TDF: Stage 17 – Thomas extends Lead

Whilst Nairo Quintana got his stage win, it was Geraint Thomas extending his lead and Froome loosing time that was the big news of the day

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

TDF: Stage 17 – Thomas extends Lead

Whilst Nairo Quintana got his stage win, it was Geraint Thomas extending his lead and Froome loosing time that was the big news of the day 

Nairo Quintana claimed the 19th Colombian stage victory at the Tour de France and the third this year after two bunch sprints by Fernando Gaviria, making the South American nation the most successful so far. The Movistar climber took the highest summit of the 105th edition in a solo move in the last climb to col du Portet. Geraint Thomas extended his lead in the overall ranking.

A peloton of 146 riders took the start of the 65-km long Pyrenean stage in Bagnères-de-Luchon. One non-starter: Philippe Gilbert (Quick Step). The top 10 riders on GC had a special position on the starting grit but Tanel Kangert (Astana) was the first attacker in the first kilometre.

Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) was first to rejoin him but 5km before the first summit at Peyragudes, Kangert was alone in the lead again with an advantage of 25’’ over Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Kristijan Durasek (UAE Team Emirates) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step) who continued his quest for the King of the Mountain title. The Frenchman was second to the Estonian at the top.

Alaphilippe and Durasek rejoined Kangert two kilometres before the intermediate sprint at Loudenvielle (km 27.5) where the Astana rider passed in first position. Three minutes behind the leading trio, Pierre Latour was first to up the tempo for AG2R-La Mondiale 6km before the top summit of Val Louron, the second category 1 KOM of the day. Durasek lost contact with Alaphilippe and Kangert who crested the col de Val Louron in that order.

15km before the finish line at col du Portet, Kangert found himself alone in the lead again. Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) attacked from the yellow jersey group. Chris Froome reacted to an attack by Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) but Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) eventually brought the yellow jersey back.

With 10km to go, Kangert had 50’’ lead over Alejandro Valverde, Quintana (Movistar) and Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and 1’30’’ over the yellow jersey group. Quintana and Majka seized the command of the race with 8.5km to go. 6.5km before the finish, Quintana rode away solo.

Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) didn’t manage to bridge the gap to the Colombian. Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) lost contact with the yellow jersey group. Froome also couldn’t hold the pace when Roglic sped up again with 1.5km to go but Thomas kept the situation under control and put up the fastest ride of the favourites in the last 300 metres. Tom Dumoulin moved into second place in the overall ranking behind the Welshman from Team Sky.

… continued after advert

2018_MerlinCyclesAdvert

Geraint Thomas put in an emphatic performance on the toughest mountain stage of the Tour de France to extend his race lead. The Welshman crossed the line in third place after a short but brutal 65-kilometre test in the Pyrenees, and now leads the race by one minute and 59 seconds with four days to go.

He told Eurosport: “I was feeling really good and it was all about just defending that lead. I gained a few seconds on Dumoulin and Roglic – so a good day, I’m very happy. “At the bottom of the climb obviously Quintana and Dan Martin went really early and then when Roglic went we forced Dumoulin to ride. It was a solid place already but fortunately when it did come back together we had numbers. The boys were just incredible again, everyone was really riding out of their skin. We’re riding so well as a team, that’s the reason I’m in this jersey.”

When asked about whether he was now thinking about yellow in Paris, the Welshman added: “I don’t even let myself think about it. I just keep doing what I’m doing, so just recover as best I can, get to the hotel and think about tomorrow. I just take it day by day, as soon as you start thinking too far ahead, bad stuff happens.”

“I didn’t know what to expect but it’s been a hard day and I’m happy to leave it behind. Chris [Froome] told me with 4 or 5km to go that he wasn’t feeling great. There was no way I’d have attacked him but it made me understand that the others had to be in trouble too. I followed Roglic and Dumoulin and I went for the seconds bonus of the third place but I also got a time gap so it’s a nice bonus.”

“I think I’m in a good position now but it doesn’t change the mental approach we have. I’ll keep doing all the small things right. I’m not going to be carried away or complacent. We’ll continue riding well as a team. That’s our strength. It might be hard to believe after what happened between him and Brad [Wiggins] but Chris and I are honest and open with each other. That makes the success of our team.

