Tour de France 2018 – stage 17 LIVE: Geraint Thomas takes major step towards Tour de France crown as Nairo Quintana wins stage 17
Follow all the action from a potentially decisive day of racing in the Pyrenees as Thomas leads the peloton into three gruelling climbs from a gridded start
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Your support makes all the difference.This might just be the day the decides whether Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome or someone else wins this compelling Tour de France.
It is a unique – the purists might say gimmicky – stage 17 which begins with a gridded start of the first 20 riders and immediately embarks on the first of three brutal climbs, finishing with a 16km slog up the steep Col du Portet, making its debut in the Tour de France. It is only 65km, but promises to be an explosive couple of hours.
Thomas remains in pole position to win his first Tour de France, 1min 39sec ahead of his Team Sky team-mate Froome, who is running out of time to make the decisive attack which could bring his fifth yellow jersey. Should they falter or squabble, the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin is only 11 seconds behind Froome and in position to benefit.
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Tanel Kangert of Astana has decided to go solo. There are a group of perhaps 10 riders giving chase, with the rest of the peloton further back down the road as one. Spare a thought for some of the sprinters today, who are going to have to suffer in the heat to make the time cut and stay in the race.
Arnaud Demare and John Degenkolb are among those who have lost contact with the peloton. Tomorrow's sprint stage was never going to be a thriller but it will be even more of a damp squib if they miss the cut-off today and are not around to challenge Peter Sagan.
60km to go
Nicolas Edet, the French rider for Cofidis, has joined Kangert at the front. That will help sustain their attack for a while, but this one isn't going to last with around 20 in pursuit. Team Sky are controlling the front of the peloton and they will be happy enough with this steady start.
57km to go
Among those swimming in the channel between the Sky-led peloton and the leading duo of Kangert and Edet, a trio which includes the unmistakable polka dots of Julian Alaphilippe are closest to the front of the race. Kangert and Edet are now around a minute and a half clear of the peloton.
53km to go
For a stage with such an unconventional start, it has fallen into a pretty conventional pattern: a harmless breakawayer (Kangert is now on his own with Edet falling away), a chasing pack, a Sky-controlled peloton and a few stragglers off the back. Textbook.
50km to go
Tanel Kangert crests the first of the day's three climbs – Montee de Peyragudes – with a 20-second lead over the chasing trio – Julian Alaphilippe, Jesus Herrada and Kristijan Durasek – and an advantage of around three minutes over the peloton, which contains all the top GC riders.
45km to go
The kilometres are whizzing by on this descent, and this is where Julian Alaphilippe can gain time and reel in Kangert. Alaphilippe is closing out the king of the mountains classification with this chase, having swept up eight more points on top of the first climb, and Warren Barguil's hopes of polka dots look faint.
38km to go
Alaphilippe has caught Kangert, and dragged Durasek with him to create a leading trio. There are 11 riders around half a minute back, which include Adam Yates despite his fall yesterday, with the Sky-led peloton three and a half minutes behind the front of the race. So far, so good for Geraint Thomas.
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