, then Van Avermaet, and it seems we will finish like that.
4.5km to go: Asgreen doesn’t appear to be giving chase too frantically. The gap is now 32 seconds. It’s pretty much impossible to see an outcome other than Trentin deservedly taking this now.
6.5km to go: Trentin is descending smoothly, Asgreen half a minute behind him and Perichon third.
8.5km to go: Trentin is over the top of the peak! Surely he can’t be stopped now. The European champion can now try and see this home. although Asgreen is making a good surge behind him and I think may have caught Perichon.
9km to go: Van Avermaet is currently third, about 13 seconds behind Perichon.
10km to go: Trentin has 27 seconds on Perichon and as things stand it would be a major surprise if he doesn’t take this stage now.
12km to go: Trentin is at the steepest part of the climb, 7% gradient, and is taking it comfortably.
13km to go: Perichon is trying to get after Trentin as they climb here, but perhaps his rival has put enough distance in the bank!
Updated
14km to go: The peloton, nearly 18 minutes behind, are happy to cruise this home safely. Trentin isn’t though! He’s streaked out ahead!
I'd love if the riders were "mic'd up"! Would love to hear the conversations and banter going on amongst the riders when the race is hotting up. #TourDeFrancia #tourdefrance @NickAmes82
— Noel Fitzpatrick (@Noelito40) July 24, 2019
Yes, that’d be fascinating – especially at moments like now, where you both have to work as a team and as a fiercely focused individual.
15km to go: It’s La Montagne de Ceuse at the moment – a spectacular limestone outcrop. I’m informed by our commentators that a lot of olive oil is pressed nearby.
16km to go: This race is winding down amid, you, won’t be surprised to hear, some more staggeringly beautiful scenery. Who wants to go on holiday?
Updated
22km to go: The lead group is now the following TEN:
Oss, Asgreen, Izagirre, Scully, Trentin, Van Avermaet, Laengen, Skujins, Périchon and King
“Even in the exciting parts of a bike race, watching it on TV is incredibly boring (and I say this as a huge fan),” observes David Singerman. “So much of the commentators’ job is to add drama, which they do, amusingly, by spinning hypotheticals: telling you what might happen, and what might then happen if what might happens happens. Eg ‘if Thomas attacks now, Alaphilippe could be in jeopardy—of losing enough time to make tomorrow’s stage exciting!’ Frankly, this is no surprise, as even participating in a bike race is pretty dull.”
27km to go: It’s definitely not a 33-strong lead group now. I’d say by eye that we have something between 15 and 20 real contenders.
29km to go: Matteo Trentin is the latest man to make a real dive for it. There’s a group of them really pushing now in the front group and it is anyone’s ...
33.8km to go: Mollema has, indeed, had a go at taking some initiative. Is the race on? The breakaway group are now being strung right out!
38.5km to go: Bauke Mollema is being tipped as stage winner by a few, although despite a few breaks in the, errrr, break the attack hasn’t really begun yet.
“If I had your job on these uneventful stages, knowing no one is seeing the images – I’d be making so much stuff up,” writes Eric Sevy. “Wow – it looks like Thomas and Alaphilippe are fighting on their bikes!!! That’s something you won’t see on tonight’s highlights. Oh no! A bear just came into the route and ate a cyclist, didn’t quite see his number before he disappeared but might have been a Katusha rider!”
The aliens that just beamed Thibaut Pinot up were quite something I guess.
49km to go: Certainly couldn’t call the stage winner at the moment, but you’d expect that break group to start thinning out and going for it pretty soon ...
Updated
50km to go: It’s been such a quick first three quarters! Looks as if we may wind down about an hour and 20 minutes from now, taking the final ascent and descent into account.
“An article on this very website touches on the enjoyment of watching cycling on TV,” says Andy Collins. “In my opinion, the commentary makes it. Just like TMS, it’s a lovely tonic to the fast-paced modern life, and I for one find the discussions about cycling history, smelly cheeses and dilapidated chateaux fascinating.”
Quite. They do it quite a lot in F1 as well, actually, despite the faster pace of the sport. It’s made a lot of races far more bearable for me to watch.
61km to go: They are still cycling though, the gap now just below 14 seconds for the little it’s worth. The break are currently wending their way along a narrow road skirting the edge of a mountain, following the river down to their right.
