The day began fast out of the departure at Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, with numerous short, combative moves, but no single rider or group to breakaway
A breakaway of four riders, made up of Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lead a Bike), Bob Jungels (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), and Magnus Cort (Uno-X-Mobility) went off the front of the group 120 km into the stage.
With 85 km to go, a second attacking group separated from the Yellow Jersey group, made up of Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lead a Bike), Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), Javier Romo Oliver (Movistar), and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies).
At the intermediate sprint, leader of the points classification going into the stage, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty) beat out Stage 16 winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to the line after the lead group of four at the point had passed through.
On the summit of the Category 2 Col Bayard with 32 km to go, Magnus Cort arrived first ahead of Romain Gregoire, Bob Jungels, and Tiesj Benoot, who still made up the breakaway group at the front. The front group of four was followed by a two-man group of Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) 30 seconds back at this point, and a larger chase group one minute back.
As the riders began their ascent of the Col du Noyer, the penultimate climb of the day, the two-man group of Martin and Madouas began to close the gap to the four-man front break, while Simon Yates (Team Jayco–AlUla) charged off the front of the larger chase group.
Martin and Madouas would soon join the front four, along with Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost). Simon Yates put in a move under 18 km to go, but with 14.5 km to go, Richard Carapaz reconnected with Simon Yates two form a two man group at the front. Carapaz was able to separate from Yates and swiftly descend before the final climb of the day
On the final climb of the day to the top of the Côte de Superdévoluy, Richard Carapaz was able to hold off Yates and the rest of the chase to reach the summit on a hard fought day where riders were putting in a fast pace throughout. This was Carapaz's first career Tour de France Victory.
Romain Gregoire was voted Most Combative Rider on the day. Once again, there were no major changes in the classifications with Tadej Pogačar leading in the general classification and King of the Mountains, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) as Best Young Rider, and Biniam Girmay in the lead of the points classification.
Stage 18 will be a hilly route running a total of 179.5 kilometers from Gap to Barcelonnette.
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