3 brutal climbs, 65 kilometres. 65... six-five... single figures...
Yes, the most highly anticipated stage of the 2018 Tour de France is upon us. Strap yourselves in.
Such is the excitement in the Pyrenean air today, we're firing up the CN live blimp early. There's just under an hour to go until the race gets underway, but once it does there'll barely be time to catch our breath, and we've got plenty of build-up to get through...
There's only really one place to start, and that's with Barry Ryan's stage preview.
"Like a ship in a bottle, route designer Thierry Gouvenou has slotted three mountain passes into the space of just 65 kilometres and then pulled the string to set up the most eagerly-anticipated Tour stage in recent memory. The Montée de Peyragudes, Col de Val Louron-Azet and Col du Portet combine for a total of 38.3km of climbing and 3,126 metres of altitude gained."
For more on the parcours, the history of shorter mountain stages, and the tactical possibilities, here's the link to the full piece.
Ripping up the textbook and putting on such a short mountain stage clearly wasn't enough for the race organisers, who have also introduced a gridded start for today's stage. Riders will line up on the start line in order of their position on general classification, and there's no neutralised section, so once it goes, it goes...
But will it make any difference?
That's the question on a lot of people's lips. Will anyone dare take it on that early? Or will GC leaders wait for their teammates and slot back into a familiar pattern? We put the question to team directeurs sportifs, and you can read their thoughts at the following link.
This is the second of three mountain stages in the Pyrenees. Yesterday saw Julian Alaphilippe take his second stage win of this Tour, and indeed of his career. Meanwhile the GC contenders were all content to mark each other, perhaps keeping their powder dry with today's stage in mind.
1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 68:12:01 2 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:39 3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:50 4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:38 5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:21 6 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:42 7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:57 8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:04:23 9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:06:14 10 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:54 11 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:36 12 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 0:09:53 13 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:54 14 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:10:13 15 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:12:23
Peyresourde/Peyragudes and Val Louron-Azet are both serious climbs, but today's final climb of the Col du Portet is causing almost all of the trepidation. "It’s probably one of the most brutal climbs we’ve ever done," says Dan Martin.
You might be familiar with Pla d'Adet, and much of this is the same climb, but the upper section of the col was only paved earlier this year, so this is something of a novelty, and of course significantly more challenging.
A few summit finish comparisons with the Portet:Col de Portet: 16km at 8.7%. Alt 2,115m.Ventoux: 15.7km at 8.8%. Alt 1,912m.Alpe d'Huez: 13.8km at 8.1%. Alt 1,850m.Finhaut-Emosson: 10.4km at 8.4%. Alt 1,960m.Col d'Izoard: 14.1km at 7.3%. Alt 2,360m.
— Baden Cooke (@badencooke)
I don’t care who you are, the yellow jersey or the lantern rouge, you will be shitting yourself right now. This stage is going to be NASTY! #tdf2018 go @romainbardet!!
Just about enough time to click play on our latest podcast. Daniel Benson and Ed Pickering discuss today's stage, along with what happened yesterday - including that astonishing farmer's protest - and what happened the day before that - including Dave Brailsford's even more astonishing comments at Team Sky's rest-day press conference.
As I mentioned, there's no neutralised section today. Most riders would warm up anyway for a stage like this, but today the organisers have ended sign-on a full 30 minutes before the start, and created a paddock area where the riders can warm up. Here's Tom Dumoulin and Sunweb.
The riders are milling around, slowly making their way to the grid. The maillot jaune will be in the pole position and is weaving his way through to the head of the line.
There's not too much stress apparent in the peloton - mountains classification leader Julian Alaphilippe is all smiles.
Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome are in position, and Tom Dumoulin has just threaded his way to third position.
The top riders are all in position and the tension is beginning to show a little. Mikel Landa has a stretch and a sigh.
Here we go then. We're moments away. This is weird...
They're off!
Bardet comes through but no attacks from the gun from the GC guys...
Sky's riders quickly make their way to Thomas and Froome.
We have attacks, but from the Pro Conti teams and breakaway hopefuls.
