Froome crashes as Thomas takes control

Colombian climber Nairo Quintana won the short but difficult mountainous stage with a solo attack up the brutal finishing climb to Col du Portet.

Quintana, a three-time podium finisher in the Tour, finished 28 seconds ahead of Irish rider Dan Martin, while Thomas crossed third, 47 seconds back.

Froome finished eighth, 1:35 behind, and dropped from second to third overall, a distant 2min 31secs behind Thomas.

‘‘Froomey said on the radio [at] maybe 5k or 4k to go that he wasn’t feeling super,’’ Thomas said. ‘‘That gave me confidence because I knew if Froomey suffered, everyone suffered.’’

Tom Dumoulin moved up to second, 1:59 behind Thomas, the Welsh rider who is seeking his first Grand Tour victory.

Froome is attempting to match the Tour record of five victories shared by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. But he appeared to be close to conceding this title attempt.

‘‘We just got to look after [Thomas] now,’’ Froome said.

‘‘I’ve won the last three Grand Tours and G’s ridden an absolutely faultless race this year, so he fully deserves to be in the yellow jersey, and fingers crossed he finishes it off and gets the job done in Paris.’’

Jack Bauer was the first New Zealander to the finishing line in stage 17, in 2hr 41min 38secs, 20 minutes behind Quintana.

Bauer was followed by compatriots Dion Smith (2:44.55) and Tom Scully (2:47.15).