Lotto NL-Jumbo rider Primoz Roglic became the first Slovenian stage winner at the Tour de France after he soloed to victory on Stage 17 of the 104th Tour de France.
The stage once again began with a flurry of attacks off the front of the peloton that were quickly snuffed out by the field, with no clear leaders solidifying in the 20 kilometers.
20 kilometers into the stage, a crash involving green jersey holder Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors), polka dot jersey holder Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb), Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data), and Gianluca Brambilla (Quick-Step Floors) occurred, with Cummings staying down while Kittel, Barguil, and Brambilla were able to soon resume racing.
On the ascent up the Col d'Ornon a 33 rider lead group had formed, as winner of two stages at this year's Tour de France Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) narrowly beat out Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) at the line to take the first points on the climb of the day.
Matthews and de Gendt broke free of the pack after the Col d'Ornon and held a 25'' lead going into the day's intermediate sprint in Allemont.
Matthews would once again beat de Gendt to the line and capture 20 more points, to close within 9 points of green jersey holder Marcel Kittel.
On the climb to the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer, Matthews and de Gendt had built their lead to 1'50'' over the 31-rider chase group.
As the chase pack reached the Col de la Croix de Fer ascent, Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) made his move and attacked to quickly build a 2' cushion on the chase group 10 kilometers from the summit.
With 5 kilometers to go to the summit, Contador was rejoined by the chase group, as de Gendt and Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) held onto a 30'' lead on the chase.
On the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer, after taking second on both the previous points races, Thomas de Gendt crossed the line first and captured 20 points for the King of the Mountains competition.
With 75 kilometers remaining to the finish in Serre-Chevalier de Gendt and Navarro has been caught, as a group of 24 riders lead the race, followed by the chase group of 47 which contained the top general classification riders.
Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) set the pace in the lead group with less than 10 kilometers remaining to the summit of the stage's penultimate climb up the Col du Telegraphe.
50 kilometers from the finish, a group consisting of Primoz Roglic , Alberto Contador, Bauke Mollema, Daniel Navarro, Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data), Ondrej Cink (Bahrain-Merida), Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Darwin Atapuma (UAE Team Emirates), Amael Moinard (BMC), Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal), and Brice Feillu (Fortuneo-Oscaro) lead the race with a 4' gap on the chase group.
Primoz Roglic reached the summit of the Col du Telegraphe first, ahead of Bauke Mollema and Serge Pauwels, as the leaders began their final climb of the day to the top of the Col du Galibier.
5 kilometers from the summit of the Col du Galibier, Roglic made his move, as the Slovenian rider went clear of the front group on the massive climb.
Roglic reached the summit first, holding a 1' lead on the chasing Darwin Atapuma, and a 2' lead on the chase group.
Primoz Roglic was able to hold his lead throughout the quick descent down to Serre-Chevalier, and crossed the finish line first, becoming the first Slovenian rider to win a stage at any Tour de France in the race's 104 year history.
The yellow jersey group would come in a minute after Roglic, as Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) took second, ahead of Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).
Chris Froome will retain the yellow jersey, as Rigoberto Uran moved into second place in the general classification, while Fabio Aru dropped to fourth after losing 35'' on the yellow jersey group in the final kilometers of the stage.
Michael Matthews will wear the green jersey for the first time at the 104th Tour de France after Stage 17, as Marcel Kittel dropped out of the race not long after a nasty crash in the first 20 kilometers of the stage.
Warren Barguil keeps the polka dot jersey as leader in the King of the Mountains competition, but Primoz Roglic closed the gap between the two on Stage 17, as Roglic sits 49 points behind Barguil with 58 still up for grabs.
Despite losing time to Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates), Simon Yates will wear the white jersey as the best young rider once again on Stage 18.
Team Sky kept their lead over AG2R La Mondiale in the team classification as well.
Stage 18 will once again take the riders through the French Alps, as the peloton will travel 180 kilometers, departing from the town of Briancon and finishing on the summit of the Col d'Izoard at an altitude of 2,360 meters.
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