Tour de France Stage 17 Results

Geschke Wins Stage 17, Van Garderen Withdraws

Simon Geschke, Team Giant-Alpecin, won Stage 17 of the Tour de France today. This victory is Geschke's first Tour victory. Nairo Quintana, Movistar Team, and Chris Froome, Team Sky, battled each other in the final kilometer of the stage. Alberto Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo, came in two minutes behind Chris Froome. There are significant changes in the GC competition standings (shown below), including the withdrawal of Tejay Van Garderen, BMC Racing Team. With only three Alpine stages left after today, it looks like Quintana is the only GC competitor who can overtake Froome. Peter Sagan, Tinkoff-Saxo, increased his advantage in the Points competition over André Greipel, Lotto-Soudal.
Stage 17 is the first Alpine stage of the Tour. This 161 km stage runs from Digne-les-Bains to Pra Loup. The toughest challenge today was the Col d'Allos, a Category 1 climb, the highest point in this year's Tour. It was a cooler day at we degrees C with thunderstorms in the area.
A breakaway group of twenty-five riders formed with Peter Sagan, Tinkoff-Saxo, moving nearly three minutes ahead of the Yellow Jersey group. Peter Sagan apparently wants to grab some more points in the intermediate sprint. Van Garderen fell behind the main peloton when Quintana launched a probing attack, and the peloton responded. Team Sky was leading the peloton throughout the stage allowing Froome to keep an eye on the GC contenders.
Alberto Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo,  opens a probing attack of his own, and the peloton responds again. The increase in speed leaves Van Garderen behind the peloton again after briefly joining it. Van Garderen abandoned the Tour due to illness with 70 km (43.5 miles) to go in the stage. He was the top American in the GC standings in third place. Tony Gallopin was also falling behind the peloton as well.
Geschke pulled away from the breakaway group to lead the climb up the Col d'Allos. Thibaut Pinot, FDJ, went after Geschke leaving Andrew Talansky, Team Cannondale-Garmin, behind. Froome became isolated within the peloton and Nibali, and Quintana tried to pull away from Froome in separate attacks. Richie Porte came back from a breakaway chase group to support Froome. Contador was involved in a small crash in the technical descent from the Col d'Allos. Nibali, Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Movistar Team, and Froome are together with Contador trailing.
Pinot was passed on the descent by a few riders, including Talansky, chasing Geschke. A number of teams and riders have made attacks and other moves to move up in the GC standings after Van Garderen's withdrawal from the Tour.

Stage 17 Results

1.
Simon Geschke
Team Giant-Alpecin
04h 12' 17''
2.
Andrew Talansky
Team Cannondale-Garmin
04h 12' 49''
+ 00' 32''
3.
Rigoberto Uran
Etixx-Quick Step
04h 13' 18''
+ 01' 01''
4.
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
04h 13' 53''
+ 01' 36''
5.
Mathias Frank
IAM Cycling
04h 13' 57''
+ 01' 40''

Points Competition Standings


1.
Peter Sagan
Tinkoff-Saxo
420 pts
2.
André Greipel
Lotto-Soudal
316 pts
3.
John Degenkolb
Team Giant-Alpecin
281 pts
4.
Mark Cavendish
Etixx-Quick Step
192 pts

King of the Mountains Competition Standings

1.
Chris Froome
Team Sky
61 pts
2.
Joachim Rodriguez
Team Katusha
52 pts
3.
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
41 pts
4.
Serge Pauwels
MTN-Qhubeka
40 pts
5.
Richie Porte
Team Sky
40 pts

GC Competition Standings

1.
Chris Froome
Team Sky
69h 06' 49''
2.
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
69h 09' 59''
+ 03' 10''
3.
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
69h 10' 58''
+ 04' 09''
4.
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
69h 13' 23''
+ 06' 34''
5.
Alberto Contador
Tinkoff-Saxo
69h 13' 29''
+ 06' 40''
6.
Robert Gesink
Team Lotto NL - Jumbo
69h 14' 28''
+ 07' 39''
7.
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana  Pro Team
69h 14' 53''
+ 08' 04''
8.
Mathias Frank
IAM Cycling
69h 15' 36''
+ 08' 47''
9.
Bauke Mollema
Trek Factory Racing
69h 18' 36''
+ 11' 47''
10.
Warren Barguil
Team Giant-Alpecin
69h 19' 57''
+ 13' 08''

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