German Simon Geschke won the first Alpine stage of the Tour de France this year on Wednesday’s 17th stage as Chris Froome maintained his overall lead.
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It was a fifth victory for Germans at this year’s Tour after Andre Greipel’s three in sprint finishes and Tony Martin on stage four.
Quintana is still pushing me and testing me. In that last kilometre he was pushing on to see if I could respond
Chris Froome
American Andrew Talansky finished the 161-kiometre ride from Digne-les-Bains to Pra Loup in second at 32 seconds with Colombian Rigoberto Uran third at one minute, one second.
Froome was 18th behind his nearest challenger Nairo Quintana but their gap remains constant at 3:10.
“Quintana is still pushing me and testing me,” said the Englishman. “In that last kilometre he was pushing on to see if I could respond.”
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Alberto Contador, who had started the day fifth, crashed on the difficult final descent off the Col d’Allos before the climb to the Pra Loup finish.
Nairo Quintana and Chris Froome finished neck-and-neck in a tense finale. Photo: Reuters
He lost two minutes, 17 seconds to Froome and was overtaken by the Briton’s Sky teammate Geraint Thomas, who is now fourth.