“Evansn” points out: “France is home to both Griffon and Bearded Vultures – the latter successfully breeding in 1997 after an absence of almost 100 years. What does James want the vultures to eat?”
It’s some schoolday, this.
“I for one think the commentary on these events are great,” applauds Thomas Boswell. “Imagine having to fill 4-5 hours worth of commentary almost every day for 3 weeks?! No wonder they talk about local wines and cheeses. Sport + culinary education = lovely stuff.”
I agree. It’s not too far off listening to old-school TMS really.
68km to go: We still have what will probably be a decisive a climb and descent for this stage ahead of us. For now, not a lot else.
“They don’t half talk nonsense on Eurosport do they Nick,” says James Goldhawk. “Numerous mentions of wine, a cheese wagon and now vultures feeding on the remains of cattle! Long old day I guess ...”
I mean, it’s not for me to criticise hardworking fellow journalists and I must admit I’ve considered myself educated by the wine and cheese chatter. It also made me very hungry. And, if we’re honest, it’s not been a gripping stage so far although that will hopefully change!
80km to go: It’s fairly skiddy out there now, and we have ups and downs to go. Could that put the cat among the pigeons?
83km to go: It’s raining! The breakaway are getting the brunt of it at the moment. That might come as a welcome – if short-lived – relief to some of these riders, and maybe clear the air a touch.
91km to go: The gap is now well over 11 minutes, by the way, so we can certainly say today’s winner will be from that break. Alaphilippe has just come into shot. It’s very much a head-down day from him so far.
95km to go: De Gendt is still surging along and I wonder if he could be on for the stage win here.
96km to go: Martin Gilbert has some advice for Paul Griffin and other gourmands – “A group of friends and I stayed in the village of Faucon on today’s route a few years ago to ride Mont Ventoux. Which we did on day one and then did a tour around it on day two. On day three we did a Cotes du Rhone tour passing through Vaison La Romaine and following the wine villages like Gigondas down to a fine lunch in the centre of Beaumes de Venise with a bottle of red from the local winery. Route suggested by Craig from VeloVentoux in Faucon where we stayed. Fantastic.”
97km to go: Alaphilippe, speaking earlier, pointed out that great focus would be required towards the end of this stage. He also correctly predicted that it would be a good stage for a break.
@NickAmes82 'Average pace so far is 51.45km per hour. Phew! They have covered a heck of a lot of ground in this first hour.' How far? Maybe about... 51.4k??
— Ben Bull (@captainbully) July 24, 2019
I return with confirmation that I am not very bright.
101km to go: The difference between the breakaway and the peloton is now beyond 10 minutes, and it’s growing. That won’t worry the GC riders too much – who are neatly tucked into the pack and will look to preserve energy for the Alps later this week. Provided they can survive the heat today, they are nice and safe for now.
Nick Ames is back from his lunch, he’ll take the reins up again for the last half of the race. Bye!
Updated
110km to go: Bradley Wiggins is out on a motorbike as part of Eurosport’s coverage, speeding past the peloton. He says the temperature on the road is a whopping 41 degrees, which is having a big effect on the teams, who are constantly shuttling bottles of water to their top riders. Apparently the average water consumption yesterday was 22 bottles per rider, in order to stave off dehydration.
113km to go: Hello world, Michael Butler here for a little bit. A lot of natter about what this Tour performance might mean for some of the riders with their teams. The ‘transfer window’ for pro cyclists, if you like, opens on 1 August and Movistar are expected to have a big shake-up. Movistar manager Eusebio Unzue was quoted yesterday as saying: “It’s true that it seems that Richard and Nairo [leaving] is a reality.”
It is understood that Richard Carapaz has signed a three-year deal with Team Ineos, whilst Quintana has been linked over the past few months with Arkea-Samsic for 2020. Quintana will join André Greipel, who has also had a poor Tour, and has been conspicuous by his absence.
Interesting what that might mean for Movistar. They are a Spanish team of course, but the majority of their support and revenue does come from Quintana’s profile in South America. The Colombian is not in the running for the GC – running in 12th, 9:30 down on race leader Alaphilippe – but remains a top rider and is still just 29 years young. Interesting if they go for a Spanish replacement.
