Overview

• Heavy rain in Valence made roads treacherous and triggered a mass crash one kilometer from the Stage 17 finish.
• The pile-up forced Carlos Rodríguez to abandon after medical scans confirmed a fractured hip.
• Rodríguez had been sitting tenth in the general classification, his best Tour ranking since 2023.
• FDJ-Groupama’s Cyril Barthe also withdrew with a concussion sustained in the same incident.
• German sprinter Pascal Ackermann emerged largely uninjured and Biniam Girmay continued on into Stage 18.