Stage 17 Results:
1) Stefan Denifl (AUT) - Aqua Blue Sport
2) Alberto Contador (ESP) - Trek - Segafredo
3) Miguel Angel Lopez (COL) - Astana
4) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) - Bahrain - Merida
5) Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) - Katusha - Alpecin
GC Standings after Stage 17:
1) Chris Froome (GBR) - Team Sky | 67:44:03
2) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) - Bahrain - Merida | + 0:01:16
3) Wilco Kelderman (NED) - Team Sunweb | + 0:02:13
4) Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) - Katusha - Alpecin | + 0:02:25
5) Alberto Contador (ESP) - Trek - Segafredo | + 0:03:34
The steep final climb of the day wreaked havoc for Chris Froome as he was distanced by almost all of his key rivals, and certainly wouldn't be in red without the aid of his domestiques.
Froome saw his overall lead in the GC cut drastically on today's stage, after brilliant attacks from Contador and Nibali & Zakarin. The Team Sky man had put in a huge performance yesterday to win by 29 seconds, but it seemed that he was spent in the final climb as a result.
Stefan Denifl of Aqua Blue Sport took the stage victory on an entertaining day on the road, handing his team a much needed morale-boosting victory after their team bus was destroyed in arson attack hours before one of last week's stages.
The day had started with a 6 man breakaway consisting of Daniel Moreno, Alessandro De Marchi, Denifl, Magnus Cort Nielsen, Davide Villella and previous stage winner Julian Alaphilippe. They opened up a lead of 9 minutes at one point, but upon tackling the three categorised climbs of the day it seemed that Denifl would be the only likely suitor for a breakaway victory.
And that was the case as the Austrian swept in to take an emotional victory 28 seconds ahead of Contador. Froome had to rely on the guts and determination of Mikel Nieve, and without him surely would have lost the red jersey today.
4 more stages and the battle for the GC places has been swept wide open!
Keep posted for more stage reports!