Chris Froome (Team Sky) extended his overall lead at the Tour de France thanks to a late acceleration in tandem with former teammate Richie Porte (BMC) in the final kilometre of the steep climb to Finhaut-Emosson overlooking the breathtaking Lac d’Emosson dam and artificial lake high up in the Swiss-French Alps.
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) won the stage with a solo attack after being in the break of the day. The Russian managed to distanced stage 15 winner Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling) and polka-dot jersey wearer Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) and then fought his way up the final part of the 9% gradient alone.
The hard work of Froome’s teammates controlled and tired the Briton’s rivals and he joined Porte with a kilometre of the climb remaining. Quintana and Mollema both struggled to respond to the change of pace and clearly could not go with Froome. They lost precious seconds, as Porte moved up the GC.
ADVERTISEMENT
Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) was the best at limiting his losses, giving up just eight seconds. Roman Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) lost 11 but Quintana – who first tried to go after Porte but then cracked - lost 28 seconds. He no longer appears to be Froome’s biggest threat in this year’s Tour de France.
Mollema lost 40 seconds after being spat out of the back in the final to kilometres.
Froome now leads Mollema by 2:27 in the general classification, with Yates at 2:53 and Quintana at 3:27. Bardet is fifth at 4:15. Porte’s late charge helped lift him from seventh to sixth. He is now 4:27 behind his former teammate and has become the BMC team leader after Tejay van Garderen cracked early on the climb. He is now 17th overall, 23:03 down on Froome.
As usual, Froome warmed down on the rollers, before collecting his 40th yellow jersey.
- Tour de France stage 17 - Finish line quotes
- Tour de France stage 17 highlights - Video
- New FSA wireless groupset debuts at Tour de France
Tour de France stage 17 highlights video
The first big day in the Alps
The final attacks
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://ift.tt/2acPPUa
No comments:
Post a Comment