Carapaz ticks off Tour win as Evenepoel edges Pogacar, Vingegaard

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz won stage 17 of the Tour de France after the remnants of a breakaway finished ahead of the main pretenders in the High Alps on Wednesday.

EF rider Carapaz dropped Simon Yates and soloed the final 10km to win his first ever Tour de France stage after finishing third overall in 2021.

The former Giro d’Italia champion, who won the Tokyo Olympics road race, also wore the overall leader’s yellow jersey after his efforts in the second stage to Bologna.

“That was a big day for me,” Carapaz said. “I suffered but I put a cross on an objective.”

“How special it feels, I owe so much to my team,” he said of the American Education First team who will be delighted with their two million euros a year new signing.

Overall leader Tadej Pogacar, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel kept their powder dry until a late series of attacks and counter-attacks put a shine on the medium mountain run.

The trio produced an entertaining scrap with third-placed Evenepoel finishing 12 seconds ahead of Pogacar, with Vingegaard losing two seconds to the leader.

The relentless Slovenian said his attack was off the cuff and “maybe stupid”.

“I enjoyed it, I don’t know what to say, I tested my legs and theirs. I thought I might be able to get away, so I had a go,” said the 25-year-old Pogacar.

Pogacar had been the first to try his luck and Vingegaard was initially unable to follow.

Evenepoel however closed the gap while Denmark’s Vingegaard then rallied to catch them both on a daredevil descent after picking up the wheel of a teammate who had been in the early attack.

“Well done to Visma for their tactics,” Pogacar said.

Belgian Evenepoel then broke again, and finished strongly to consolidate his third place overall.

A group of over 30 riders broke away early on a balmy day in the south as they climbed to the ski resort of Superdevoluy.

Nursing knee and elbow injuries, Biniam Girmay retained the green jersey for best sprinter with 387 points to Jasper Philipsen’s 354.

Supersport

AFP