Honestly, if you looked at the profile for stage 17 of the 2025 Tour de France on paper, you probably would’ve yawned. It looked like a total transition day. After the brutal, leg-shattering ascent of Mont Ventoux the day before, everyone—riders and fans alike—was expecting a bit of a "sit in the wheels" kind of afternoon.
The route was 160.4 kilometers from Bollène to Valence. Simple, right? Mostly flat roads, two tiny Category 4 bumps that barely count as hills for these guys, and a straight shot into the Drôme department. But the Tour has a funny way of making "simple" days feel like a fever dream.
By the time the peloton rolled into the industrial outskirts of Valence, we weren’t talking about the scenery or the wine country they’d just zipped through. We were talking about flying bikes, rain-slicked asphalt, and a literal pile of bodies.
The Chaos That Most People Missed in Stage 17 Tour de France
You've gotta understand the vibe of a week three sprint. It’s not like the first week where everyone is fresh and lead-out trains are perfectly drilled. By stage 17, guys are exhausted. They’re "racing on fumes," as the commentators like to say. This fatigue makes people twitchy.
While the forecasted Mistral winds didn’t quite rip the race apart like some experts predicted, the weather had a different trick up its sleeve. Lashing rain started falling just as the speed ramped up for the finale. You could see the tension on the faces of the GC leaders. Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard were tucked deep into the safety of their teammates, just trying to survive the 3-kilometer "safety" bubble.
What happened at the 800-meter mark?
Basically, it was a mess. One rider lost traction on a white line or a patch of oil—it's hard to tell even on the slow-motion replays—and then it was just a chain reaction. It looked like a bowling ball hitting ten-pins. Bicycles were literally flying through the air. If you weren't in the top ten positions at that exact moment, your stage was over.
Jonathan Milan, the Italian giant from Lidl-Trek, somehow threaded the needle. It was incredible to watch. He’s a big guy, but he moved that bike like a BMX rider to avoid the sliding bodies.
Why Jonathan Milan Is the Real Deal
A lot of people think sprinting is just about having the biggest legs. It’s not. It’s about luck, positioning, and a complete lack of a "fear" switch. Milan proved he has all three. After the crash, only about a dozen riders were left to actually contest the win.
- The Launch: Milan started his sprint early, probably around 250 meters out.
- The Speed: He hit a peak of 71.1 km/h. On wet roads. That is terrifying.
- The Result: He beat Jordi Meeus by a clear bike length.
This win was huge because it basically put the Green Jersey out of reach for everyone else. By the end of stage 17, Milan had 312 points. Pogačar was technically in second, but he was busy fighting for the Yellow Jersey, so Milan was effectively competing against himself. It was the first time an Italian had won two stages in a single Tour since Nibali back in 2014.
The Route Breakdown (For the Tech Nerds)
If you’re the kind of person who likes to look at the Strava files, here’s how the day actually looked. The elevation gain was about 1,400 meters, which is basically nothing in the context of the Tour.
The Col du Pertuis (3.7 km at 6.6%) and the Col de Tartaiguille (3.6 km at 3.5%) were the only categorized climbs. Tartaiguille came about 43 kilometers from the finish. Usually, a breakaway might try to go there, but the sprint teams—Soudal Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek—were keeping things on a very short leash. They wanted this win.
| Key Landmark | Distance from Start | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Bollène | 0 km | The "Nuclear Town" start |
| Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne | 47.9 km | Intermediate Sprint (Milan took max points here too) |
| Col du Pertuis | 66.3 km | Cat 4 climb |
| Col de Tartaiguille | 117 km | Cat 4 climb |
| Valence | 160.4 km | The finish line |
The approach into Valence is notoriously technical. There are four roundabouts between 4km and 2km to go. If you aren't in the first 10 riders going into those, you're essentially fighting for scraps.
What This Meant for the Yellow Jersey
While the sprinters were doing their thing, the GC guys were just trying to stay upright. Stage 17 Tour de France is often called a "day of rest" for the leaders, but there is zero resting when it's raining and people are crashing.
Pogačar finished safely. Vingegaard finished safely. They both knew that the very next day, they’d be hitting the Col de la Loze—a monster of a climb that makes the hills in stage 17 look like speed bumps. The gap stayed at 4 minutes and 15 seconds. No drama for the yellow jersey, just a lot of relieved sighs at the finish line.
What We Learned from Stage 17
The biggest takeaway? Never trust a "flat" stage in the third week. The accumulated fatigue makes everything unpredictable. Also, the Mistral wind is a psychological weapon. Even when it doesn't blow hard, the fear that it might blow makes the peloton ride like absolute maniacs.
If you're following the race, keep an eye on how the survivors of that crash recover. Guys like Tim Merlier and Kaden Groves got held up, and that kind of mental blow can be hard to shake off before the final parade in Paris.
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Next Steps for Your Tour de France Knowledge:
- Check the medical report for Stage 18 to see which sprinters are actually starting after that Valence pileup.
- Compare Jonathan Milan's power data (if it gets released) to his Stage 8 win to see the impact of week-three fatigue.
- Review the profile for the Col de la Loze, because the "rest" the riders got today is about to be violently cancelled.
The Tour moves fast. One minute you’re sipping wine in the Rhône Valley, the next you’re sliding across wet tarmac at 60 km/h. That’s just the beauty of the sport. Or the madness. Probably both.