Tour de France 2018: start of the 17th stage grid and mountain battle – live! | sport

64km from the finish: Before the race, Trek Segafredo's driver, Bauke Mollema, said: "I do not think that grid departure brings a lot, I do not expect anybody from the top 10 to attack from the start.The scene itself will be interesting because it is too short but the start itself even in this format will not do much. "He was not wrong.

Well, it was hogwash. A terrible start from Geraint Thomas, who had not even hooked his crampons to his pedals when the lights went out and that seemed completely delusional in escaping quickly. They climb immediately, with the ascension of the category 1 Montee de Peyragudes already en route.

Lights turn red: And when they leave, we will leave. Gentlemen, start your engines !!!!

Nathan Chilvers has a question: " Will there be a noise of noisy thighs on the starting line?" He asks. Honk the horn!

Riders Prepare: There is a one kilometer warm-up track that some riders have cycled before riding to their places on the grid. It's with a heavy heart that I must inform you that they are not doing what the Formula 1 drivers are doing with their steering wheels en route to the official network training to warm their tires. So for marginal gains, huh?

An email from Angus: "Do you know how much there is difference between the different lines on the grid? " He asks.

This is not more than a bike or two as the chart below explains. It is interesting to note that this grid start also announces bad news for the sprinters who are not climbing and who are at the bottom of the overall standings, as they will be at the back of the pack, struggling to make the time limit

Although he was able to finish the stage after the horror crash that took him away. saw catapulted on a wall and in a ravine on a descent yesterday, it was discovered that Philippe Gilbert had a broken cap after the stage of yesterday and retired from the Tour. The peloton is now down to 146 runners, among the 176 starters.

Instead of the usual rollout , where the peloton is neutralized until race director Christian Prudhomme emerges from the sunroof of his car and the semaphores announce the start, today 's race will start with a departure in wire rack.

Just like the star of a Formula 1 race, the riders will line up in the order of their position on GC, with the top 10 in two formations leading the five arrow and five, followed by the next 10 in two banks of five. The rest of the peloton will be positioned according to their GC positions in groups of 20, where each runner is free to position himself wherever he wants. When the flag signaling the start of the race falls, there will be no neutralized zone and everyone will be free to start the cannon.

Grid departure means that GC lead runners will be isolated from their opponents. kilometers and will therefore be forced to decide whether he should pursue himself early attacks or wait to be united with his teammates at the start of the race.

The Australian Mitchelton-Scott team is still looking for its first victory in the world. This year's Tour stage and had it in sight only so that it would be torn from their grip when Adam Yates crashed on the final descent to the finish line. Arrival while watching at home and watered and every inch the winner of the stage. Here's the team's video diary of another disappointing day on this year's Tour.

Sean Ingle and Jeremy Whittle were in Bagnères-de-Luchon to tell an extraordinary day at the Tour de France, involving farmer protests, the pepper spray in the bunch, a couple of macabre crashes and – finally – the French stage win. This is how they saw the events of the day unfold.

Geraint Thomas retains control of the yellow jersey, with a lead of 1min 39sec over teammate Chris Froome, with Tom Dumoulin of the Sunweb team 11 more seconds in third position

Excerpt from William Fotheringham's step-by-step report: Unique, this short stage will see the favorites "grid" at the start because the battle for the position will be intense with the race that goes straight to the Col de Peyresourde, followed by another first cat, Val Louron, before the start. arrival of a summit for Rafal Majka or Nairo Quintana – 2,215 m altitude after a rise of 16 km. The stage starts at 2:15 pm (local time) and attacks should start from the gun.