Chris Froome was once again unassailable behind his Sky teammates. He was attacked several times on the final climb of Stage 17 of the 2016 Tour de France (but notably, not once by Nairo Quintana), and never seemed in danger, finishing on the wheel of former teammate Richie Porte to further solidify the yellow jersey.
Tour de France standings 2016: Chris Froome extends yellow jersey at Swiss mountain top
Chris Froome took even more time over his rivals on Stage 17. Nairo Quintana, once expected to compete for the yellow jersey, once again had no attack in his legs.
Ilnur Zakarin won the stage from a three-man breakaway with Stage 15 winner Jarlinson Pantano and polka dot jersey wearer Rafal Majka. He accelerated viciously on his own midway up Finhaut-Emosson and gained time to the finish line as Pantano and Majka made little effort to chase, likely because they didn’t have the legs up one of the steepest climbs of the Tour.
It took 70 kilometers before the peloton would let a break get away. The likes of Ramunas Navardauskas, Ruben Plaza, Tony Martin and Wilco Kelderman were among those who took part in early forays from the pack, but they were hauled in by a fast-moving peloton until a four-man group of Stef Clement, Tanel Kangert, Kristijan Durasek and Tony Gallopin got clear.
The lead group grew to 14 up to the intermediate sprint point just before the base of the massive final two climbs. It encompassed Pantano, Majka, Greg Van Avermaet, Thomas Voeckler and green jersey wearer Peter Sagan. The break led by more than 13 minutes as it started up Col de la Forclaz.
With 28 kilometers to the finish, Gallopin took off from the breakaway group, and was followed by Alexey Lutsenko. With 24 kilometers to go, Gallopin was brought back leaving Lutsenko to fruitlessly try to forge a path on his own. Majka took the summit to score 10 more points to preserve his King of the Mountains title. He was accompanied on the descent by Pantano.
Sky, per usual, drove the peloton onto Col de la Forclaz, with five riders in front of Chris Froome. Movistar had Winner Anacona setting the pace in an attempt to soften the Sky train, if even just a little bit. He fell back, leaving any more attacks to the two team leaders, Quintana and Alejandro Valverde.
At the summit of Col de la Forclas, the peloton was reduced to an elite yellow jersey group of 20 riders, paced by Vincenzo Nibali and Astana. Sky still had their domestiques. Quintana and Valverde followed at their wheel.
Zakarin joined the two stage leaders, and made his move with 6.5 kilometers to the summit of Finhaut-Emosson. Pantano was able to accelerate but couldn’t keep Zakarin’s wheel. Majka fell back and finished third.
Astana continued the drive the pace up the final climb, with team leader Fabio Aru sitting in third position. Nibali and Diego Rosa both cracked midway up the climb, leaving Aru at the front having done their job to the best of their abilities. Just behind Astana, Froome still had Sergio Henao, Wout Poels and Mike Nieve with him.
Valverde was the first rider to string out the yellow jersey group up to Finhaut-Emosson. He forced Sky to chase and was able to get Henao to crack before falling back himself. Daniel Martin then accelerated before being reabsorbed. All the while, Quintana marked Froome’s wheel ... and stayed there.
Just after the 2K-to-go banner, Richie Porte broke the group open. Quintana was the first chaser, but he fell back, then Froome slung himself off of Poels’ wheel to join Porte toward the line with a sizable gap. Quintana let his head fall and lost the wheel of Aru, Adam Yates and Romain Bardet. He lost nearly 30 seconds on the day.
If anyone had any hopes of wearing the yellow jersey this year, he had to take time away from Froome on Wednesday. There’s only one more mountain top finish left. The only questions remaining seem to be Froome’s final time gap and how far Quintana, a favorite to win entering the Tour, will fall down the general classification.
Tour de France Stage 17 top 10
1. Ilnur Zakarin - 4h 36m 33s
2. Jarlinson Pantano + 55s
3. Rafal Majka + 1m 26s
4. Kristijan Durasek + 1m 32s
5. Brice Feillu + 2m 33s
6. Thomas Voeckler + 2m 46s
7. Domenico Pozzovivo + 2m 50s
8. Stef Clement + 2m 57s
9. Steve Morabito + 4m 38s
10. Richie Porte + 7m 59s
Tour de France general classification top 10 after Stage 17
1. Chris Froome 77h 25m 10s
2. Bauke Mollema + 2m 27s
3. Adam Yates + 2m 53s
4. Nairo Quintana + 3m 27s
5. Romain Bardet + 4m 15s
6. Richie Porte + 4m 27s
7. Alejandro Valverde + 5m 19s
8. Daniel Martin + 5m 35s
9. Fabio Aru + 5m 50s
10. Louis Meintjes + 6m 07s
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