Well that wasn't too different to a normal stage...
Julien Bernard is among the attackers at the head of the race. Pierre Rolland too.
Meanwhile sprinters like Arnaud Demare are already getting dropped.
Tanel Kangert off the front now for Astana. Thomas De Gendt and Pierre Rolland are following.
Pellizotti has set off in pursuit of Kangert.
Behind him a large breakaway group is pulling away.
Sky have four riders ahead of Thomas and Froome. So much for the leaders being isolated early...
Valverde is in this breakaway group. The Spaniard is 11th overall.
Alaphilippe has sprung out of the peloton and is making his way up towards the break.
Adam Yates is also in this break. The Briton came so close to victory yesterday, only to crash half-way down the final descent.
Luke Rowe is leading the peloton.
Luke Rowe is leading the peloton.
More riders spring from the peloton. Mikel Nieve goes now, teammates of Yates. Darwin Atapuma, Mathias Frank, and Romain Sicard have just made it over.
Valverde is the headline name in that break. He has Marc Soler in there for company. Movistar have Mikel Landa and Nairo Quintana back in the peloton, both outside the top five and needing to produce something spectacular today.
Kangert has 25 seconds over this breakaway of more than 20 riders.
The breakaway has split slightly on the early section of the climb. The gradient eases now for a kilometre or so.
This was the scene earlier
Cofidis' Nicolas Edet has caught Kangert at the head of affairs.
Luke Rowe is still on the front for Sky. Peter Sagan is still in there. Sky's rivals aren't using this climb so far to try and shake things up.
Wout Poels drops back through the bunch. Not sure if he's struggling or heading back for supplies.
Alaphilippe leads the chase of Kangert and Edet. The Frenchman is in a trio with Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) and Kristijan Durasek (UAE).
Kangert accelerates and drops Edet.
57km remaining from 65km
We're 8km into the this opening climb. 7km to go to the top.
Some more names in the break
Martinez, Rolland, Geschke, G. Izagirre, Pellizotti, Yates, Soler, Valverde, Majka, Mühlberger, Fraile, Vichot, De Gendt, Calmejane, Mollema, Navarro.
Edet is caught and passed by the Alaphilippe/Herrada/Durasek trio.
Kangert leads the race
Alaphilippe, Herrada, Durasek are 25 seconds back
Valverde, Yates, and others are 1:05 back.
The peloton is 2:25 back.
Kangert is 4km from the summit of Peyragudes. Steady gradients of 7% here.
Alaphilippe briefly drops Herrada and Durasek. The Frenchman is known more as a puncheur, but with two high-mountain stage wins and the polka-dot jersey on his shoulders....
Luke Rowe continues to set the tempo in the yellow jersey group.
Yates is making his way back to to Valverde and Soler at the head of the third group on the road. The Briton lost contact for a kilometre or so.
Kangert comes over the top of the Col de Peyresourde. This isn't where the climb ends, however, as the riders continue on up the Montée de Peyragudes, which you may remember from last year.
Mechanical for Quintana!
The Colombian gets a wheel change - and a slow one - from Andrey Amador.
Quintana should be able to get back in relatively comfortably before the top of the climb.
50km remaining from 65km
Kangert comes over the summit alone.
Alaphilippe is next over, some 20 seconds down, to add a further 8 points to his lead in the mountains classification. He has Herrada and Durasek on his wheel.
Next over is the third breakaway group, containing Valverde, Soler, Yates, Pellizotti, Fraile, and a few others.
Quintana stops again to get a new bike.
Quintana rips past teammate Daniele Bennati, who'd paced him back the first time. He has Imanol Erviti to drag him to the summit.
The peloton cross the top of Peyragudes 3:30 down on Kangert.
Quintana is just off the back, but no panic.
The third group on the road thinned to eight by the top. It contains:
Alejandro Valverde, Marc Soler (Movistar)
Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)
Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Dani Navarro, Jesus Herrada (Cofidis)
Dani Martinez (EF-Drapac)
Omar Fraile (Astana)
We saw Alaphilippe's descending skills yesterday. Matt White said he'd never seen some of the angles the Frenchman produced. Herrada can't match him, and now Durasek is drifting back too. Meanwhile Kangert is in sight up ahead.
