Cycling: The 17th stage was short and intense - cycling entertainment at its finest! 125 meters in altitude had to be overcome over 3.800 km - more can hardly be accommodated over this distance. Day winner Rafael Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff), who, in addition to the stage, above all secured his polka dot jersey, needed just over three and a half hours.
As short as this stage was with its 127 kilometers, it was also entertaining. The top ten weren't all that badly mixed up, but the time gaps to Nibali now seem insurmountable. Nibali finished third and is now 5:26 ahead of Valverde and the three Frenchmen Pinot, Pereaud and Bardet. In general, the battle for second and third place seems to be more exciting than the battle for overall victory. There are only two minutes between Valverde and the sixth Bardet.
The stage started at breakneck speed on the first, reasonably flat fifty kilometers. The drivers needed just one hour for this. An illustrious breakaway group, in which Jens Voigt was once again, was to blame. But the field didn't let the large group go for more than a minute. In the ascent to the first mountain of the day, the Col de Portillon, it was logical that this group died.
The events became extremely entertaining over the remaining 60 kilometers. Very different names made their mark on the four climbs of the day: Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), for example, tried to attack the mountain jersey and briefly pulled away together with Frank Schleck; then Bauke Mollema's skill flashed, then that of Nicholas Roche, that of Pierre Roland, that of Romain Bardet and above all that of Vasil Kiriyenka (Sky), who was driving all by himself for a long time. Only Leopold König from Netapp-Endura was actually missing, who unfortunately dropped back to ninth place overall after a weaker day.
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