Zakarin wins stage 17 at the Tour de France as Froome extends lead
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) won the first Alpine stage of the Tour de France after using a late attack in the final climb on Wednesday while race leader Chris Froome increased his lead in the overall standings.
Having bridged the gap to Jarlinson Pantano (IAM) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) on the lower slopes of the final climb, the Russian dropped his companions and reached the finish with an advantage of 55 seconds over Pantano, with Majka completing the podium.
Further back, Movistar and Astana tried to prepare attacks from Nairo Quintana and Fabio Aru but a very strong Mikel Nieve dampened all the attacking spirit on the final climb. Only Richie Porte managed to make a difference and after he had initially gone clear on his own, Chris Froome bridged the gap, with the pair arriving at the finish together. Adam Yates and Romain Bardet were the best of the rest while Nairo Quintana’s poor form was again evident as the Colombian lost ground in the finale.
Froome now leads Mollema by 2’27” and Yates by 2’53” while Quintana is 3’27” behind in fourth. He faces an equally important test tomorrow in the final time trial of the race. The 17km stage has a flat start for the first 4km but from there it is uphill almost all the way to the finish. The first three kilometres of the climb are very steep but from there it is mainly around 4-5%. In the end, the riders face a descent of around 2km.
Tour de France 2016 – stage 17 results (Berne – Finhaut-Emosson):
| 1 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) |
4:36:33 |
| 2 | Jarlinson Pantano (IAM) |
+55” |
| 3 | Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) |
+01’26” |
| 4 | Kristijan Durasek (Lampre – Merida) |
+01’32” |
| 5 | Brice Feillu (Fortuneo – Vital Concept) |
+02’33” |
| 6 | Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) |
+02’46” |
| 7 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) |
+02’50” |
| 8 | Stef Clement (IAM) |
+02’57” |
| 9 | Steve Morabito (FDJ) |
+04’38” |
| 10 | Richie Porte (BMC) |
+07’59” |
| 11 | Christopher Froome (Sky) |
,, |
| 12 | Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) |
+08’07” |
| 13 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) |
+08’10” |
| 14 | Fabio Aru (Astana) |
+08’18” |
| 15 | Louis Meintjes (Lampre – Merida) |
,, |
| 16 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) |
+08’27” |
| 17 | Wouter Poels (Sky) |
+08’39” |
| 18 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) |
,, |
| 19 | Daniel Martin (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
+08’46” |
| 20 | Mikel Nieve (Sky) |
+08’57” |
General classification after stage 17:
| 1 | Christopher Froome (Sky) |
77:25:10 |
| 2 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) |
+02’27” |
| 3 | Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) |
+02’53” |
| 4 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) |
+03’27” |
| 5 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) |
+04’15” |
| 6 | Richie Porte (BMC) |
+04’27” |
| 7 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) |
+05’19” |
| 8 | Fabio Aru (Astana) |
+05’35” |
| 9 | Daniel Martin (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
+05’50” |
| 10 | Louis Meintjes (Lampre – Merida) |
+06’07” |
| 11 | Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) |
+07’03” |
| 12 | Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) |
+07’06” |
| 13 | Sébastien Reichenbach (FDJ) |
+10’19” |
| 14 | Sergio Henao (Sky) |
+14’40” |
| 15 | Geraint Thomas (Sky) |
+20’15” |
| 16 | Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) |
+20’24” |
| 17 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) |
+23’03” |
| 18 | Mikel Nieve (Sky) |
+27’58” |
| 19 | Stef Clement (IAM) |
+31’15” |
| 20 | Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) |
+33’05” |