I missed Pellizotti off that list of riders in the third group. Bauke Mollema has just made it over, too, on the descent.
40km remaining from 65km
Alaphilippe catches Kangert. Durasek gets back in, too. That's the trio that leads the race.
40 kilometres to go! 40!
The leaders come off the descent. There's a brief section in the valley -and a somewhat incongruous intermediate sprint - before the road kicks up again for the Col de Val Louron-Azet.
Kangert leads Alaphilippe and Durasek through the sprint, but in truth it's the last thing on anyone's mind.
The leading trio hit the Col de Val Louron-Azet. It's 7.4km at 8.3%. Shorter than Peyresourde/Peyragudes but much more vicious.
Luke Rowe leads Sky and the peloton onto the climb, 3:30 in arrears. How long can the Classics specialist keep this up? Surely Sky's rivals can't settle for this pace up another first-category climb? If they want to win the Tour surely they have to start thinking about attacking here, and weakening Sky ahead of the Portet.
And, as if on cue, AG2R take it up in the peloton. Silvan Dillier, Oliver Naesen, and Pierre Latour are in front of Romain Bardet...
AG2R spoke a lot ahead of this Tour about taking the race to Sky and being the ones to 'destabilise' them. We haven't seen it so far, but now they're playing their cards, and Rowe is gone.
The AG2R collective has been weakened by the abandons of Tony Gallopin and Alexis Vuillermoz. Climber Mathias Frank is somewhere up the road. Naesen pulls away now. Latour will be key here. He's in the white jersey as best young rider but may have to lay that on the line here.
The change of pace has thinned the peloton dramatically.
Dillier is gone now, too, and Latour puts in a big acceleration for Bardet.
No more than 30 left in the peloton
Dan Martin is right behind Bardet. They have a small gap back to Sky, who are trying not to panic. Castroviejo is leading them.
Yates can't hold the pace of the Valverde group.
Bardet looks focused as he sits in Latour's wheel and bides his time. When will he make his move?
Quintana and Landa are towards the back of this GC group.
33km remaining from 65km
Alaphilippe, Kangert, and Durasek continue to lead the race. Their lead is being shaved now, though. 2:50. They're 4km from the top.
Latour begins to bob his head from side to side as has become his trademark. He looks comfortable, though.
Poels is still present but he's at the back of the group.
Dumoulin has latched onto the back of the Sky train. He has no teammates with him.
Majka is forcing the issue in the chase group. Valverde, Fraile, and Martinez are the only ones with him.
Soler is caught by the yellow jersey group, having dropped from the Valverde group. The Spaniard looks for Quintana and Landa.
Pellizotti and Mulhberger have dragged their way back to the Valverde group.
Soler gets straight to work on the front of the yellow jersey group. He plonks himself in front of Latour.
Alaphilippe, Kangert, and Durasek are 50 seconds clear of the Valverde group, and 2:30 clear of the peloton.
Latour is done
30km remaining from 65km
Soler continues to drive the pace. He looks really strong and it seems clear he was called back from the break, rather than dropped.
Latour is clinging to the back of the group but he's losing the wheel now. just over 1km to the summit.
Mollema, Rolland, Izaguirre, and Geschke are caught by the GC group, having been in the break.
Geschke's presence gives Dumoulin a much-needed teammate.
Muhlberger, after another big turn, drops from the Valverde group. With Soler riding hard behind, Valverde is sitting in and letting Bora work in this group - the second on the road.
Alaphilippe leads the race over the Col de Val Louron-Azet, adding to his lead in the KOM standings. Kangert is on the wheel, Durasek a few lengths back.
Valverde, Majka, Fraile, and Martinez come over the top 25 seconds down.
Soler still leads the peloton. Kwiatkowski is on the wheel.
Poels moves up now.
27km remaining from 65km
Soler leads the GV group over the top, 2:05 down on the leading trio.
A really tricky descent to come now, 11km long.
Soler leads the GC group down the descent.
Alaphilippe leads the way, Kangert just about keeping pace. Durasek is losing more ground and is now 23 seconds down. He may soon be caught by the next group - Valverde, Majka, Fraile, Pellizotti, and Martinez.
Peter Sagan has crashed, according to race radio.
20km remaining from 65km
20km to go in this stage. Alaphilippe and Kangert continue to lead down the descent with 40 seconds on the chase group and 2:25 on the peloton.
Soler is leading the GC group down, a few wheels clear of Sky. No one's taking any risks or making any moves here.
18km remaining from 65km
The final climb is 16km long, so the leading duo will be there in a couple of kilometres' time.
Col du Portet
Hors-Categorie
16km
8.7%
Alaphilippe and Kangert hit the valley with a lead of less than a minute over Valverde, Majka, Fraile, Pellizotti, and Martinez.
We're hearing Sagan is back up and going.
And now the climb begins.
Alaphilippe is immediately dropped. The Frenchman waves goodbye to Kangert and waves his hand to his throat. His day is done, and he's made that polka-dot jersey even more secure on his shoulders.
So, we have a lone leader, Tanel Kangert. How far can he go? Valverde is pushing on in the chase, while the peloton is 2:46 back.
The GC group hit the climb, and it's Soler leading the way.
Big acceleration from Soler. Castroviejo marks him but the rest of the Sky train stays where it is.
Soler continues his effort, Castroviejo on his wheel. Sky have called the bluff, but Soler could provide a bridge for an attack from Quintana or Landa.
15km remaining from 65km
15km to the summit for Kangert. Here come the double-digit gradients
Dan Martin attacks!
Quintana follows Martin. They have a gap
Quintana accelerates now.
Here we go, it's finally kicking off
Sky aren't panicking but the gap is growing.
Martin can't hold Quintana's wheel.
Castroviejo leads the Sky train, Poels behind, then Kwiatkowski, Thomas and Froome.
Soler is dropped. His work is done.
Quintana has 20 seconds on his rivals.
Sky are riding tempo here, refusing to panic.
A reminder of the overall standings
1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 68:12:01 2 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:39 3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:50 4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:38 5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:21 6 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:42 7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:57 8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:04:23 9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:06:14 10 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:54 11 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:36 12 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 0:09:53 13 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:54 14 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:10:13 15 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:12:23
Quintana catches Yates and other remnants of the original break. He's now 30 seconds ahead.
Dan Martin is still in between Quintana and the GC group.
Quintana springs away from Yates and now Alaphilippe.
Attack from Roglic!
Froome goes with him!
Dream scenario for Froome...
Sky disappear from the front and Dumoulin is forced to come to the front.
Thomas tucks in behind Dumoulin
This is a really interesting tactical situation. Rolgic is fourth overall and around a minute back on Dumoulin. Froome can follow, arguing he needs to gain time on Dumoulin, while Thomas will have to sit in and wait, hoping Dumoulin busts a gut and Roglic and Froome don't gain too much ground.
Dumoulin is digging in here and the GC group is thinning big time
Kwiatkowski, Poels, and Castroviejo are all gone now, out the back.
Froome is taking turns now with Roglic.
Quintana has 20 seconds on Roglic and Froome.
Dumoulin is dragging this back.
12km remaining from 65km
Quintana reaches Valverde.
Froome and Roglic are caught.
Bernal comes to the front now for Sky. Kruijswijk is in there as well for LottoNL. Bardet is present and correct too.
Dan Martin is still out in front of the yellow jersey group but he's slipping back from Quintana.
The only riders left in the yellow jersey group are:
Kangert continues to lead, 1:50 ahead of the GC riders.
Quintana has 35 seconds on the GC group. Dan Martin is in between.
Poels comes back to the GC group.
The Sky train is back on track.
Valverde is leading Quintana, with Majka hanging on.
Kangert takes a gel. He has just over 10km to the finish now, but his lead is falling all the time. 1:35 back to the GC group now. and just a minute to Quintana.
Quintana realises he needs to leave Valverde and raise the pace. 10km to go now and he needs to find some serious ground.
Poels looks steady for Sky in front of Bernal, Thomas, and Froome.
Pellizotti has tagged onto the back of the GC group. It's gone quiet again.
Dan Martin goes past Valverde.
Kangert is holding on admirably here. He's 1:20 clear of the GC group.
But the slowing of the pace in that group under Poels has seen Quintana extend his lead, and the Colombian is in fact closing in on Kangert....
8km remaining from 65km
Quintana has Majka on his wheel and now they make the bridge to Kangert.
Quintana rips past Kangert, who tries to cling to the wheel of Majka.
Kangert is dropped.
Quintana and Majka lead the race. They have 15 seconds over Dan Martin and 1:05 over the yellow jersey group.
As it stands, Quintana would jump above Kruijswijk, Landa, and Bardet into 5th overall.
This is some ride from Martin. He lost Quintana early but has held his own ever since. In the past kilometre or so he has made up ground and is now just 15 second back. He's just gone past Kangert.
Bardet is right at the back of the yellow jersey group.
Bardet doesn't look in any position to attack. Landa won't, with Quintana up the road. What have Roglic and Dumoulin got?
Quintana drops Majka!
The Colombian is the lone leader with 6.4km to go
Quintana leads the way, with Martin at 20 seconds, and the yellow jersey group at 1:10
Bardet loses the wheel...
Dear oh dear. Bardet is in real trouble here.
Bardet is gone. This is about damage limitation now but he's going to fall down the standings and hopes of the podium are fading fast.
Quintana now has 30 seconds over Martin.
Bardet is digging in, 10 seconds down.
Chris Froome comes up with a mini acceleration to keep the others on their toes.
5km remaining from 65km
Quintana passes under the 5km-to-go banner. The GC group is 1:15 back.
Kruijswijk attacks.
Poels is dropped but Bernal is able to set about dragging Kruijswijk back.
Thomas and Froome both look comfortable.
Bardet is now 25 seconds down.
Martin claws his way back to 20 seconds of Quintana.
Bernal neutralises Kruijswijk's attack.
Quintana still has 1:10 over the yellow jersey group.
Bernal leads that group with Froome and Thomas there. Roglic and Kruisjwijk are there for LottoNL, while Dumoulin and Landa are the other members.
4km remaining from 65km
Bardet is now 40 seconds back and is about to be caught by Zakarin.
The fans thicken towards the top of the Col du Portet.
Froome drops to the back of the group again.
What a ride by Bernal, again.
3km remaining from 65km
3km-to-go banner for Quintana. He has 1:10, still, on the yellow jersey group. Martin is still at 23 seconds.
Dumoulin looks comfortable but is at the back of the group. Will he attack? Surely Roglic will roll the dice again.
And again on cue, Roglic goes!
Thomas follows it
Froome distanced...
Wow. Bernal zips through and comes back to the front, neutralising the Roglic attack. Kruijswijk is also in touch, as is Dumoulin.
Landa is a few wheels back but getting back in. Froome a few further back and now shouting on the radio. He should get back in now.
Froome is back on.
Bernal is riding this mountain no-handed, as he fiddles with his earpiece. He's back in control.
But here goes Dumoulin!
Thomas follows. Froome dropped!
Roglic and Kruijswijk go with Thomas and Dumoulin.
Bernal drops back to pace Froome. Landa tags on.
Dumoulin is riding himself onto the podium here.
And the Sky leadership conundrum is being definitively settled right here.
Roglic accelerates now. Dumoulin on the wheel, then Thomas, then Kruijswijk.
1km remaining from 65km
Meanwhile Quintana enters the final kilometre. He's 30 seconds clear of Martin and 1minute clear of Thomas
Roglic attacks again. Thomas goes past Dumoulin as he follows the move.
Dumoulin is a few wheels back.
Kruijswijk a few wheels behind Dumoulin.
Meanwhile Froome is losing ground.
Quintana is on his way to the stage win here.
Dumoulin has clawed his way back to Thomas and Roglic with 800 metres to go.
Last 400m for Quintana, who's out of the saddle. This would be his first win on the Tour since 2013.
Froome is panting
Quintana comes towards the line, his face as inscrutable as ever.
Quintana crosses the line and raises his arms in the air.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) wins stage 17 of the Tour de France
Here comes Martin. He crosses 28 seconds down.
Thomas attacks Dumoulin and Roglic!
Thomas takes third, 48 seconds down.
Roglic fourth, Dumoulin fifth, a few seconds down on Thomas.
Kruijswijk is next home, 10 seconds or so down on Dumoulin/Roglic.
Here comes Froome, with Bernal and Landa.
Froome loses 1:35 to Quintana. He loses more than 30 seconds to Dumoulin and is off the podium.
And now Bardet is across the line. A miserable day for the Frenchman, who ships 2:35 to Quintana.
Stage 17 top 10
1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 2:21:27 2 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:28 3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:47 4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:52 5 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:52 6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:05 7 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky 0:01:33 8 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:35 9 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:35 10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:01
Here's Thomas, who has just taken a huge step towards winning the Tour de France.
General Classification after stage 17
1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 70:34:11 2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:59 3 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:02:31 4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:47 5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:30 6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:04:19 7 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:34 8 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:13 9 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:33 10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:09:31
Stick with us and we'll bring you all the instant post-race quotes and reactions, along with the best photos from the mountain.
Winner's shot
Tom Dumoulin has moved up to second overall, but Thomas has only pulled away at the top of the standings.
"I always keep a little bit of faith and hope, but so far, over the last two-and-a-half weeks, Thomas has been the strongest, and that's the situation now," Dumoulin says. "For me, so far it has not been possible to gain time on him. That's it."
Peter Sagan crosses the line with jersey ripped.
And now we can hear from Quintana
"It was a hard day but we’d prepared well for it. It went as exactly as we’d planned. We had Valverde and Soler up front and their riding helped shake out the peloton. We knew it was a stage for pure climbers and we showed our strength.
"I went through some difficult moment in the first part of this Tour and lost some time. But I still felt strong and had the energy to finish the race on a high. I usually improve in the third week of the Tour and it’s going that way.
"I wanted to win for my people in Colombia, after months of hard work. All the support I’ve had from everyone, as well as my family and friends, really helped me today. We were a bit down in the last days, so we needed this win. It’s a wonderful day today."
Dan Martin was exhausted at the line
Quintana on the move
And now we can hear from the yellow jersey, Geraint Thomas
"It was a really hard start to that last climb - Quintana went, Roglic chased and Froome was with him. We managed to force Dumoulin to ride for a bit, then it was really on, then it settled down a bit. I was feeling pretty good, I’d just react as soon as Roglic or Dumoulin moved, so I had a good day.
'Froome wanted to try something so he went early with Roglic, and I just assumed he’d be good. But he wasn’t feeling too good toward the top. I think he’s still third - he’s still up there anyhow."
Interesting that Thomas says it was in the plan for Froome to "try something". The road, however, proved who had the strongest legs and it seems clear now that Thomas is the main man for Sky, and Froome won't be winning a fifth Tour de France, though stranger things have happened... and not that long ago...
More from Thomas, who tries to keep the giddy realisation that he could well win this Tour de France at bay.
"I don’t let myself think about it, it’s honestly just day by day. It’s a sprint day tomorrow, so we just rest up now and get ready for that.
"Obviously Dumoulin and Roglic were strong today and they were active. They’re the closest to me along with Froome, but I don’t classify him as a rival, we’re teammates. He’s a fighter, for sure he’ll keep fighting all the way. It’s good to keep the advantage for myself and the team is in a good position now."
Remember the grid start? Has anything been so over-hyped, only to prove such a let-down? Expect everyone secretly knew it would be a massive let-down all along. Fair play to ASO for trying something new, but I don't think that'll be catching on...