126km to go: Michael Butler will now take the Guardian’s yellow jersey for a little while. I’m off into the heat of King’s Cross for a sandwich.
130.5km to go: Meant to add that Andrea Pasqualon has taken today’s intermediate sprint points, with De Gendt second.
@NickAmes82
— chalkontheboots (@chalkontheboots) July 24, 2019
Is there a list of who is in the break today?
Any FDJ riders up there for Pinot to jump across to?
This is copied from elsewhere – but here is the full list:
Daniel Oss and Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Alexis Gougeard (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Omar Fraile and Gorka Izagirre (Astana), Simon Clarke and Tom Scully (EF Education First), Chris Juul-Jensen and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott), Greg van Avermaet and Michael Schär (CCC), Sven Erik Bystrom, Rui Costa, Sergio Henao and Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates), Bauke Mollema, Thomas Skujins and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Nicolas Roche (Sunweb), Natnael Berhane, Jesús Herrada, Anthony Pérez and Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis), Thomas de Gendt and Jens Keukeleire (Lotto-Soudal), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Xandro Meurisse and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Edvald Boasson Hagen and Ben King (Dimension Data).
136km to go: We’re not a million miles from the day’s first climb. Enter Pinot ... ?
139km to go: The gap is now at five and a half minutes so we’re probably looking at two races in one here.
140km to go: “Sadly one of my memories of ‘Local Food’ in that region is visiting the Haribo factory and compulsory shop. I think we left with several kilos of the stuff. Unsurprisingly most of my family became vegan shortly afterwards,” writes Dene Brown. Send more of your southern-French holiday calamities this way. It’s not all languedoc and boeuf en daube.
If it’s a classic “Colombian” climbers’ kind of a day today then is Henao (currently in the breakaway) an option for the stage win? 🇨🇴 🚲 @NickAmes82 #tourdefrance2019
— D-Lo (@mrwriterman79) July 24, 2019
Not a bad shout – and not a name we’ve heard a lot of so far today.
@NickAmes82 this is the day Pinot's heroism over the weekend will pay off. He'll get on and stomp up the climbs to get yellow and hold it to Paris. The stuff movies are made of. Thrilling
— MaliciousA (@MaliciousA) July 24, 2019
Spoiler alert!
145km to go: Average pace so far is 51.45km per hour. Phew! But it seems to be dropping off a bit as the riders cool down. They have covered a heck of a lot of ground in this first hour.
149km to go: Paul Griffin writes – “Can’t help but feel your esteemed publication is missing a trick not press-ganging a sommelier/bon vivant/epicirurist to add mouthwatering comment on local wine, beer, obscure semi-lethal spirits and aperitifs; pungent cheeses, deliciously unhealthy patisserie, diligently roasted birds and quadrupeds, and all the other extraordinary comestibles and indeed eateries the route of the tour passes. Interesting in itself and certainly beats wikipedia-ing one horse towns on the quiet days. Not that every dispatch from you and colleagues isn’t absolutely riveting. But this would even more so. You could even do something on pulses for the vegans.”
Simon Burnton would have been your man for that. Hopefully you’ll hear more from him later on in the Tour. I can speak well of the wines and cheese from this region myself, having holidayed in a delightful farmhouse in Goult a few years back – but genuine detail is what the public demand and should get!
Updated
151km to go: The breakaway is now about 2 min 48 sec ahead. Those who missed it have very much missed out.
Hi @NickAmes82, over here hiding from the score at Lords, and to feel happy I'm not in the saddle in France. Today's about survival ahead of the next three stages. Pinot is the form rider, but there's lots of talk of him not being good in the heat, not least from himself.
— Guy Hornsby (@GuyHornsby) July 24, 2019
Yes, there’s currently rather more going on in the cricket! And that’s true about survival, definitely. Not many sightings of Pinot here yet, or any of the other really big guns, but we’ll know a lot more once we start going sharply uphill.
155km to go: We have some big names in the break, and I have mentioned a few, but I haven’t mentioned Xandro Meurisse – who is 19th in the standings and is its highest-ranked member. They are now nearly two and a half minutes ahead. It’s a lightning start here.
