Reports

Tour de France 2017: Primoz Roglic wins stage 17 as Chris Froome extends lead in the Alps

Slovenian solos to victory, as Froome finishes third to claim bonus seconds

Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) soloed to victory on stage 17 of the 2017 Tour de France in the Alps, after attacking from the breakaway on the Col du Galibier.

Roglic held off an elite chasing group on the final descent, from which Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) finished second and yellow jersey Chris Froome (Team Sky) was third to extend his overall lead to 27 seconds.

As anticipated, the stage blew apart the general classification, with white jersey Simon Yates (Orica-Scott), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Fabio Aru (Astana) all losing varying amounts of time.

Primoz Roglic soloed to victory on stage 17 of the 2017 Tour de France (Pic: Sirotti)

Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) had attacked early in the stage, but the Spaniard paid for his efforts on the Galibier and also lost time.

Yates remains top of the youth classification, but lost a chunk of time to Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates).

And it also had a huge impact on the points classification, as Marcel Kittel (QuickStep Floors) crashed out in the green jersey.

Full gas from the flag

The action started apace almost from the flag, with no shortage of riders looking to get in the breakaway.

Stage 16 winner Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), pursuing more points in the points classification, was among them once again, but Kittel – in green – crashed early in the stage.

Polka dot jersey Warren Barguil and British champion Steve Cummings also hit the deck in the incident – the latter going off road and falling in a ditch – but it was Kittel who came off worse.

Matthews won the intermediate sprint, and led the way up the Col de la Croix de Fer with Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) to close the gap to Kittel to nine points but it was ultimately trivial when the German later called it quits.

Meanwhile, Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) was on the attack though Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who attacked with him, was brought back by the bunch.

Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) bridged across to the leaders, before Matthews was dropped on the climb, but Contador’s group behind, with team-mates Michal Gogl and Bauke Mollema for company, was closing in fast.

De Gendt claimed 20 points at the summit, with Roglic leading the large Contador group across at 27 seconds before they joined together on the descent.

Contador needed a bike change on the run-in to the Col du Telegraphe, which took momentum out of the Trek-led front group, but there were still 12 in the lead as Roglic led the way over the Telegraphe.

Roglic attacked on the run-in to the Galibier, however, and the group was halved as a result of the chase back, with Contador still in the mix.

In the peloton, Team Sky set the pace, with Michal Kwiatkowski pulling hard on the front, but it was former Sky man Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) animating proceedings in the breakaway.

Rigoberto Uran sprinted to second to claim more bonus points (Pic: Sirotti)

On the lower slopes of the Galibier, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing) were dropped from the GC group, before a series of attacks from Martin and Bardet put Aru and Yates in trouble.

Roglic took off solo up the road, while the attacks continued apace in the yellow jersey group – Yates almost fighting back but losing the wheels again, as white jersey rival Meintjes clung on.

Meintjes and Aru repeatedly came back to the GC group, but the attacks did put paid to Contador’s attack – the Trek-Segafredo man reeled in just before the summit of the Galibier.

By that point, Roglic held a 90-second advantage over the top, where he claimed the Souvenir Henri Desgrange for being the first man across the highest point in this year’s race.

Chris Froome extended his yellow jersey lead to 27 seconds (Pic: Sirotti)

Behind him on the descent, Froome, Uran, Barguil, Landa and Bardet made up the second group on the road, while Martin, Aru, Meintjes and Contador were further back.

There was to be no stopping Roglic, however, as he soloed to victory to cap a superb ride, before a final flurry of action in the yellow jersey group with bonus seconds up for grabs.

Uran finished second to claim six seconds, while Froome was third to bag four – and the Team Sky man now leads Uran and Bardet by 27 seconds overall.

Tour de France 2017: stage 17 – result

1) Primoz Roglic (SVN) – LottoNL-Jumbo – 5.07.41hrs
2) Rigoberto Uran (COL) – Cannondale-Drapac +1.13
3) Chris Froome (GBR) – Team Sky – ST
4) Romain Bardet (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale
5) Warren Barguil (FRA) – Team Sunweb
6) Mikel Landa (ESP) – Team Sky +1.16
7) Daniel Martin (IRL) – QuickStep Floors +1.43
8) Alberto Contador (ESP) – Trek-Segafredo +1.44
9) Louis Meintjes (RSA) – UAE Team Emirates – ST
10) Fabio Aru (ITA) – Astana
Selected other
14) Simon Yates (GBR) – Orica-Scott +3.14

General classification

1) Chris Froome (GBR) – Team Sky – 73.27.26hrs
2) Rigoberto Uran (COL) – Cannondale-Drapac +27”
3) Romain Bardet (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale – ST
4) Fabio Aru (ITA) – Astana +53”
5) Mikel Landa (ESP) – Team Sky +1.24
6) Daniel Martin (IRL) – QuickStep Floors +2.37
7) Simon Yates (GBR) – Orica-Scott +4.07
8) Louis Meintjes (RSA) – UAE Team Emirates +6.35
9) Alberto Contador (ESP) – Trek-Segafredo +7.45
10) Warren Barguil (FRA) – Team Sunweb +8.52

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Tour de France 2017: Primoz Roglic wins stage 17 as Chris Froome extends lead in the Alps