Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) won the opening stage and became the Tour's first rider that year to wear the general classification leader's yellow jersey.

He held the lead until it was taken by Fabio Aru (Astana) at the end of stage twelve, where Froome lost time on the steep summit finish to Peyragudes.

[18] Quintana, third in the 2016 Tour, placed second at the Giro d'Italia, with overalls wins at the Tirreno–Adriatico and the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana earlier in the season.

Aru won the Italian National Road Race Championships a week before the Tour and placed fifth at the Dauphiné.

[19][23][24][25][26][27] Double reigning world road race champion Sagan had won the five previous points classifications of the Tour, one away from matching Erik Zabel's record of six from 1996 to 2001.

[34] In December 2015, the ASO announced that the Grand Départ would take place with stages based in Düsseldorf, the fourth time the Tour had begun in Germany and the first since 1987.

[36] The full route was announced by race director Christian Prudhomme on 18 October 2016 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.

[44] Stage fifteen featured the first appearance of the Col de Peyra Taillade, with its conclusion in Le Puy-en-Velay.

[49] The final stage began in Montgeron, which hosted the start of the first Tour, before concluding with the traditional laps of the Champs-Élysées.

[38] For the first time since the 1992 edition, the route included all five of mainland France's mountainous regions; the Vosges, the Jura, the Pyrenees, the Massif Central and the Alps.

[54] The highest point of the race was the 2,642 m (8,668 ft)-high Col du Galibier mountain pass on stage seventeen.

[59] Overall contender Alejandro Valverde crashed on the wet roads and his injuries forced him to withdraw from the Tour.

[61] The uphill sprint finish of stage three was won by Peter Sagan; Nathan Brown (Cannondale–Drapac) took over the polka dot jersey.

[63] There were two crashes leading up to the finish, the first was in the peloton around 1 km (0.6 mi) left and the second involved the sprinters at the end.

In the sprint finish, Mark Cavendish crashed into the barriers at the side of the road, withdrawing later that day from the race from his injuries.

Sagan, second in the stage, was disqualified after race officials judged that he caused Cavendish to crash, with the jury president Philippe Marien saying that he "endangered some of his colleagues seriously".

[66] In December 2017, Sagan was officially exonerated by cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

[67] In the fifth stage, a group containing the overall contenders caught the last of the breakaway riders 5 km (3.1 mi) from the summit finish at the La Planche des Belles Filles.

With 2.4 km (1.5 mi) remaining, Fabio Aru attacked and won with a margin of sixteen seconds over the group.

[70] In stage eight, the first high mountain stage, Lilian Calmejane of Direct Énergie attacked over the category 1 climb of Montée de la Combe de Laisia Les Molunes from a six-strong lead breakaway and soloed for 11.5 km (7.1 mi) to take the win 37 seconds ahead of second-placed and lone chaser Robert Gesink (LottoNL–Jumbo).

[71] The ninth stage saw a select group of general classification favourites join Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) after the final climb of the Mont du Chat and contest a sprint finish, won by Rigoberto Urán (Cannondale–Drapac).

[73] Richie Porte crashed heavily taking down Dan Martin while descending the Mont du Chat within the group of overall contenders.

[38] Stages ten and eleven were won from bunch sprints by Kittel, taking his total of wins at the race to five.

[75] The twelfth stage saw the overall contenders all reach the foot of the short steep climb to Peyragudes; Romain Bardet won by a margin of two seconds.

[78] Stage fifteen saw Trek–Segafredo's Bauke Mollema attack a breakaway group over the top of the Col de Peyra Taillade with 31 km (19.3 mi) to go and solo to victory.

In the large group containing the overall contenders, Bardet's team AG2R La Mondiale forced a high pace on the Peyra Taillade.

[81] Primož Roglič (LottoNL–Jumbo), second behind Barguil in the mountains classification, won the following mountainous stage after a solo attack on the Col du Galibier, finishing in Serre Chevalier after a descent over a minute ahead of a four-man group containing the new top three in the general classification: Froome, Urán, and Bardet, respectively; and also Barguil.

[82] The final high mountain stage of the Tour, the eighteenth, saw Barguil claim his second stage victory of the race on the summit finish at Col d'Izoard; he was initially caught by the group of overall favourites on the final climb after being the one of last survivors from the breakaway, with only Darwin Atapuma (UAE Team Emirates) ahead.

The climbs were categorised, in order of increasing difficulty, as fourth-, third-, second-, and first-category and hors catégorie.

[91] In addition, there was a combativity award given after each stage to the rider considered, by a jury, to have "made the greatest effort and who demonstrated the best qualities of sportsmanship".