2018 Tour de France Stage 17 Results & Recap
Stage 17 of the 2018 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Quintana wins on the Portet\nBy Clara Beard
On an experimental mountain stage just 65 kilometres long, Nairo Quintana rode to his first stage victory at this year’s Tour de France, his second of his career. The tiny climber made his move on the final of three monstrous climbs, the col du Portet.
“The truth is this is a well-deserved victory, not only for me but for my team who worked really hard and aggressively for that,” Quintana said. “We’ve demonstrated to being a great team. I knew the course. I reckoned the final climb but what made me win is above all the support of the squad, and especially Alejandro Valverde who waited for me and put me in a fantastic position. The overall classification has become a bit hard but we keep our intention to make the race difficult till the end and this victory gives us the serenity for what comes next.”
Looking unflappable, race leader Geraint Thomas (SKY) extended his lead in the overall competition. The Welshman is now 1:59 ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and a further 2:31 in front of defending champion, Chris Froome.
“I didn’t know what to expect but it’s been a hard day and I’m happy to leave it behind,” Thomas said. “Chris [Froome] told me with 4 or 5km to go that he wasn’t feeling great. There was no way I’d have attacked him but it made me understand that the others had to be in trouble too. I followed Roglic and Dumoulin and I went for the seconds bonus of the third place but I also got a time gap so it’s a nice bonus. I think I’m in a good position now but it doesn’t change the mental approach we have. I’ll keep doing all the small things right. I’m not going to be carried away or complacent. We’ll continue riding well as a team. That’s our strength. It might be hard to believe after what happened between him and Brad [Wiggins] but Chris and I are honest and open with each other. That makes the success of our team.”
Tanel Kangert (Astana) was the first attacker in the first kilometre and gained a lead of 25 seconds ahead of Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Kristijan Durasek (UAE Team Emirates) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step). Alaphilippe and Durasek joined Kangert just before the intermediate sprint at Loudenvielle.
On the penultimate climb, Kangert was left solo again. However, the col du Portet was where the action really started when Quintana attacked out of a small yellow jersey group containing all the favorites. With six kilometres of the climb left, Quintana rode away solo and wasn’t threatened for the stage win. Meanwhile, Roglic attacked the Sky duo a few times, finally cracking Froome at 1 kilometre to go, but not phasing Thomas, who finished first out of the favorites.
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