TOUR DE FRANCE 2025 – STAGE 17: BOLLÈNE - VALENCE

Milan’s power takes over Valence

The stage film July 23 rd 2025 - 17:49

Tour de France 2025 | Stage 17 | Bollène > Valence

Sprinters saw stage 17 as their last clear chance in the 2025 Tour de France - and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) didn’t let his opportunity slip away! Dropped early in the stage, the Italian powerhouse survived the climbs as well as a rough finale to take his second win in his debut Tour and tighten his grip on the green jersey, with only four days remaining before Paris. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL) complete the podium, while the likes of Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) were affected by a crash as they entered the final kilometre. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) safely navigated the stage to claim his 50th Maillot Jaune on the eve of a major battle en route to the Col de la Loze.

Another chance for the sprinters? Maybe the last one? In between the summit finishes at Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze, stage 17 takes the riders from Bollène to Valence, with a 160.4-km course featuring 1,650 metres of elevation. The last categorised climb, Col de Tartaiguille (cat. 4) is more than 40 kilometres away from the finish. But attackers dream of getting the better of tired sprint teams.

Abrahamsen attacks, Simmons controls

A 164-man peloton set off from Bollène without Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), heading home as his partner gave birth a few hours earlier. Meanwhile, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) shows his intention to make yet another breakaway. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) is immediately in action, with the task to prevent the formation of too strong a group at the front.

At km 5, Abrahamsen has opened up a gap of 30 seconds with Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies). Many more riders want to join them at the front but Simmons prevents them from doing so. Most notably, Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) gives up on his chase and is reeled in as the gap hits its maximum for the day: 2’50’’ at km 23.

Skirmish at Col du Pertuis

Abrahamsen leads the way through the intermediate sprint at Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne (km 47.9), where the breakaway maintains a 2'00" advantage.

The scripts changes when Ineos Grenadiers begins to pull the peloton on the approach to Col du Pertuis (cat. 4, summit at km 66.3), reducing the gap to just 35" at the top and opening up the race on two fronts.

On one side, we can see multiple attacks controlled again by Simmons. On the other, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) are dropped along with other sprinters such as Dylan Groenwegen (Jayco-AlUla) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).

Van Aert tries his luck

Despite the efforts of teams such as Alberto Dainese's Tudor, Kaden Groves' Alpecin-Deceuninck and Biniam Girmay's Intermarché-Wanty, who had made it over the pass, the dropped sprinters manage to catch up with the peloton, well supported by their teammates, at kilometre 85 of the stage. At that point, the breakaway's lead has been reduced to 30 seconds.

The situation settles in the bunch and the gap gets back up to 1’10’’ for the last 50 kilometres. The riders quickly face the climb of Col de Tartaiguille (cat. 4, km 117). Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacks towards the summit and gets as close as 25 seconds behind Albanese, Pacher and Burgaudeau. But he can’t bridge the remaining gap and is caught by the bunch after 12 kilometres of pursuit.

Milan survives

The tension increases in the bunch as the rain starts falling. Sprint teams need to put the hammer down to get back to the attackers. With 12 km to go, the gap is down to 20’’ and Abrahamsen goes solo. He’s eventually caught by the bunch with 4 kilometres to go.

As the sprinters gear for a furious battle, a crash happens in the front positions with one kilometre to go. Eight riders sprint for the win. And Milan proves to be the strongest of them, claiming his second stage win in his Tour debut, ahead of Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL).

Stage 17 Bollène Valence Jon

***

2: MILAN MAKES IT TWO

Having already won in Laval (stage 8), Jonathan Milan claimed his 2nd Tour. He is the first Italian to win two stages in the same Tour since Vincenzo Nibali in 2014, 11 years ago (four wins and the Yellow Jersey). He is also the first "neo" to win twice since Tadej Pogacar in 2020 (three wins).

1997: PODIUM FOR THE LANTERNE ROUGE!

Jordi Meeus is the general classification's lanterne rouge (164th and last ranked), but today he finished 2nd. It's the first stage podium for the lanterne rouge since 1997, 28 years ago, when Philippe Gaumont finished 3rd in the Disneyland Paris time trial (stage 20).

50: YELLOW HERO

General classification leader Tadej Pogacar collects his 50th Yellow Jersey. He is the 6th rider to reach this total after Eddy Merckx (111), Bernard Hinault (79), Miguel Indurain (60), Chris Froome (59), and Jacques Anquetil (52), whom he can overtake by the finish of the Tour 2025. At 26 years and 305 days, Pogacar is the 2nd youngest rider to have 50 Yellow Jerseys, behind Merckx (26 years and 20 days when he did so in 1971). Including the 20 pink jerseys from the Giro 2024, this is his 70th Grand Tour leader's jersey.

22: YOUNGEST EVER FOR DENMARK

Tobias Lund Andresen (3rd) is the first Dane under 23 to finish on a stage podium. The Team Picnic PostNL rider, who will celebrate his 23rd birthday on August 20, beats the record of his compatriot Jesper Skibby, who finished 3rd at Futuroscope in 1987 (10th stage) at 23 years, 3 months, and 19 days.

3/6: ITALY, LOVELY ITALY

With Jonathan Milan (1st), Davide Ballerini (5th), and Alberto Dainese (6th), Italy has placed 3 riders in the top-6 for the first time since the 17th stage of the Tour 2014, which finished in Saint-Lary-Soulan (Giovanni Visconti 2nd, Vincenzo Nibali 3rd, Alessandro De Marchi 5th).

9: FRENCH FIGHTERS

In the breakaway for 147 kilometers, Quentin Pacher was awarded his 3rd combativity prize after Carcassonne 2021 (stage 13) and Villeneuve-sur-Lot 2024 (stage 12). This is the 9th time a French rider has been awarded the prize this year (Mattéo Vercher x2, Bruno Armirail x2, Lenny Martinez x2, Ewen Costiou, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Quentin Pacher). France has not been so honored since the Tour 2008 (10 combativity prizes).

72: GREEN GIANT

Jonathan Milan's 72-point lead over his runner-up in the points classification (Tadej Pogacar) represents the biggest gap between first and second place since the start of the Tour. The last two winners in Valence, Peter Sagan (2018) and Mark Cavendish (2021), then kept the green jersey until Paris. A good sign for the Italian?

8: THE PELOTON'S MOST ADVENTUROUS RIDER?

29 riders have won an intermediate sprint since Jonas Abrahamsen's Tour debut in 2023. Frequently present in breakaways, the Norwegian has won the most of these sprints: 8, including today's in Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne! Following him are Bryan Coquard, Jonathan Milan, and Mads Pedersen, winners of 5 intermediate sprints since 2023.

24: FROM RECORD TO RECORD

Yesterday's stage podium (Valentin Paret-Peintre, Ben Healy, Santiago Buitrago) was the youngest of the Tour 2025, with an average age of 25 years and 30 days. This record was beaten by today's top-3 (Jonathan Milan, Jordi Meeus, Tobias Lund Andresen), who have an average age of 24 years and 346 days.

9: WHEN WILL DE LIE'S TIME COME?

Fourth today, Arnaud De Lie finished in the top-5 of a stage for the 9th time since joining the Tour in 2024, and the 4th time this year. The Belgian is still chasing his first victory, his best result being a 3rd-place finish on three previous occasions.