Wednesday’s 17th stage of the Tour de France was an exercise of survival for African outfit Team Dimension Data.
The stage was much anticipated as at only 65 kilometres, it was the shortest road stage in the last 100 years of the race, but packed a mighty punch with over 3000-metres of climbing. From the start in Bagneres-du-Luchon, the peloton had two category one climbs to cover before the finish at the top of the category Col du Portet.
This was a stage which was decided by the GC (General Classification) riders, with the main objective for Dimension Data to make sure all their riders got through the stage within the official time limit.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) won the stage, climbing to the victory at the top of the Col du Portet. Dan Martin (UAE Emirates) finished in second spot and the yellow jersey, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) finished in third.
The fast start saw the climbers come to the fore almost immediately and it was on the second of the three climbs that AG2R La Mondiale played their card, setting a high pace that reduced the race to just 20-odd riders. Team Sky had the advantage with their numbers and took control on the descent towards the final climb.
On the final climb, Martin and Quintana went with an early attack and rode away from the yellow jersey group to a one-minute lead. Among the main favourites, it was only really the duo from LottoNL-Jumbo, Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk who could challenge Team Sky. The two-pronged attack from the Dutch team cracked Chris Froome but Thomas proved he is the strongest man in the race, matching every move.
Quintana held on to take the stage victory ahead of Martin with Thomas clipping away in the final metres to gain some more time over Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and Roglic, increasing his race lead.
For Dimension Data, their five riders all managed to finish the day’s tough stage well within the time limit and will no doubt be targeting Thursday’s stage victory.
Said Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen: ‘It’s nice to get the stage done. I thought it was going to be a bit harder than it was so it is good to have finished safely in the time limit. The plan was just to stay with the peloton as long as possible and then ride our own pace, which seemed to work out well for us all.
‘Hopefully, we were all able to save a little bit of energy today and can challenge for a result in the coming days.’