Richard Carapaz beat Simon Yates to victory on stage 17 of the Tour de France in SuperDevoluy as race leader Tadej Pogacar put more pressure on an ailing Jonas Vingegaard in the fight for yellow.
Carapaz rode away from Yates on the Col du Noyer, the penultimate climb of the 178km stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and extended his lead on the road up to the finish to win by 37 seconds.
As the breakaway celebrated a rare success on this Tour, Pogacar yet again ignited the general classification battle several minutes back down the road as he attacked near the top of the Noyer.
Vingegaard was immediately in trouble, and although he and Remco Evenepoel got back to Pogacar on the descent, the Dane had no response to an attack from Evenepoel on the final climb.
Evenepoel took 12 seconds out of Vingegaard’s advantage in second place – and lost two more to Pogacar on the line.
The gaps may have been small, but it was another show of strength from Pogacar with only four stages left. The Slovenian’s lead over the defending champion stands at three minutes and 11 seconds, with Evenepoel five minutes and nine seconds down in third.
“It was a bit of a stretch of the legs before the final climb, it was a nice day,” the typically understated Pogacar said.
“I don’t know even myself why I try but yeah, I got two seconds ahead of Jonas and I’m happy with that.
“Remco did a super good attack in the final but (Vingegaard’s team) Visma did super great team work today. If Jonas didn’t have any guys in front I think Remco and me could put maybe even more pressure on Jonas and maybe it would be a different outcome.”
Like Carapaz, Pogacar waited for the double-digit gradients near the top of the Noyer to launch his move.
Vingegaard and Evenepoel responded but there was a shake of the head from the former as gaps opened up by the summit.
It was another sign of weakness from Vingegaard, who betrayed himself to Pogacar in the Pyrenees at the weekend. When Evenepoel went again on the final climb, the Dane could only chase behind to minimise the damage, allowing Pogacar to sit on his wheel before racing past in the last few hundred metres.
This day had been pegged for a breakaway, although it was not until midway through the stage that any major moves stuck.
Carapaz and Yates charged clear on the early slopes of the Noyer, with Carapaz the one to chase after Yates broke clear.
The Olympic champion then attacked 1.8km from the top of the climb on his way to a first career Tour stage win, and one that completes his set in the Grand Tours.
The 31-year-old had already become the first Ecuadorian to wear the yellow jersey when he took it on stage three, and this made him the first stage winner from his country in Tour history.
Yates, who took both of his two Tour stage wins to date in 2019, admitted he had burned too much energy in a stressful start to the stage.
“It was not an easy stage with the crosswinds at the start and a lot of jumping around on the flat roads,” he said. “It was not easy for me to be there but I did my best.
“I was running out of legs by the end but chapeau to Richie, he’s done a great ride. It’s all I could do.”
After his worrying crash on Tuesday, Biniam Girmay looked strong as he picked up a point on Jasper Philipsen in the intermediate sprint, giving him a 33-point lead in the battle for the green jersey.