Lying face down on the fence in the finish area of Courchevel, with his Mayotte spread out to his chest and the media waiting in a semicircle, Simon Yates (Team Jayco Arua) took several minutes to recover after finishing second in the Tour de France's most demanding stage. It took him a few minutes to recover after finishing second in the Tour de France's toughest stage.

The first word he used to describe the 5,000+ meter climb to the team staff watching him at the finish of stage 17 was "wicked. But that did not do justice to the courage of his run and how close Yates came to victory.

He continued to chase stage leader Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) for kilometer after kilometer as fast as he could.

It didn't happen, and Simon Yates moved up to fifth on GC, but his words at the end of his interview with the waiting media, "It doesn't matter at all," showed how much he wanted the stage win, which he missed by only 34 seconds.

Craddock, who along with his Jayco AIUIa teammates Lawson Craddock and Chris Harper were part of a 34-man breakaway in the early stages, held together hopes of a breakaway in the first few hours, while Harper provided strong support until the climb up the Col de la Rose

The team was able to hold on to the lead in the first hours.

After Gall's attack, Yates briefly closed the gap to 15 seconds, but finally his third Tour stage win was no longer possible.

"In the end I couldn't catch him. I wanted to catch him on the descent [from the Roset], but I had my eyes pretty much closed, so it was hard to even make it down the course. That's just the way it is."

"I really wanted to go for the stage today. Lawson rode hard all day and Chris Harper set the pace in the finale. They did a great job."

"I'm very proud of them.

As for his tactics in the lozenges, was he worried that Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), in a state of release, would come up behind him and pass a bunch of riders on the break, or was he wondering when was the best time to attack, or was he "both"? He said.

"It was always in the back of my mind because you never know how fast the guys coming from behind are. Chris did a great job on the last part of the climb.

"I didn't know the climb, so I don't know if that changes anything, but I was wary of the altitude, so I just tried to keep my pace and go from there."

Yates called it "a great run by him," congratulated Gall on his performance in a sportsmanlike manner, and said he was sorry he did not win, but concluded simply, "That's the way it is." Yates also said he was pleased with the way he approached the stage, "It was a good run."

Yates also said he was pleased with the way he approached the stage, "It was a good run.

However, at least in the heat of the recent battle, Yates seemed less convinced that one of the secondary effects of the breakaway and second place - a top five finish in the Tour GC - meant much. When one reporter called it "comforting," Yates responded: "But that's not what I was looking for today," and pointed out that, as far as the GC contenders were concerned, "it [now] doesn't matter at all because we should be close to 15 minutes in."

Yates' 11th Grand Tour win may still be a long way off, but there is no doubt that the Englishman will be in great form in the third week of the Tour. Saturday's relentless climb up the Vosges Mountains is still to come, but we may see Jayco Aiuia fighting for a breakaway victory one last time at the 2023 Tour.