Tour de France 2018 stage 17 preview: Unique, bizarre and possibly decisive for Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome

The stage consists of three tough climbs and two treacherous descents at high speed

Not for 30 years has a non-time trial stage been so short. Never has a stage begun with a gridded start. Welcome to stage 17 of the 2018 Tour de France: unique, bizarre and quite possibly decisive.

Wednesday’s 65km ride from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan is barely more than a quarter of the distance of Tuesday’s chaotic stage 16, won by Julian Alaphilippe and negotiated safely by Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and their pursuers, but it is both brutal and relentless. It is made up of three tough climbs and two treacherous descents which will be raced at high speed, and could bring more crashes like the one Adam Yates suffered with the stage win at his mercy.

“It will be a tough day,” said Thomas after stage 16. “A good two hours of climb. We’ll try to keep riding together. There’s no point in going too soon because that climb is really hard and steep. I won’t be going on the offence too early, that’s for sure, it’s a big day of climbing.”

Stage 17 begins in a gridded start with Thomas’s yellow jersey on pole, in order to avoid an unsafe dash to the immediate climb up the Montée de Peyragudes, a gruelling 14.9km at 6.7 per cent average gradient which cracked Froome last year. Every rider will want to be in a breakaway, but the way the stage is structured is likely to setup up a straight shootout between the main general classification contenders, with a brave and attacking ride likely to bring the greatest reward – and risk.

“It’s different but I get to start at the front,” said Thomas. “It’s always great to wear the yellow jersey but we’ll see how tomorrow goes.”

Next comes a sharp descent to the smallest of the three climbs, the Col de Val Louron-Azet, but 7.4km at an average gradient of 8.3 per cent is enough to seriously damage one of the leading contenders.

After another quick descent comes the Col du Portet, one of the toughest climbs in the Pyrenees which immediately kicks up more than nine per cent and never lets up, draining the legs for 16km. The Portet is making its debut in the Tour and it will be memorable: the 65km to its summit, 2,215m above sea level, might just decide the fate of the yellow jersey.