Tour de France 2023 Stage 17 recap: Jonas Vingegaard cracks Tadej Pogacar again as Felix Gall wins queen stage

"It’s incredible. I don’t know what to say. This whole year has been incredible. But to do so well in the Tour de France and to win the queen stage – it’s incredible. I just want to say thank you to the team – they have given me so much.

"It’s not easy to do a three-week stage race – and also I had the role of the leader after the first few days. But the last few days I have been more and more comfortable. I was afraid I was going to be caught in the last kilometres of the descent. I’m just grateful for all this.

"I was feeling really great all day. I didn’t think the break would have a chance to go for the victory, but I thought why not get in there to have a little gap on the favourites to anticipate the final climb."

Wow. This may change but for now this is what the general classification looks like...

1. Jonas Vingegaard
2. Tadej Pogacar +7'35"
3. Adam Yates +10'45"
4. Carlos Rodriguez +12'01"
5. Simon Yates +12'19"
6. Pello Bilbao +12'50"
7. Jai Hindley +13'50"
8. Felix Gall +16'11"
9. Sepp Kuss +16'49"
10. David Gaudu +17'57"

A maiden Tour stage win for Gall in his Grand Tour debut...

1. Felix Gall
2. Simon Yates +34
3. Pello Bilbao +1'38"
4. Jonas Vingegaard +1'52"
5. David Gaudu +2'09"
6. Tobias Johannessen +2'39"
7. Chris Harper +2'50"
8. Rafal Majka +3'43"
9. Adam Yates "
10. Wilco Kelderman +3'49"
...
22. Tadej Pogacar +7'37"

The white jersey crosses the line 7'38" down after his hopes exploded 7km from the summit of the Col de la Loze, after which he went to damage limitation mode. Let's see where that leaves him in the new-look top 10.

The British rider comes home in the wheel of team-mate Rafal Majka at 3'45". Now let's see how long it is until Tadej Pogacar comes home... It should be the two UAE riders on the podium either side of Vingegaard in Paris - but the Slovenian could yet slip to third at this rate.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) may have dropped him on the ramped finale but that doesn't matter - Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) has all but won the Tour de France today after cracking, definitively, his only rival, Tadej Pogacar. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) is fifth, Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) sixth.

The Jayco-AlUla rider crosses the line 34 seconds down and he will move up some places in the top 10 today surely.

The Austrian may have Simon Yates in his rear-view mirror but despite the 17% ramp to the line he is able to dig deep to complete the bigggest win of his career. Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroen) wins the queen stage of the Tour after a superb solo effort from the breakaway.

Tadej Pogacar is only now just going over the summit of the Col de la Loze, a whopping 6'30" down. Gall, meanwhile, is under the flamme rouge and can start to enjoy what will be a famous win.

The lone leader still has 20 seconds on Simon Yates and 1'30" over the yellow jersey group. There is a ramp to the finish at the altiport in Courchevel - but the Austrian should hold on.

Felix Gall already picked up 10pts earlier in the day on the three climbs and so he's now up to second place, so can't be discounted...

1. Giulio Ciccone 88pts
2. Felix Gall 82pts
3. Jones Vingegaard 77pts
4. Neilson Powless 58pts
5. Tadej Pogacar 49pts

Felix Gall pockets 40pts in the polka dot jersey battle that he is still very much involved in. He's around 20 seconds clear of Simon Yates, with Majka now back with Adam Yates in pursuit. Vinegaard, meanwhile, has joined Gaudu and Bilbao as they close in on the summit.

The yellow jersey has passed Johannessen, Gaudu and Harper... he still has Bilbao, Yates and Gall ahead.

Drama on the Tour as a motorbike stalls on a tight corner, causing a car to block the road with fans closing in either side. This forces Vingegaard and Kelderman to come to a standstill - and that will play into the hands of Gall ahead. Once they get through, the yellow jersey is almost pushed into his team-mate after a fan tries to help but instead slingshots him into a near miss.

Gall has 18 seconds on Simon Yates, 1'55" on the Vingegaard group, and now 5'00" on Pogacar, who is dropping like a stone.

The double champion has just delivered this ominous message to his UAE sporting director. The game plan is now for UAE to go all-in for Adam Yates, who pushes on. Further up the road, Simon Yates has dropped Rafal Majka in pursuit of Gall, who he trails by 22 seconds.

The yellow jersey is picking off riders from the break one by one and is now two minutes away from Gall but with the bonus of Kelderman pacing him.