One by one, the runners fell like flies at the arrival of the terrible final wall - 340 meters at 16% - leading to the altiport of Peyragudes, the winner Tadej Pogacar the first, collapsed on his handlebars then lying down with all his long on the asphalt, struck down by the effort.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, collapsed on his bike, after winning the 17th stage of the Tour de France, on July 22, 2022 at the Peyragudes altiport, in front of the yellow jersey, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard Anne-Christine POUJOULAT POOL / AFP

Given the difficulty of the stage, we could have feared the worst for Romain Bardet (DSM) who had tumbled from 4th to 9th place overall after having experienced an "ordeal" the day before.

But the Auvergne climber "survived", even if he was still "not great".

"Anyway it was double or nothing today, I took a step ahead and tried to do my race, I've been suffering for 15 days," commented the Frenchman, who left for the final of the col d'Aspin, the first of the four climbs of the day.

"We had a plan and we executed it well because there were three climbers in the breakaway. I could see that they (the favorites) were not letting me go. I heard + Bardet + in the peloton. If I wanted to be in front, I had to put a dry attack at 2 kilometers and this effort cost me a lot. It took me 30, 40 kilometers to recover", he said.

Luggage rack

But he resisted.

Better !

At the foot of the last ascent, the second of the 2016 Tour found the strength to get up on his pedals again to go on the attack behind the Vingegaard-Pogacar duo, taking on his luggage rack the Welshman Geraint Thomas who ended up distancing him from the train.

After a final effort on the final slope, where he had won the stage in 2017, he rose to sixth place in the general classification 9 min 21 sec from the yellow jersey.

David Gaudu, who was aiming for a podium at the start of the Tour, will find it difficult to fulfill his objective.

Fifth overall, 7 min 57 sec behind Jonas Vingegaard, the Breton climber from Groupama-FDJ is three minutes behind third-placed Geraint Thomas, who is stronger than him in the time trial.

Frenchman David Gaudu, after finishing the 17th stage of the Tour de France, on July 20, 2022 at the Peyragudes altiport Thomas SAMSON AFP

But, in the absence of a French victory - there are four stages left to avoid zero points as in 1926 and 1999 - it also allows French cycling to hold its rank in this Tour by firmly anchoring itself in the Top 10.

"Bad" Pinot

"I armor myself in the head with good emotions to try to hold on because my legs hurt, I'm at full speed all the time. It's my head that directs and tells me: + you don't have the right to let go, you don't have the right to let go+. And it works," he said on arrival.

He was also able to count on his teammates, starting with Valentin Madouas.

"Without him, I'm not much. He dragged me all the penultimate climb with Thibaut (Pinot), he dragged me in the valley and dragged me on the last climb", a summary Gaudu.

"David was not having a great day, so we tried to manage our climbs as well as possible", explained Madouas, formidable since the start of this Tour and now 13th overall.

"We have no regrets, we are at our level, he added. The three (first) in the general classification are simply too strong, and behind we are playing the Top 5. For now , we are in our objectives and we are having a very nice Tour de France."

Thibaut Pinot, he was in truth only of relative help to his leader.

"I'm bad. I'm so far from my level. I feel like I don't bring anything to the team, so for me it's hard," he said bitterly.

© 2022 AFP