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Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) has become the first Russian to win a stage of the Tour de France since 2009, taking out Stage 17 with a dominant attack out of the breakaway, while Chris Froome once again completed a commanding hold of the yellow jersey.
While Zakarin won the stage, the real story was back in the peloton. It was looking like Sky were going to again lead the peloton all the way home, before the attacks started.
Astana worked hard from the bottom of the final climb with Vincenzo Nibali putting in a big effort, before Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) became the first man to attack.
He managed to get rid of a couple of Sky riders, with Froome looking to struggle holding the wheel of his teammates before Aru looked to attack but couldn’t get anything going – with the pressure on he held the wheels, and then managed to get going, bringing it home to defend yellow without dropping a second.
That was only after he had to chase down a big Richie Porte attack with about 2 kilometres to go. He would put in a massive effort to get into the wheels and then hang onto the line.
The day’s big loser was Nairo Quintana, who put in a very feeble attempt of an attack trying to follow Porte but simply couldn’t. He would then sit in a group with the likes of Adam Yates, before being spat out the back as Yates mounted his own attack.
The attack from Yates meant he only lost 10 seconds to Porte and Froome, while Bauke Mollema also lost plenty of time, being dropped and finishing behind Quintana. The attack for Porte leaves him in sixth place overall.
From a relatively large breakaway, the first moves would come from Rafal Majka and Jarlinson Pantano, before Zakarin made his own move to get across to the group.
Near the bottom of the final climb he would put in a big move to get away from Majka, then another to get away from Pantano and built his lead all the way to the line eventually winning by 55 seconds.
For Majka, he would take each of the first three climbs on course, and third on the final to move further ahead in the King of the Mountains Classification, virtually wrapping it up.
In the end though today, not enough attacking on Sky to really create gaps and an awesome performance from Ilnur Zakarin.
Top 10
1. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) @ 4:36:33
2. Jarlinson Pantano (IAM) + 0:55
3. Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) + 1:26
4. Kristijan Durasek (Lampre) + 1:32
5. Brice Feillu (Fortuneo) + 2:33
6. Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) + 2:46
7. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale) + 2:50
8. Stef Clement (IAM) + 2:57
9. Steve Morbaito (FDJ) + 4:38
10. Richie Porte (BMC) + 7:59
General Classification
1. Chris Froome (Sky) @ 77:25:10
2. Bauke Mollema (Trek) + 2:27
3. Adam Yates (Orica) + 2:53
4. Nairo Quintana (Movstar) + 3:27
5. Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) + 4:15
6. Richie Porte (BMC) + 4:27
7. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) + 5:19
8. Fabio Aru (Astana) + 5:35
9. Daniel Martin (Etixx-Quickstep) + 5:50
10. Louis Meintjes (Lampre-Merida) + 6:07
The peloton get a rude return from the second Tour de France rest day, with Stage 17 going over four categorised climbs and finishing at almost 2000 metres above sea level. Join The Roar for live coverage from 9:30pm (AEST).
The final run into Paris looks absolutely painful this year.
The next four days, which will decide the tour before the parade stage on Sunday, feature mountain after mountain, with a time trial up yet another mountain just for good measure.
Stage 17 though, at 184.5 kilometres, will feature most of the action in the last 35km of the day. Starting out from the Swiss town of Berne, where the peloton enjoyed a rest day yesterday, the first 55 kilometres are more or less flat.
With so much climbing to come, not only today, but over the next couple of stages, there should be a fairly large breakaway established here with opportunists and domestique’s alike getting involved.
The peloton will be in no mood for a fast start to the day’s proceedings, so a large gap should be established.
The first obstacle will be a Category 3 climb of the Côte de Saanenmöser, followed pretty quickly by another Category 3 – the Col des Mosses. Both climbs come in at just over 6 kilometres and an average gradient of just under 5 per cent.
After a long descent and some valley roads, which should give riders the opportunity to catch back on, the peloton will reach the biggest climb of the day – the hors categorie Col de la Forclaz.
On it’s own the climb would be hard enough, but considering there is only a short descent before the climb begins towards the summit finish – which in itself is Category 1 – and it makes it one of the harder finishes this Tour.
The Forclaz is 13 kilometres at a very consistent 7.9 per cent gradient, and should favour Sky who want to just ride at the same tempo. Regardless, attacking must start here, whether from teams or individuals to isolate Froome before the final climb.
The Category 1 climb to Finhaut Emosson is 10.4 kilometres and even steeper than the one before it, averaging out at 8.4 per cent.
What is worth noting is that the final two kilometres are ridiculously steep, 10 and 12.3 per cent meaning a rider who hits the wall at the end could quite easily lose over a minute in just that period alone.
Prediction
First thing’s first, Chris Froome won’t lose yellow today, even if he loses time which is possible.
I expect attacks to come, and they need to.
Richie Porte, Bauke Mollema and Nairo Quintana are the three nominated, but Froome should hang on and Quintana could well lose more time based on his form.
Be sure to join The Roar for live updates of Stage 17 from 9:30pm (AEST). Don’t forget to get involved by dropping a comment.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde