Chris Froome punished his general classification rivals again on stage 17 of the 2016 Tour de France as racing resumed after the second rest day with an explosive final climb of Finhaut-Emosson.
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) was the stage winner on the Swiss climb, barely able to lift an arm in celebration as he crossed the finishing line after his efforts, but it was in the peloton where the real drama took place – Froome following an attack by former team-mate Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and stretching his overall lead to more than two minutes as a result.
Porte, Froome and white jersey Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) all enjoyed a strong ride on the climb, but the same could not be said for Nairo Quintana (Movistar) who saw each of them drop him in turn after burning out his team-mates in an attempt to ignite the race earlier on.
Froome leads second-placed by Bauke Mollema by 2’27” overall, with Yates a further 26 seconds back ahead of the stage 18 mountain time trial. Relive the best of stage 17 in the gallery below.
