Favorites stage 17 Tour de France 2025 | Sprinters finally see their chance again, but breakaway danger lurks

The Alps are just around the corner, and after the challenges of the Pyrenees, the remaining sprinters in the Tour de France finally have another chance on Wednesday! The 17th stage to Valence offers few difficulties, but a sprint in the third week of a grand tour is never guaranteed. IDLProCycling.com tells you everything you need to know.

The riders will start Wednesday in Bollène, a small town of about 15,000 residents. From there, the road rises gently right away, but after about 12 kilometers, there is a brief descent.

After that short drop, the road gradually climbs for around 40 kilometers. This section also features the intermediate sprint, which comes after 48 kilometers in Roche-Saint-Secret-Béconne. Following the battle for points, the peloton faces a few more kilometers of climbing before a short descent leads them to the first categorized climb of the day.

The Col du Pertuis is 3.7 km at 6.6%, a climb that will certainly feel quite spicy for the pure sprinters. Luckily for them, a long descent follows afterwards, and after a small rise, the riders will head toward the second and also final climb of the day.

The road toward the village of Marsanne climbs slightly, but the Col de Tartaiguille doesn’t truly start until a bit later. At 3.6 km with an average gradient of 3.5%, this ascent is far less demanding than the Col du Pertuis. The summit comes just over 40 km from the finish, giving dropped riders plenty of time to regain contact.

After a short descent, the peloton will hit mostly flat roads all the way to the line. The finale features only one real corner, at 700 meters from the finish. Between the 4 km-to-go marker and the flamme rouge, riders will encounter four roundabouts, all of which they’ll take straight on. In the final kilometer, they’ll turn left before a flat, straight dash to the line.

Conditions could get tricky along the way on Wednesday. Despite warm temperatures of around 28°C, dark clouds, and possibly thunderstorms, are expected along the route. A strong northerly wind will be blowing, meaning the riders will face headwinds for most of the day. Between the two climbs, the wind will shift to a crosswind, while in the final sprint, they’ll have a tailwind to the line.

A sprint stage in the third week of the Tour? The sprinter teams will give everything to ensure it comes down to a fast finish in Valence. That means all focus will be on Soudal Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek, the teams of Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan. On paper, these two are the fastest men left in the race, with the Belgian already winning twice compared to the Italian’s single victory.

Besides the favorites, plenty of other fast men will be eyeing a surprise win. Arnaud De Lie of Lotto has twice finished in the top 5 (stages 8 and 9) and placed fourth in Toulouse. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) narrowly missed the yellow jersey on day 1 but hasn’t quite matched that speed since. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) has only cracked the top 10 once after a heavy crash, but the team could also back Danny van Poppel.

In the few mass sprints we’ve seen so far in this Tour, riders like Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL), and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) have all been well-positioned. They’ll be among the contenders again, with Picnic PostNL also fielding Pavel Bittner alongside Andresen. After his surprise second place in Laval on stage 8, we should also keep Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) in mind.

To a lesser extent, the same is true for Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla), Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Alexis Renard (Cofidis) and Stian Fredheim (Uno-X), sprinters who have not quite gotten to shine so far in this Tour.

Since a bunch sprint in the third week of a Grand Tour is never guaranteed, we also have to keep an eye on the breakaway specialists. Big engines like Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty), and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) could launch a move. Riders such as Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), and Iván Romeo (Movistar) are also likely suspects if the race opens up.

Top favorites:Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)