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Tour de France standings 2017: Primoz Roglic wins Stage 17, Chris Froome holds yellow jersey

Chris Froome held serve on Wednesday’s massive climbing stage.

Jul 19, 2017, 3:29 PM UTC

Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Primoz Roglic won Stage 17 of the 2017 Tour de France, the first stage of the high alps, with a long solo effort that began 45 kilometers from the finish line. He began the day as one member of a 31-man breakaway, and ended it as the only man to hold off the hard-charging yellow jersey contenders up and over the monstrous Col du Galibier.

Roglic’s decisive move came with roughly six kilometers to go to the Galibier summit. Serge Pauwels initially surged off the front of what had been whittled into a six-man breakaway — Roglic, Pauwels, Alberto Contador, Darwin Atapuma, Mathias Frank, and Daniel Navarro. Roglic followed quickly behind while the rest, one by one, cracked and fell off the back.

Roglic had roughly a minute and a half over the yellow jersey group at the summit of Galibier, an insurmountable time with a long descent into Serre-Chevalier to go.

Up the Col de Galibier, the yellow jersey group was comprised of riders at the top of the general classification standings — Chris Froome, Fabio Aru, Romain Bardet, Rigoberto Uran, Dan Martin, Louis Meintjes, Mikel Landa, and Simon Yates. Warren Barguil joined, too, and summited Col de Galibier second overall on the stage to secure the polk-dot jersey for 2017, presuming he finishes in Paris.

Bardet made the hardiest efforts to crack Froome, launching three separate attacks at six kilometers to the summit, four kilometers to go, and just before the summit. With each surge, Froome and Uran would follow, but Aru, who had been in second on the general classification entering the stage, would have to effort to gap the distance.

Aru was left for good at the summit, falling behind by roughly 30 seconds on the descent. Froome, Bardet, Uran, Landa, and Barguil rolled towards a sprint finish together. Bardet began the final move, but he was overpowered by Uran, who took second on the stage, and Froome, who took third, both earning time bonuses.

With that result, Froome is still in the yellow jersey. Uran was the biggest winner atop the standings, jumping up to second place at 27 seconds behind the yellow jersey. Bardet is in third place, also 27 seconds back, and Aru dropped to fourth, a full 53 seconds out of yellow after beginning the day just 18 seconds back.

Marcel Kittel abandons after crash

The other significant development was the end of Kittel’s Tour. Kittel fell hard at the bottom of the day’s first climb up the Col d’Ornon. He gritted a few kilometers on his bike, wearing an ice pack on his shoulder and bleeding from his knee, but ultimately couldn’t continue. He had won five stages and was holding of a charging Michael Matthews for the green jersey. Kittel was certainly favorite to win in Paris.

Kittel’s abandonment secures the green jersey for Matthews assuming he rides all the way to Paris. Matthews won the intermediate sprint on the stage to add another 20 points to his tally. With Peter Sagan, Mark Cavendish, and Kittel all forced to leave the Tour early, Matthews has a 160-point lead over the second-place rider in the points competition, André Greipel.