CHRIS FROOME ticked off the first of two major Alpine stages in the yellow jersey as former ski jumper Primoz Roglic sailed over the Tour de France’s highest mountain to win stage 17 into Serre-Chevalier.
Roglic went solo six kilometres from the top of the Col du Galibier and crested the summit with a 90-second lead before racing down the 28-kilometre descent to the finish, where he won by 73 seconds.
With French president Emmanuel Macron watching on, Froome finished in the second group on the road, beaten to second place by Rigoberto Uran of Cannondale-Drapac but crucially claiming third – and four bonus seconds – ahead of AG2R La Mondiale’s Romain Bardet.
That saw three-time Tour winner Froome extend his lead, with Colombia’s Uran and Frenchman Bardet both now 27 seconds back – the closest the podium battle has ever been in the history of the Tour.
But Italian national champion Fabio Aru was dropped on the Galibier and conceded 31 seconds, dropping from second to fourth, now 53 seconds down.
This was the first – and on paper the hardest – of two consecutive days in the Alps which could decide the Tour even before Saturday’s time trial in Marseille.
Froome lost the yellow jersey – if only for 48 hours – when the race tackled the Pyrenees last week, but looked much stronger as he covered several attacks from his rivals on the Galibier.
“I felt quite in control,” Froome said. “Certainly a lot better than I did in the Pyrenees, so that’s a good sign.
“I’m very happy with that. I did enough today to stay up front, I didn’t need to do anything crazy at this point given I already have a bit of a lead on the other GC guys, and also with tomorrow in mind with the big summit finish on the Izoard.”
Froome’s team-mate Mikel Landa finished with the leaders to remain fifth overall while Irishman Dan Martin moved up one place to sixth with a battling performance, 24 hours after he was caught out in crosswinds and dropped two spots in the general classification while fighting illness.
The Quick-Step rider was active in launching the moves that would drop both Aru and Simon Yates as the rivals tested each on the long, gradual climb of the Galibier, the highest point on this year’s Tour with a summit at 2,642 metres.
“I just wanted to test it out and make it uncomfortable for Sky,” Martin said.
“The tempo they were riding wasn’t too hard, so I thought maybe Chris is on a bad day and I’d test him out. But Chris doesn’t need to take time out of anybody with the time trial to come in Marseille.
“I just thought I’d have a go. In the end, I guess my accelerations put paid to Simon. I’ve jumped a place on GC and it’s just good to be feeling good again.”
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