Italian Matteo Trentin, 29, executed a solo attack 14km from the finish and held his lead to ultimately win stage 17 of the Tour de France in Gap today.
Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) crossed the line just over 30 seconds behind Trentin, with Greg van Avermaet (CCC) finishing third in the 200km stage.
This was the third Tour stage win of Trentin’s career and the fourth of this year’s race for his Mitchelton-Scott team.
“Today was all in – everything or nothing,” said Trentin.
Matteo Trentin executed a solo attack to win stage 17 of the Tour de France in Gap today. Photo: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet
“I was scared of Asgreen and I was right because he finished second after getting a free ride in the break. His tactic was to wait and wait and so I went for it because he’s also strong on the climbs and fast in a sprint.”
Trentin said there was a headwind on the Col de la Sentinelle climb, but he got up it well .
“I was always up there in this Tour but never got the results. This win makes up for it all. I had good legs but never finished it off. I suffered like a dog but it was worth it all.”
Soon after the start of the stage, a group of 33 riders formed. Their advantage grew to a maximum of just above 14 minutes over the peloton.
A flurry of attacks resulted in this large group splitting into a smaller leading bunch of 11 with 27km to go.
Trentin, van Avermaet and Gorka Izagirre (Astana) were leading the charge before Trentin executed a solo attack as he reached the Col de la Sentinelle climb.
Six kilometres later, the European national road champion had an advantage of nearly 30 seconds to the chasing Asgreen, with the peloton 18 minutes back.
Trentin maintained a comfortable lead all the way to the finish.
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) remains in the yellow jersey, with Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) in green, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) in polka dots and Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) in white.
