Richard Carapaz has baten Simon Yates to victory on stage 17 of the Tour de France in Superdevoluy as race leader Tadej Pogacar put more pressure on an ailing Jonas Vingegaard in the fight for yellow.

Carapaz rode away from Yates on the Col du Noyer, the penultimate climb of the 178km stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and extended his lead on the road up to the finish to win by 37 sec.

He became the first Ecuadorian to win a stage at the Tour and said: "This means everything to me. We have been trying it since the beginning. This was our first goal - to get a stage win.

"Today was so difficult with attack after attack until eventually there was a big group. It's going to be a day I will remember for my life."

As the breakaway celebrated a rare success on this Tour, Pogacar yet again ignited the general classification battle several minutes back down the road as he attacked near the top of the Noyer.

Vingegaard was immediately in trouble, and although he and Remco Evenepoel got back to Pogacar on the descent, the Dane had no response to an attack from Evenepoel on the final climb.

Evenepoel took 12 seconds out of Vingegaard's advantage in second place and lost two more to Pogacar on the line.

The gaps may have been small, but it was another show of strength from Pogacar with only four stages left. The Slovenian's lead over the defending champion stands at three minutes, 11 seconds, with Evenepoel 5:9 down in third.

Like Carapaz, Pogacar waited for the double-digit gradients near the top of the Noyer to launch his move.

Vingegaard and Evenepoel responded but there was a shake of the head from the former as gaps opened up by the summit.

When Evenepoel went again on the final climb, the Dane could only chase behind to minimise the damage, allowing Pogacar to sit on his wheel before racing past in the last few hundred metres.

This day had been pegged for a breakaway, although it was not until midway through the stage that any major moves stuck.

Carapaz and Yates charged clear on the early slopes of the Noyer, with Carapaz the one to chase after Yates broke clear.

The Olympic champion then attacked 1.8km from the top of the climb on his way to a first career Tour stage win, and one that completes his set in the Grand Tours.

After his crash on Tuesday, Biniam Girmay looked strong as he picked up a point on Jasper Philipsen in the intermediate sprint, giving him a 33-point lead in the battle for the green jersey.