Tour de France 2013 – Stage 17

STAGE 17 Wednesday, July 17th, Embrun > Chorges (32 km ITT)

stage17

You know that you are in for an ‘interesting’ time trial course when most rider are choosing to ride their standard road bikes with clip on aero handle bars. The interesting tactic of swapping to the TT bike on the course introduced some of the F1 pit strategy into today’s stage – and in some cases the advantage of the TT bike in the final run to the line was readily apparent. The addition of some rain on already questionable road surfaces added to the confusion.

Rain and hailstones out on the TT course now
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 17, 2013

In the end we were offered a great battle between the GC contenders even with the “slippy” conditions (someone forgot to tell Bauke Mollema about this strategy). Both Tejay Van Garderen and Andy Schleck rode surprisingly good times on today’s course – perhaps they are riding back into form?

Today also saw the withdrawl of Jean-Christophe Péraud from this years tour; Péraud had fractured his shoulder while on a reconnaissance ride on the course before the stage, he then fell onto the shoulder two kilometres from the finish of the days stage.

Hoogerland: population two #Peraud #tdf
— @Kimbo_Ramplin (@Kimbo_Ramplin) July 17, 2013

17-Péraud

Froome Dog took the stage win and looks very comfortable in yellow on the run into Stage 18’s double hit out on Alpe d’Huez.

Interesting TT; went easy and could actually enjoy the atmosphere. There are some amusing characters out there... #tdf #unique
— Cadel Evans (@CadelOfficial) July 17, 2013

Stage 17 Results
01 FROOME, Christopher GBR (SKY PROCYCLING) 51:33
02 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto ESP (SAXO-TINKOFF) + 9
03 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin ESP (KATUSHA) + 10
04 KREUZIGER, Roman CZE (SAXO-TINKOFF) + 23
05 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro ESP (MOVISTAR TEAM) + 30
06 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander COL (MOVISTAR TEAM) + 1:11
07 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal POL (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 1:33
08 FUGLSANG, Jakob DEN (ASTANA PRO TEAM) + 1:34
09 TALANSKY, Andrew USA (GARMIN SHARP) + 1:41
10 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay USA (BMC RACING) + 1:51

GC after Stage 17
01 FROOME, Christopher GBR (SKY PROCYCLING) 66:07:09
02 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto ESP (SAXO-TINKOFF) + 4:34
03 KREUZIGER, Roman CZE (SAXO-TINKOFF) + 4:51
04 MOLLEMA, Bauke NED (BELKIN PRO CYCLING) + 6:23
05 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander COL (MOVISTAR TEAM) + 6:58
06 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin ESP (KATUSHA) + 7:21
07 TEN DAM, Laurens NED (BELKIN PRO CYCLING) + 8:23
08 FUGLSANG, Jakob DEN (ASTANA PRO TEAM) + 8:56
09 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal POL (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 11:10
10 MARTIN, Daniel IRL (GARMIN SHARP) + 12:50

#TourDeSnack
Breaking news on the #buttergate front;

#LVDT
Les Vaches du Tour Stage 17: Round-up

Moocaroons from Taste Le Tour #lvdt pic.twitter.com/0aJUXCeHLE
— Visible Procrastinations (@visibleprocrast) July 17, 2013

#TrollDJ – Stage 17
♫ The Tremeloes – Even The Bad Times Are Good :: the oops reel montage
♫ The Main STreet Band & Orchestra – I Wanna Be Like You :: featuring the flora and fauna of the #sbstdf
♫ The Rolling Stones – Time is On My Side :: who’s side will it be on tonight’s ITT?
♫ The Presets – Fast Seconds :: not sure we’ll see faster than TJ unless the course dries (and it did)
♫ The Doors – Riders on the Storm :: getting a bit wet out there now
♫ Beth N Ben – This Life :: Go Cadel!
♫ Jon Heintz – God in The Machine :: “what we all hope for, cos I was feeling fine before, but I feel much better now”
♫ Paul Greene & The Other Colours – Bad Luck Lately :: Bad luck on the reccy ride, broken collar bones – still a good ITT time. (Poor old Péraud)
♫ The Sheepdogs – Alright Ok :: “I’ve got time”
♫ The James Hunter Six – Minute by Minute :: and Goodnight

Some say that he once won an ITT on a penny farthing but was relegated for not meeting UCI spec. All we know is he's called #TrollDJ #sbstdf
— Visible Procrastinations (@visibleprocrast) July 17, 2013