Stage 17

The road

At the start

Tentudía, and an ambush profile

Primož Roglič gambled everything on one acceleration inside the final three kilometres at Tomares, crashed hard in the finishing straight, and starts this morning 1:26 behind Remco Evenepoel. Mads Pedersen took the stage and all but sealed the green jersey. Today looks quiet and is not: 162 kilometres of constant undulation in Extremadura, ending on the climb to the monastery at Tentudía.

How it was won

1. 129 km to go

   A truce, until now

   The break has worked together all day with nothing worth fighting over. With the Tentudía approaching, the co-operation is about to end.

2. 220 km to go

   Craddock counters and goes

   Brought back after a first dig over an uncategorised rise, the American immediately counters and pulls out a gap on the descent, hitting the final climb alone with ten seconds — and then stretching it to twenty-five on the lower slopes. Behind, the peloton is seven minutes away and uninterested.

3. 31 km to go

   Caught under the flamme rouge

   Gesbert, Urán and Champoussin cut him to ten seconds; Gesbert cracks, Soler, Herrada and Pacher come across. Craddock somehow holds them off for two more kilometres, and is finally swallowed just under the red kite by his former EF teammate.

4. 4At the line

   Urán times it to the metre

   Champoussin attacks, Herrada counters and looks set to ride away at 850 metres — but the gradient ramps and he fades. Rigoberto Urán, chasing all the way, comes past just in time for his first Grand Tour stage since 2017.

The result