Tadej Pogacar edged out Jonas Vingegaard to win stage 17 of the Tour de France – but was unable to break the race leader on an epic mountain stage.
Defending champion Pogacar won the uphill sprint but only cut Vingegaard’s overall lead by four bonus seconds.
The Dane now leads by two minutes and 18 seconds going into Thursday’s final mountain stage from Lourdes to Hautacam.
Britain’s Geraint Thomas finished fourth to stay third overall.
Pogacar’s UAE Emirates team set a brutal pace throughout and at the end it was only the top two and Pogacar’s team-mate Brandon McNulty, who came third on the day, left.
Stage 17 to Peyragudes was the shortest road stage of the tour but one of the most demanding, with the 129.7km route from Saint-Gaudens containing four categorised climbs in the final 76km.
Stage 17 results
- Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 3hrs 25mins 51secs
- Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) same time
- Brandon McNulty (US/UAE Team Emirates) +32
- Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +2:07
- Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz/Astana-Qazaqstan Team)+2:34
- Romain Bardet (Fra/Team DSM)+2:38
- David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ)+3:27
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe) +3:32
- Louis Meintjes (SA/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert MatEriaux) same time
- Nairo Quintana (Col/Team Arkea-Samsic)
General classification after stage 17
- Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) 67hrs 53mins 54secs
- Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates)+2:18
- Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +4:56
- Nairo Quintana (Col/Team Arkea-Samsic) +7:53
- David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +7:57
- Romain Bardet (Fra/Team DSM) +9:21
- Louis Meintjes (SA/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) +9:24
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe) +9:56
- Adam Yates (GB/Ineos Grenadiers)+14:33
- Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +16:35
More to follow.