Tour de France 2021: Stage 17 preview, route map, prediction and start time today

71km to go: Around 8km until the intermediate sprint. The six riders in the break will take the major points but the sprinters are still in the peloton behind. Will Mark Cavendish go for the points given it promises to be a punishing final 60km or so?

In all honesty, he is very unlikely to miss the time cut today so it would be no surprise to see him contest the sprint.

74km to go: I tipped Tadej Pogacar to take victory today. Here was my prediction ahead of the stage:

If Pogacar can avoid losing any time by the end of today’s stage then he will have almost certainly won his second Tour de France.

The Slovenian rather ominously said before the rest day that he is planning to ride defensively for the remainder of the race. I don’t think anyone believes that for one second. Pogacar has ripped up the rulebook throughout the 2021 Tour and is the strongest climber in the race.

Jonas Vingegaard may be able to stay with him most of the way up the final mountain pass but this feels like a stage tailor-made for the defending champion.

78km to go: Lovely little shot of Dylan Teuns tucking into a banana at the back of the peloton. Gotta get your fuel somehow.

A reminder that the final climb the Cold du Portet was the scene for that ridiculous start two years ago when the organisers chose to debut a grid formation. The riders lined up for the start in general classification order, only to revert to their team formations as soon as they got underway.

It really was not thought through at all.

The caravan is rolling into town. It’s currently approaching the final climb of the day, the Cold du Portet.

88km to go: Some lovely shots of fancy dress spectators at the side of the road – Mario, Luigi and Father Christmas to name just a few. Always great to see at the Tour.

The gap to the peloton has stabilised at eight minutes, an advantage they will probably take onto the slopes of the first climb, the Col du Peyresourde.

92km to go: Israel Start-Up Nation doing a lot of the work on the front along with Arkea-Samsic and UAE Team Emirates. Could Israel be trying to set something up for Dan Martin this afternoon?

He would definitely seem like the one they would ride for given Chris Froome has struggled throughout the Tour and Michael Woods is further up their train on the front of the peloton. Martin being protected.

94km to go: Could these boys make it to the finish? We may be only 94km from the finish but the three climbs coming up are hugely tough mountains. It will take a seismic effort for one of them to make it.

98km to go: Very little happening in the race at the moment as we enter the final 100km of today’s stage.

The peloton are chugging along as they bring the gap to the break back down under the eight minute mark. Think there may still be some incentive from teams to keep the gap to the break moderate to give themselves an opportunity of stage victory.

Six riders out front are Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Danny van Poppel (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Dorian Godon (AG2R-Citroën), Anthony Pérez (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and Maxime Chevalier (B&B-KTM).

Not the sunniest of days but the Tour de France never fails to be picturesque.

Cavendish looked in fine form ahead of what promises to be a hard day for the green jersey this afternoon. He knows he is just two mountain days away from another sprint opportunity on Friday.