Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) won the 17th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday, his second stage win of the race.
The stage featured four leg-breaking climbs — three Cat. 1s before the hors categorie ascent of Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet at the finish.
Majka attacked from a chase group on the final climb, passed several riders and eventually found himself at the front of the race. He rode the final 2.4km solo en route to victory.
Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) finished second at 29 seconds back, while race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was third, 46 seconds behind Majka.
Majka also won stage 14.
“This is a thank you for my team, working for me always, especially Nicolas [Roche], who was always working for me, riding really strong,” Majka said. “I passed everyone to win the stage, and now I have the KOM jersey. I’m really happy. Bjarne told me to wait, don’t go with Rodriguez, we need to win the stage, and if we win the stage, we’ll take the jersey.”
Nibali has a 5:26 lead over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in the the GC standings, while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) is 6:00 back in third. Two others — Jean-Christophe Peraud and Romain Bardet, both of Ag2r-La Mondiale — are 8 seconds and 1:34 behind Pinot, respectively.
The race picks Thursday with the 145.5km stage 18 from Pau to Hautacam that features two hors categorie climbs.
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