Richard Carapaz Secures Historic Stage 17 Win at Tour de France

Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost climbed solo to victory on stage 17 of the Tour de France, a challenging 178km route from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Superdévoluy on Wednesday.

Carapaz, who has previously won stages in the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, outpaced Jayco Alula's Simon Yates by 37 seconds to secure his first win at the Tour de France. He also became the first Ecuadorian to win a stage at the Tour. Enric Mas of Movistar finished third, nearly a minute behind Carapaz.

"This means everything to me. We've been trying since the beginning. This was our first goal—to win a stage," Carapaz said. "Today was tough, with constant attacks until a breakaway group formed. I'll remember this day for the rest of my life. We studied the course this morning, and I knew when to strike. It's a great victory."

Carapaz's decisive attack came 13km from the finish. Meanwhile, Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar retained his yellow jersey after a tactical battle with key rivals. Pogacar extended his lead by two seconds over Jonas Vingegaard after a burst in the final 300 meters.

"I don't know why I tried today, but I'm happy with the two seconds I gained," Pogacar said. "Remco Evenepoel did a great attack, and our teamwork was crucial." Biniam Girmay also retained his green jersey despite a crash in stage 16, finishing just ahead of Belgian Jasper Philipsen.

(With inputs from agencies.)