Tour de France Stage 17: Primoz Roglic wins, Fabio Aru loses podium place

LottoNL-Jumbo's Primoz Roglic has won Stage 17 of the Tour de France at Serre-Chevalier following an action-packed day's racing in which Astana's Fabio Aru, second overall this morning, was distanced on the Galibier and lost his podium place.

Cannondale-Drapac's Rigoberto Uran won the sprint for second place today, gaining six bonus seconds, putting him level on time with AG2R's Romain Bardet. The Frenchman was pipped to the remaining bonus seconds by Team Sky's Chris Froome, third on the stage and who stays in the yellow jersey as race leader.

Uran is now second overall on countback, with Bardet third, the pair both 27 seconds behind Froome.

Their group crossed the line 1 minute 13 seconds behind Roglic, with Aru a further 31 seconds back, the Italian national champion dropping to 4th place overall, 53 seconds behind Froome.

One jersey that did change hands today was the green one of the points competition, with Marcel Kittel forced to abandon the race after struggling following an early crash today.

Team Sunweb's Michael Matthews had already closed the gap on the Quick Step Floors rider to 9 points after escaping early with Thomas De Gendt of Lotto-Soudal and taking the maximum points on offer at the intermediate sprint, and now leads the competition.

There was also a change in one of the Tour de France's unofficial contests, the one for the lanterne rouge, the rider who lies last on General Classification.

That distinction - for many, a badge of honour - had been held by Fortuneo's Dan McLay who also abandoned today and now looks set to go to fellow Briton Luke Rowe of Team Sky.

Meanwhile Matthews' team mate Warren Barguil, who like Dimension Data's Steve Cummings was also caught up in the crash that ended Kittel's race, picked up more points to consolidate his lead in the mountains classification.

Louis Meintjes of UAE Team Emirates picked up time on Simon Yates in the contest for the white jersey of best young rider and now lies 2 minutes 28 seconds behind the Orica-Scott rider, who is aiming to emulate his twin brother Adam's achievement from last year. Yates now lies seventh overall, 4 minutes 7 seconds behind Froome.

Today's 183-kilometre stage from La Mure, the first of two days in the Alps, featured four categorised climbs - the Col d'Omont, the Col de la Croix de Fer, the Col du Telegraphe and the Col du Galibier. It promised to be a cracker, and it didn't disappoint.

Two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Trek-Segafredo was one of the main protagonists of the stage, attacking with more than 100 kilometres remaining and, being well off the pace on the General Classification, allowed to get away by the overall contenders, who eventually passed him towards the top of the Galibier.

By then, Roglic was clear on his own - he also scooped the prize for being the first rider across the summit, the highest point of this year's race - and the former ski jumper used his time-trialling skills on the descent to the finish to stay clear of the yellow jersey group who, with Aru in difficulty, were riding hard to put as much time as possible into the Astana rider.

Reaction

Stage winner, Primoz Roglic

Somehow it feels nice to become the first Slovenian stage winner of the Tour de France. But it's also crazy that I'm the man who can make some cycling history for Slovenia as I was not a cyclist until I turned 22.

I was probably dreaming of winning a Tour de France stage and that's why I started cycling but dreaming is one thing, the reality is another one.

Just to participate to the Tour de France was something beautiful for me. To realize that I have the abilities to win a stage is unbelievable. T

he crucial moment of the race today was when I rode away from the front group. It was a great feeling.

New points classification leader, Michael Matthews

I hope Marcel [Kittel] is fine. I heard he crashed when I was already in the breakaway.

It's not nice to get the green jersey in those circumstances but I've also fought a lot for having it.

I won't let it go. And now the Champs-Elysées stage is much more open as Marcel was the hot favourite.

Race leader, Chris Froome

I was surprised about Fabio Aru dropping today. I expected him to attack. But in a Grand Tour, it's the third week that really tests everyone.

Personally, I felt a lot better than in the Pyrenees one week ago, hopefully same legs tomorrow. My team was also brilliant under pressure.

I rode behind Dan Martin because I didn't want to get into the same situation as last week when some GC riders went up the road and nobody wanted to chase. My legs felt good so why not keep everyone in check.

That would be incredible if Mikel Landa could finish on the podium as well. He showed today how strong he was in the Galibier. Tomorrow up the Izoard, it'll be just about the legs.