Slovenian Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) overcame an early crash on Stage 17 to solo to victory at the Tour de France Wednesday, riding clear from a breakaway over the Col du Galibier to finish ahead of a fractured group of GC contenders.
Roglic, a former ski jumper, finished 1:13 ahead of Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), Chris Froome (Team Sky), Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), Warren Barguil (Sunweb), and Mikel Landa (Team Sky), while further back, Fabio Aru (Astana), who started the day second overall just 18 seconds down, crossed the line in tenth place, 31 seconds back, dropping to fourth overall. With the win Roglic, 27, became the first Slovenian to ever win a stage of the Tour de France.
Earning six seconds time bonus, Uran moved into second overall, 27 seconds behind Froome, and tied with Bardet.
The 183km stage from La Mure to Serre-Chevalier delivered four categorized climbs, including the HC climbs of Col de la Croix-de-Fer (24km at 5.2%) and the Col du Galibier (17.7km climb at 6.9%), the latter being the highest point of this year’s race at 2,642 metres (8,668 feet). Following the summit of the Galibier was a 28km descent to the ski resort at Serre-Chevalier. In total, the stage delivered around 4,500 metres (almost 15,000 feet) of elevation gain.
In the battle for the green points jersey, Australian Michael Matthews (Sunweb) earned an additional 20 points on rival Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) by riding into the day’s early breakaway of 31 riders and taking the day’s only intermediate sprint point, at Allemont, 47km into the stage.
Kittel, who had been caught up in a crash 20km into the stage that also took down Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) and Warren Barguil (Sunweb), did not ride into the breakaway and earned no points; the difference between Matthews and Kittel was just nine points with three road stages remaining. But Kittel would abandon the race on the Croix-de-Fer, succumbing to injuries sustained in his crash.
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- Alberto Contador focused on the battle ahead.
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- Chris Froome, Warren Barguil, and Marcel Kittel, lining up before stage 17 in their leader jerseys.
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- French president Emmanuel Macron visited the stage start and was a spectator from the lead car.
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- Didi the Devil’s iconic presence was on hand during Stage 17. The 65 year-old German has been at every Tour since 1993 sporting his horns and trident.
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- An early version breakaway containing Michael Matthews (Sunweb) on the slopes of the first categorized climb of the day, the Col d’Ornon.
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- Pierre-Luc Périchon rides in his third Tour de France for Fortuneo-Oscaro.
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- Team Sky setting tempo and not letting the breakaway get much over 4 minutes.
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- Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), and Matthews proceeded into the bottom of the Col de la Croix-de-Fer with a sizable margin over the chase group.
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- A composed Mikel Landa (Sky) lead Chris Froome up the Col du Galibier. Froome wouldn’t lose any time on GC, though the pace on the final climb of the day would prove too much for Fabio Aru (Astana), who would drop from second to fourth.
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- Alberto Contador successfully bridged from the main bunch to the breakaway in a gutsy move.
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- Warren Barguil gobbling up more KOM points to secure his lead.
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- Bauke Mollema led the lead group up until the first few kilometers of the final climb, the Col du Galibier, until an attack by eventual winner Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) ended his reign.
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- The moment at which Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) boldly decided to leave his breakaway companions and make a solo attempt.
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- Primoz Roglic solos to victory
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- Serge Pauwels had a fantastic day in the break but as the GC riders starting attacking each other, Pauwels was caught just before the top of Galibier. In the end Pauwels crossed the line in 13th place and moved into Top 20 overall. He said, ”When Roglic attacked on Col du Galibier, I followed him together with Contador. It would have been a perfect situation for me had we worked well together and kept a high pace all the way to the top. Unfortunately, Contador didn’t pull, which was a bit of a problem for us as Frank and Atapuma then came back. I guess Contador just didn’t have the legs for it at the end. Anyway, Roglic was the strongest guy today and he ended up getting away to take the win.”
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- Chris Froome and Fabio Aru.
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- Primoz Roglic said after his solo win, “The plan was to attack on the Galibier and go full-gas in the descent. I made plans for this stage earlier on. It is extra special that my girlfriend and my family are here today. Everywhere, I saw Slovenian flags today. It was amazing.”
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- Mountains classification leader Warren Barguil (Sunweb), despite an early crash, was an instigator within the front group on the Galibier.
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- Today’s tough stage caused another shake up in overall standings with white jersey wearer Simon Yates losing some time overall, moving into seventh place on the general classification. “It was a very difficult day, I didn’t have the best day and lost some time there in the final,” Yates explained. “I didn’t really blow up mentally, I think I limited my losses ok.” Yates explained, “There was quite a lot of wind about and I got shelled off the group towards the end of the final climb. I really fought a lot to stay there as I knew there was still a long way to the finish but I couldn’t do anymore.” He continued, “We are pretty far into the tour now and I think I did really well to not lose too much time today. I went full gas on the final climb and I wasn’t strong enough today so I hope to have better legs.”
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- Stage 17’s ascent of the Col du Galibier marked the highest point of the 2017 Tour de France, at 2642 metres.
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- Chris Froome showed his climbing prowess on the Galibier, responding to multiple back-to-back attacks by Dan Martin (Quick Step Floors), Romain Bardet (AG2R), and Barguil. With measured, metronomic pedal strokes, Froome brought back every threat and the group summited the Galibier as a unit.
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- Roglic maintained his gap over the top of the Galibier and would hold it down the descent and to the line.
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- “This is unbelievable, incredible,” Roglic said. “Winning this stage, over the Galibier… I have no words for it. At this moment, I do not realise what I have just achieved. That will come later and maybe then I will realise what a big win this is.”
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- Roglic is congratulated by his girlfriend who was at the stage finish.
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- Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) won the bunch sprint for second ahead of Froome, taking a six-second time bonus in the process, moving him up to second in the GC.
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- Matthews moved into green on Stage 17 after Marcel Kittel abandoned due to an early crash. He said, “After getting 50 points yesterday I knew that it was game on. I knew beforehand that I had to be active to get those 20 points today and was aware that even if I did get those points it was still going to be difficult. You never want to see a guy out of a race like this, it’s been such a good battle up to this point and I hope Kittel is okay.”
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- Marcel Kittel was bitterly disappointed to abandon and spoke to media after the stage. He said, “To go home with five stage victories is great, but to go home because of a crash and before hitting Paris is a major disappointment. I couldn’t do anything to avoid that crash and lost some skin on my shoulder, back, elbow and hip, which are a bit swollen. I tried to carry on, but pedaling was just painful, especially as in the last couple of days I had to fight with stomach problems and a cold.”