Nairo Quintana: “It was a really hard day, but a magnificent one for us, really comforting. It was a stage I had marked down many weeks before this race, one I had prepared well for. I regret so much not having found good legs prior to this stage; my body just didn’t feel right, and lost too much time, which made me feel bad. Fortunately, I’m doing well now – let’s hope we can take advantage and fight hard on Friday, because we really believe we can still do something big in this Tour. The Movistar Team always trusted my skills – and here are some results to pay them back them!

“The team was perfect today. We had Alejandro up there in the breakaway, helping me out as much as he could after the attack I had launched. Also Soler, leading the peloton with a hard pace, trying to make things harder for our rivals before my move. We knew it was a finish for pure climbers, and it showed today. Thanks to the team’s work and Alejandro’s support, I could ride over the Col du Portet as if it were a mountain TT, and attack without looking back. This win gives me massive confidence for the remainder of the Tour de France. We must continue fighting and attacking – we know the GC win will be extremely hard, but we’ll try to make the race hard and see how far we can reach.

“Things did not go well for us in this Tour. We had some rough days, we were feeling sad. This brings us confidence and reasserts our will to fight in this race. I thank all my time, I thank God for protecting us and giving us hope and strength; my family and friends, always supporting me, giving me some advice, praying so things went well for us; and all Colombian fans. I feel their support on the road, wherever I go, with their messages on social media – it’s great to have them by our side, it really means a lot to me, makes me continue to push hard.“

Chris Froome: “I think he’s got almost a two-minute lead on Dumoulin, which I think is pretty comfortable. I imagine we’ll be able to finish it off. We’ve just got to look after him now. I’ve won the last three Grand Tours and G’s (Thomas) ridden an absolutely faultless race this year, so he fully deserves to be in the yellow jersey, and fingers crossed he finishes it off and gets the job done in Paris.”

Thursday’s 18th stage is a flat route to Pau while Friday’s 19th is a long mountainous trek finishing down the descent from the Col d’Aubisque.

Tom Dumoulin: “Taking time back was a good thing of course but that’s all that I had. Thomas was stronger than I was and I have to deal with that. I saw Froome was in difficulty but I didn’t know if it was a bluff so I waited a bit with my attack. I went and I tried but I didn’t have the legs to drop Thomas and Roglic. I’m focused on myself and I will always keep a bit of faith and hope. But so far Thomas has proven the strongest.”

Dan Martin: “The last two or three days I have felt really good. It’s a really good sign. I planned to go earlier and that’s why we had Kristijan in the break. But it’s okay to say ‘attack early’, but there is so much wind on those early climbs so it wasn’t worth it. I had good legs and felt I could do a good last climb.

I took advantage of the pace and they let me go and Nairo came with me, and then he attacked me and went so hard but I wanted to settle into my own tempo – it almost turned into a time trial to the top. I was trying to keep him at 10 or 15 seconds because at 500mt I could usually close that gap, but at this altitude it was tough. He was the better guy on the day, but I was really proud of how the team and I rode today”.

Julian Alaphilippe: “It was short and intense. I like that. I was a bit worried after the hard day we had yesterday. But I felt good. I reckoned this stage with Bob Jungels and it helped me. I targeted the KOM points of the first climb. I also passed the second one at the front but after that, it was impossible to keep going. I’ve never been supported by the crowd as much as these days with the polka dot jersey. To bring it to Paris would be an enormous pride.”

Primoz Roglic: “It was a short stage but a very difficult day”, Roglic said. “I gave myself for one hundred ten percent and I’m happy with what I showed today. I wanted to gain time on my main rivals here, but unfortunately, I only succeeded to do so on Froome. There are still two decisive stages to come; another mountain stage and a time trial, so anything can happen. It’s now a matter of keeping my focus and continuing to fight until Paris. I felt very strong today. I’ll look at it day by day and than we’ll see where we’ll end up on Sunday.”

