It was only with about 4 km to go that stage 17 of the Tour de France really heated up, but when it did, it was scintillating.
On the insanely steep ramps of the Col de la Loze bike path the group of GC favourites blew apart leaving every single rider to fend for themselves. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) took out the stage with a couple of stinging attacks, while Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) extended his lead in the general classification with second place.
Here’s how the brutal finale to stage 17 unfolded, as captured by Ashley and Jered Gruber, Kristof Ramon and Cor Vos.
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- Bahrain-McLaren took on the responsibility of pacemaking on the day’s final two climbs, riding in support of Mikel Landa.
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- Jumbo-Visma would have been well pleased with not having to sit on the front all day.
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- Miguel Angel Lopez attacked with 3.5 km to go. It took him a couple of tries to get away …
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- … but eventually he was on his own …
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- … and heading to victory in his first Tour de France.
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- After a strong supporting ride from Sepp Kuss (rear) Primoz Roglic set off alone with about 1.8 km to go.
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- The Slovenian was able to distance all that tried following …
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- … including his compatriot Tadej Pogacar.
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- Richie Porte rode strongly once again and moved up to fourth overall.
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- After his team set the pace for most of the last 80 km, Landa was dropped with just less than 4 km to go.
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- Rigoberto Uran had a tough day and slipped off the overall podium.
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- Could Valverde be competitive?
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- Hugh Carthy can always be relied on for a good suffer face.
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- Lopez powered up the steep final ramps …
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- … to win the stage and move up to third overall.
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- Roglic was next across the line …
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- … to extend his lead in the general classification.
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- Pogacar finished third, 15 seconds back on Roglic, and is now 57 seconds down in second overall.
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- Porte will likely struggle to reach the podium from here, now that he’s 1:39 off Lopez in third. But stranger things have happened …
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- Yates is currently sitting fifth overall – not bad for a guy who’s “not going for GC”.
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- Benoit Cosnefroy has been in polka dots since stage 2. Pogacar now leads the KOM classification and will wear the dots on stage 18 (the KOM jersey takes precedence over the best young rider competition which Pogacar also leads).
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- The steep slopes made a mess of the peloton …
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- … which came home in dribs and drabs.
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- Sam Bennett made it through another day in the mountains and moved another day closer to wearing green in Paris.
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- Matteo Trentin had mail to deliver on the final climb. He wasn’t alone.
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- With four stages remaining, Roglic is the hot favourite to win the 2020 Tour de France. He’s impressed many over the past few weeks, including French president Emmanuel Macron.