The Italian Jonathan Milan won on Wednesday July 23, at the Sprint in Valence, his second stage in this Tour de France and the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar kept his yellow jersey, on the eve of the queen stage in the Alps.
At the end of a stage where the rain was invited in the last 40 kilometers, causing a fall to the red flame which notably involved Biniam Girmay and Ralenti Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan easily won a Sprint in a small committee in front of Jordi Meeus and Tobias Lund Andresen.
The favorites for the general classification passed the line without incident. The Tadej Pogacar yellow jersey still has 4:15 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification, while the peloton is heading Thursday to the Alps for two formidable and decisive mountain stages.
With his second success on the Tour de France he discovers this year, Jonathan Milan, 24, makes an excellent operation with the aim of bringing the green jersey back to Paris. The Italian, under the threat of Tadej Pogacar, had to make a good result in Valence so as not to compromise his chances.
Especially since the last stage Sunday on the Champs-ĂlysĂ©es in Paris, traditionally reserved for sprinters, could escape them this time with the integration of the selective Butte Montmartre to climb three times in the final.
The classification of the stage
1. Jonathan of Milan (ITA/LTK) at 160.4 km at 3 h 25:
(average: 46.9 km/h)
2. Jordi Meeus (Bel/RBH) at 0.
3. Tobias Andresen (Den/DFP) 0.
4. Arnaud de Lie (Bel/Ltd) 0.
5. Davide Ballerini (ITA/AST) 0.
6. Alberto Dainese (ITA/TUD) 0.
7. Paul Penhoët (from/Gfc) 0.
8. Yevgeniy Fedorov (KAZ/AST) 0.
9. Clément Russo (from/GFC) 0.
10. Jasper Stuyven (call/ltk) 0.
The general classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAD) 61 H 50: 16.
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/TVL) at 4:15.
3. Floraian lipolitz (geer / rub) 9:03.
4. Oscar Onley (GBR/DFP) 11:04.
5. Primoz Roglic (Slo/RBH) 11:42.
6. KĂ©vin Vauquelin (FRA/ARK) 13:20.
7. Happy Gall (or / gives) 14:50.
8. Tobias Johanness (NOR/UXT) 17:0
9. Ben Healy (IRL/EFE) 17:52.
10. Carlos RodrĂguez (ESP/IGD) 20:45.
On the program tomorrow
The runners will reach the peaks for this 18th stage which stretches on 171.5 kilometers of lively at the Col de la Loze, the highest point of the Grande Boucle this year. “” The figures are intractable, this is the most demanding stage of the 2025 Tour, with 5,500 meters of cumulative positive elevation â, warns the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme.
For this first Alpine stage, the runners will first have to face the Glandon pass and then go through that of the Madeleine before reaching Courchevel. And it will not be over. It will be necessary to climb again at the Col de la Lauze, recalls Christian Prudhomme, by “ A cycle path just as irregular and almost as biting for the calves as on the slope borrowed in 2020 and 2023 ».
