Mauro Schmid put on another show as he sprinted to a super second place on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
The stage 13 winner once again used his expert race craft to infiltrate the race winning breakaway before following the attacks and going head-to-head with the sprinters into Voiron.
German champion Felix Engelhardt was the solo Team Jayco AlUla representative in the initial breakaway that took more than 50km to establish itself over the early categorised climbs.
He was eventually joined by Michael Matthews, who bridged across in a counter move, then later by Schmid and Ben O’Connor, who made it across in another large group of attackers.
When the large breakaway split eventually, Engelhardt followed and found himself in a dangerous looking group inside the final 50km of racing.
That group was eventually swallowed up by the chase group containing Matthews, Schmid and O’Connor, with the latter playing the team role as he helped reel in the final lone attacker.
As more attacks were launched on the run into town, Schmid stayed alert and followed the wheels, but as they entered the streets of Voiron it was clear a reduced group sprint was on the cards.
Schmid made his way to the fore as he followed a late surge into the final kilometre to find himself in second position through the final corner. The multiple Swiss champion then mixed it with the fast finishers, with only sprinter Jasper Philipsen able to get the better of him.
Matthews made it two Team Jayco AlUla riders in the top-10 as the Australian grabbed ninth place across the line.
Mauro Schmid:
“We knew straight away that when the groups came together there were some super strong sprinters, but with this type of finish, normally Michael is extremely strong, also after a hard day in the saddle.
In the end we rode with two guys and the plan was to bring him up and do the lead out, but it was super chaotic. I think Tarling attacked and I ended up on his wheel and in the end I was in this position and I had to go for the sprint because there wasn’t much time to look around at that moment
Maybe I should have gone straight away after the corner, but I also didn’t want to mess up the race for Bling. I had no idea which position he was, so I didn’t want to go early and do the lead out for somebody else. But when Van der Poel came past I just had to go for it.”
2026 Tour de France Stage 17 – Results
1. Jasper Philipsen 3:31:14
2. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) ST
3. Olav Kooij ST
Photo: Sprint Cycling
