Stage 17 could be defining day in chase for Tour crown
GERAINT Thomas seized full control of the Tour de France as he extended his lead, while Sky team-mate Chris Froome slipped back to third overall on stage 17.
While Movistar’s Nairo Quintana won atop the Col du Portet to move back into the top five, Froome lost contact with the main group of contenders around two kilometres before the summit.
As he went backwards, Thomas stuck on the wheels of Tom Dumoulin and Primoz Roglic – who started the day third and fourth overall – before racing clear in the final few hundred metres to take third place on the day behind Irishman Dan Martin.
The Welshman picked up four seconds on the road and four bonus seconds for third. He now leads by one minute and 59 seconds from Team Sunweb’s Dumoulin, with Froome two minutes and 31 seconds back in third.
Thomas played down his position at the top with only four stages remaining.
“I don’t even want to let myself think about it. I just want to keep doing what I have been doing. As soon as you start thinking too far ahead things happen,” he said.
“It was a very hard start to that last climb. Quintana went, Roglic chased and ‘Froomey’ went with him.
“We forced Dumoulin to chase. I just had to react to Dumoulin and Roglic.”
Thomas paid tribute to his Sky team-mates, who include fellow Welshman Luke Rowe.
He added: “The boys were just incredible - they’re all riding out of their skin. We are riding really well as a team, which is the reason I’m still in this jersey.”
Froome said. “(Thomas) has ridden such an amazing race, he deserves to be in yellow and fingers crossed he holds it now until Paris.”
Asked about riding in service of Thomas as the defending champion, he added: “That’s professional cycling, that’s what a team is all about.
“I’m happy just to be in the position I’m in. I’ve won the last three Grand Tours I’ve done now. It’s certainly been a tough build-up for me but I’ll still fight for the podium and obviously we want to see (Thomas) up there in yellow.
“He looks pretty strong and I imagine he’ll be able to finish it off. We just need to look after him now for these next few days.”
Quintana’s victory came despite two early mechanicals on a 65km stage - the shortest road stage in the Tour for over 30 years - that was designed to be explosive from the start.
A Formula One-style grid start turned into something of a damp squib but the final climb appears to have provided one of the decisive moments of the Tour.
Froome was not alone in cracking at the end as AG2R La Mondiale’s Romain Bardet and Quintana’s team-mate Mikel Landa also fell away.