Another wet, cold and crazy day in the mountains of the 2021 Tour de France. A big break rode away through the rain to build up a good lead, then it split leaving Ben O'Connor and Sergio Higuita at the front for the Australian to add to his Giro d'Italia stage win. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) easily took care of his yellow jersey.

Ben O'Connor turned the tables in the Giro d'Italia. Second on Tuesday and first on Wednesday. On stage 16 O'Connor was beaten by Bahrain-McLaren's Jan Tratnik, but on stage 17 he had his revenge by beating Hermann Pernsteiner. The peloton came in over 5 minutes down for Joāo Almeida to hold the pink jersey for the fifteenth day. Tomorrow the Stelvio.