So, where does this leave the race?
Thomas has a commanding lead with four stages to go, and he's showing not signs of weakness, once again riding away from his direct rivals in the high mountains. It really is extraordinary stuff. A flat stage follows tomorrow, and then the final mountain stage - a big day over the Aspin, Tourmalet and Aubisque. This is uncharted territory for Thomas but given his performances so far, and the strength of the team has has to fall back on, it's hard to see him being divested of the maillot jaune. There's a hilly time trial on the penultimate day but Thomas, though unlikely to beat Dumoulin, is a quality time triallist and would be expected to finish the job.
In fact, all the riders in the top four are strong time triallists. After today, Roglic will now smell blood and will be hunting Froome's podium position, 16 seconds away. LottoNL could get creative on that final mountain stage, with Kruijwsijk also 6th overall, while Quintana can't be written out of the podium picture completely after today signalled a turnaround in his form and fortunes.
You can find plenty more photos in our stage gallery
Here's what Dan Martin had to say
"The last two or three days I've felt really good, it's a good sign. I planned to go early, that's why we had guys in the break. It's ok to say you're going to attack early but you get a lot of wind on these climbs. I had good legs and confidence in the legs that I could do a good climb. Team Sky set a tempo early on on the climb and I'm seven minutes down, so I thought they'd let me go. Quintana came with me and I thought we'd ride together but he was strong and attacked me straight away. I wanted to go on my own tempo and turn it into a time trial but the altitude got me in the end, it's pretty high up here!
"Quintana lives pretty high, so that'll help him. I wanted to keep him at 10-15 seconds because I can usually close that gap in the final 400 metres but at this altitude I had nothing left. It was really tough and he was the better guy on the day. I'm proud of how the team rode and how I rode, it's pretty special to be on a mountain top finish at the Tour de France."
"A terrible day," says Romain Bardet, who sees his hopes of a third straight podium evaporate. "My legs just didn't respond on that final climb. It's difficult to accept, but that's sport."
We'll have a story on the Frenchman soon, along with Thomas, Quintana, Roglic, Dumoulin, and Martin.
Arnaud Demare finished 29 minutes behind Quintana and thanks to an extended time cut - given the brevity of today's stage - stays in the race. However, get a load of this tweet from Andre Greipel....
"Maybe somebody should tell @GroupamaFDJ and @ArnaudDemare that there is GPS tracking in @LeTour. Chapeau to lose just 9min on a 17 km climb on @NairoQuinCo #notthefirsttime."
Pretty clear what the insinuation is - that he held onto a team car on the final climb. It's not the first time that accusation has been levelled at the Frenchman, who was accused of doing the same en route to winning Milan-San Remo in 2016. In any case, Demare is pretty much the only pure sprinter left in the race, Greipel having missed the time cut in the Alps along with Cavendish, Gaviria, Kittel, and Groenewegen.
Here's all the snap post-stage reaction in one handy place
The full results are also available to browse here
While we're waiting for today's news to come in from the team on the ground in France, you can listen to our most recent podcast that discusses the stage 17 farmers' protest and Dave Brailsford's extraordinary rest-day Team Sky press conference. We also hear from Adam Yates, Heinrich Haussler and Steven Kruijswijk. Listen to the podcast HERE
Peter Sagan has confirmed that he will go on despite crashing on a descent in stage 17. We'll have a report soon.
Video highlights of today's exciting stage are in. You can watch them HERE
We're hearing that a gendarme saw Chris Froome descending off the final climb back toward the buses, thought he was a spectator on course without authorisation and knocked him off his bike. We'll have a report soon.
In the meantime, you can read what Sagan had to say about his crash HERE
Tom Dumoulin told reporters after today's stage the Geraint Thomas is the strongest rider in the race. Read Barry Ryan's story HERE
After his performance on stage 17, Geraint Thomas says Team Sky are working for him now. Read our report HERE
Sky are now saying Chris Froome fell on his way to the team bus. The intrigue at this year's Tour de France continues.
You can read our updated report on Chris Froome's very bad day HERE
