cycling: Tour de France Stage #17 Prediction: Attack on Chris Froome

Cycling: The Tour de France will see the second royal stage of the tour tomorrow. With the Col de la Croix de Fer, the Col du Télégraphe and the Col du Galibier, three prestigious climbs are on the program. Will there be a major attack by the challengers tomorrow? Or will Chris Froome (Sky) bring about a preliminary decision?

Michael Matthews will also play a role again

The 16st stage In the Tour de France, Michael Matthews (Sunweb) on Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) was able to make up a few points in the points classification. He will probably be able to do this again tomorrow. Because: The first sprint rating seems to be made for a Sunweb campaign. After that, however, Michael Matthews will let the climbers take the stage. There are a total of four mountain classifications. Every cycling fan knows three of them. After the Col d'Ornon (5,1 km at 6,7%) and the sprint classification, things really get down to business. 104,5 kilometers before the finish, the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer (24,0 km at 5,2%) is crossed. This is followed by a long descent before climbing first the Col du Télégraphe (11,9 km at 7,1%) and then the Col du Galibier (17,7 km at 6,9%). Names that make the heart of every cycling fan beat faster. Many battles for the yellow jersey and stage wins have been fought here. There will also be a tough fight tomorrow.

Our tip: Chris Froome parries the attacks - Simon Yates wins the stage

There's no question that something has to happen tomorrow if the challengers still want to endanger Chris Froome in the overall standings. Although the deficit is close, the upcoming time trial on the penultimate day of the Tour de France gives Froome a strong advantage. We need to save time now, no matter how. Therefore, there will be attacks up to the Col du Télégraphe at the latest. We expect Team Sky to keep up the pace, making attacks almost impossible and breakaways unlikely. Not only on the climb but also on the descent will Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors), Fabio Aru (Astana), Romain Bardet (Ag2r) and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) attack the man in yellow. However, since they are also chasing each other and Team Sky seems almost invulnerable anyway, Chris Froome should be able to parry all attacks. Perfect for Simon Yates (Orica-Scott)! The Brit is too far behind to be followed. In the sprint he is also the strongest of the classification drivers.

*** Simon Yates
** Chris Froome, Rigoberto Uran
* Fabio Aru, Daniel Martin, Romain Bardet

Tour de France preview: Those were the Velomotion predictions

The current overall ranking of the 2017 Tour de France after 16 of 21 stages