Steven Kruijswijk was also happy with his performance. “Today we rode very well as a team. I’m very happy with what we’ve shown. We really animated the stage. Such a short stage is very explosive. So when Primoz attacked, we were left in front with only a few riders. In the end, I just couldn’t follow Primoz, Dumoulin and Thomas. But what we showed here is a confirmation that we’re doing really well. The Tour is far from over yet. I want to finish as high as possible in Paris, so we we’ll definitely try something on Friday or in the time trial. We’ll keep fighting.”
… continued after advert

2016_ShuttVeloRapideAdvert

Stage result
1 NAIRO QUINTANA MOVISTAR TEAM 02H 21′ 27”
2 DANIEL MARTIN UAE TEAM EMIRATES 28”
3 GERAINT THOMAS TEAM SKY 47”
4 PRIMOŽ ROGLIC TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 00′ 52”
5 TOM DUMOULIN TEAM SUNWEB 00′ 52”
6 STEVEN KRUIJSWIJK TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 01′ 05”
7 EGAN ARLEY BERNAL GOMEZ TEAM SKY 01′ 33”
8 CHRIS FROOME TEAM SKY 01′ 35”
9 MIKEL LANDA MOVISTAR TEAM 01′ 35”
10 ILNUR ZAKARIN TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN 02′ 01”
11 RAFAL MAJKA BORA – HANSGROHE 02′ 20”
12 ALEJANDRO VALVERDE MOVISTAR TEAM 02′ 32”
13 ROMAIN BARDET AG2R LA MONDIALE 02′ 35”
14 DAVID GAUDU GROUPAMA – FDJ 03′ 23”
15 JAKOB FUGLSANG ASTANA PRO TEAM 04′ 00”
16 WARREN BARGUIL TEAM FORTUNEO – SAMSIC 04′ 15”
17 BOB JUNGELS QUICK – STEP FLOORS 05′ 10”
18 JESPER HANSEN ASTANA PRO TEAM 05′ 10”
19 WOUT POELS TEAM SKY 05′ 12”
20 TANEL KANGERT ASTANA PRO TEAM 05′ 38”

OVERALL
1 GERAINT THOMAS TEAM SKY
2 TOM DUMOULIN TEAM SUNWEB 01′ 59”
3 CHRIS FROOME TEAM SKY 02′ 31”
4 PRIMOŽ ROGLIC TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 02′ 47”
5 NAIRO QUINTANA MOVISTAR TEAM 03′ 30”
6 STEVEN KRUIJSWIJK TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 04′ 19”
7 MIKEL LANDA MEANA MOVISTAR TEAM 04′ 34′
8 ROMAIN BARDET AG2R LA MONDIALE 05′ 13”
9 DANIEL MARTIN UAE TEAM EMIRATES 06′ 33”
10 JAKOB FUGLSANG ASTANA PRO TEAM 09′ 31”
11 ALEJANDRO VALVERDE MOVISTAR TEAM 11′ 25”
12 ILNUR ZAKARIN TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN 11′ 31”
13 BOB JUNGELS QUICK – STEP FLOORS 14′ 20”
14 PIERRE ROGER LATOUR AG2R LA MONDIALE 16′ 03”
15 GUILLAUME MARTIN WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT 22′ 30”
16 EGAN ARLEY BERNAL GOMEZ TEAM SKY 24′ 34”
17 WARREN BARGUIL TEAM FORTUNEO – SAMSIC 26′ 54”
18 BAUKE MOLLEMA TREK – SEGAFREDO 27′ 22”
19 TANEL KANGERT ASTANA PRO TEAM 27′ 35”
20 DAMIANO CARUSO BMC RACING TEAM 32′ 56”
21 DOMENICO POZZOVIVO8BAHRAIN – MERIDA 33′ 11”
22 GREG VAN AVERMAET BMC RACING TEAM 33′ 47”
23 RAFAL MAJKA BORA – HANSGROHE 35′ 08”
24 MIKEL NIEVE ITURRALDE MITCHELTON – SCOTT 36′ 13”
25 JON IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI BAHRAIN – MERIDA 37′ 24”
26 SIMON GESCHKE TEAM SUNWEB 41′ 04” –
27 LILIAN CALMEJANE DIRECT ENERGIE 43′ 03”
28 GORKA IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI BAHRAIN – MERIDA 43′ 14”
29 ADAM YATES MITCHELTON – SCOTT 44′ 05”

AlpsCyclesMidstory

Cycle Division’s Shop

Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: ,