Updated
160km to go: The break are currently rattling along at 51km per hour, the peloton at 48km per hour. There are still more than 30 of them. How many will sustain this?
164km to go: The gap is now just below two minutes! They really aren’t slacking up at the front! Looks like we have our breakaway for the next few hours, barring something very strange.
165km to go: We now see the beautiful “Theatre Antique” in Orange. It’s quite a structure, which shortly will hold its annual opera and classical music festival.
169km to go: The gap is now around 94 seconds; the peloton is just about retaining its form as we stand but it will surely want to start closing shortly.
173km to go: Magnus Cort Nielsen – who was riding in the break – has picked up a flat tyre, I believe.
174km to go: Two riders – I can’t see who – have broken off the front of the peloton to give chase. I’m not sure it’s for the best if things break up now.
176km to go: The gap is up beyond a minute now – it’s getting stretched.
177km to go: Van Avermaet has not made many headlines yet in this Tour; could today be the day that changes? He is down at 34th in the classification but has begun full of purpose here.
179km to go: The break’s lead is holding at around 44 seconds now. That doesn’t make it unchaseable.
181km to go: On the television we are learning about the local wine. They use 16 different types of grape in the region currently being passed through! I have holidayed there before but was shamefully un-studious when doing so.
184km to go: That big break group are around 41 seconds ahead at the moment. De Gendt is in there, so is Rui Costa, so is Greg Van Avermaet.
190km to go: I wonder if they can keep this pace up. We have a group of around 30 riders ahead of the peloton. The going is flat for the foreseeable so maybe it’s a good idea to get some distance in the bank before things get trickier.
195km to go: Six riders setting a rapid pace here, with Thomas de Gendt starting very quickly, while we’re treated to some sublime views of Avignon.
197.6km to go: A bit of housekeeping – we have two non-starters today. They are Luis Leon Sanchez of Astana and Cees Bol of Sunweb.
Off we go!
Alaphillipe has held the yellow jersey for 12 days. Will he keep it or will we see a new leader after a stage to Gap for the first time in the Tour’s history?
Updated
Fifteen of the 22 teams are yet to win in this Tour – chew on that as we prepare to start.
We are just over 3km from the official start ... so it looks as if we are to begin on time.
“Why the *incredible* when describing Julian Alaphillipe?” asks Richard Parker. Why not? He’s been brilliant. I used the stars for emphasis.
It’s going to be an aesthetically *beautiful* stage, this, by the way – we have to drop that in. I’m already savouring the views of the Pont du Gard. We are in for a treat!
Geraint Thomas suffered a bit of a tumble yesterday, of course, and fortunately didn’t come out much the worse for it. Here’s how Jeremy Whittle saw the day’s action, if you need to refresh:
“Is JA cracking at last, or just looking slightly mortal?” asks Ian Miles. He means Alaphilippe, of course, who has put such an *incredible * amount into this Tour and now has one of those difficult leads – enough to give those chasing him a major headache but sufficiently slim that one mistake could ruin everything. Is he cracking? I’m going for the “mortal” option.
Today’s fun should start in a little over half an hour – at 11.40am UK time.
It's going to be a hot one today!
We’re looking at about 39 degrees, I’m told, in this 17th of the 21 stages – it’s going to be a really attritional test of endurance that could be absolutely pivotal in deciding what has been a fantastic Tour de France so far. Geraint Thomas remains hot on the heels of Julian Alaphilippe – one minute, 35 seconds behind as we go into today’s action – with Steven Kruijswijk, Thaibaut Pinot, Egan Bernal and Emanuel Buchmann all not far behind. Bernal says he feels ready for mountain stages that he believes are “more the Colombian style of climbing” – handy, given that he is Colombian. While there was little shakeup in the general classification yesterday, you sense there might be a twist or two here. Stay tuned ...
Updated
William Fotheringham's guide to stage 17
A horrible stage for anyone who is merely trying to survive to Paris, as it’s going to be long, hot, largely uphill, and probably with cross-winds in the opening kilometres where the break will form. This is the last stage where a breakaway specialist who isn’t a pure climber can win; usually about half the teams still need a stage win by this point so the first hour could be very hectic. The finish could go to a rider from the break or a sprinter who can climb such Peter Sagan.
