Contador has said he's feeling better by the day and fully intends in bringing the race to Froome over the next three stages, and why not. He's said he doesn't care about finishing 2nd or 12th, it's the win that he would prefer, and so that should set us up for some fantastic racing. Of course, the 4'34" he needs to overcome does look a little much but stranger things have happened in the Tour and all it takes is one bad day from Froome -- indeed, one bad climb by Froome -- or some unsavoury incident on one of the descents and everything could change. Not that we want something like that to swing the balance of the race, but all it takes is some of the weather we seen today and the race could be thrown into chaos before the weekend.
That weather was meant to upset the times of the GC favourites going later in the day. It started to lash with rain and hail and you couldn't help but think the leading time set by Tejay van Garderen right before the rain came was going to stand for the afternoon as the rest were slowed by the wet descents, but either the top ten went super fast on the climbs or the rain didn't affect the course in the way it looked like it might as one by one the times began to fall. Alejandro Valverde looked to have rode the time-trial of his life when he charged over the line but it was soon bettered by Joaquim Rodriguez, then Contador and finally Froome. Indeed Rodriguez himself put in a blistering ride for a man not known for his strengths against the clock but that only proved how big a factor the two category two climbs were on the stage as well as the descents for which Rodriguez is a specialist.
His heart must have been broken when he seen Contador roar up the finishing straight and beat his time by less than a second but will have been glad to see Froome power home on his time-trial bike ten seconds quicker than him. Easier to go to bed knowing you were beat by ten seconds than half a second.
The big loser on the day with regards to the GC was Bauke Mollema. He came into the stage in second overall but fell to fourth when he posted a time 2 minutes, 9 seconds slower than that of Froome, while his team-mate Laurens Ten Dam fell further behind the top five with a time 20 seconds slower than Mollema's. One many who will be pleased with his result was Andy Schleck. The RadioShack rider has been a shadow of his former self this season, in part due to an injury that kept him off his bike for most of last year, but in the kind of stage you wouldn't have expected much from him even in spite of the two climbs, he posted the 15th quickest time, albeit still 2'27" down on Froome. He'll hope this is the beginning of a little form and he can yet leave this Tour with a stage win or at least a showing on one of the final mountain stages.
Someone who really will be looking for a stage win will be Cadel Evans. The Australia coasted around the course today clearly content to lose as much time as possible to the top names in the hopes of being allowed into a breakaway group, perhaps as early as tomorrow. I say that only because he should wake tomorrow with fresh legs because his 167th best time on the day was a whopping 8 minutes, 4 seconds slower than the Yellow jersey. And spare a thought for Jean-Christophe Péraud who came into the stage as the highest ranked Frenchman in ninth -- impressive for the 36 year old former mountain biker -- but he crashed badly in warmup and broke his collarbone only to bravely start the stage anyway and crash again. He didn't finish; his tour now over and the highest ranked Frenchman now falls to Romain Bardet in 20th place almost 29 minutes behind Froome.
So no more time-trials, now everything comes down to climbing and it should be great to watch if even on a stage by stage basis, if indeed Froome's lead proves to be unassailable. Nobody want's to see a blow out typically, but I'd rather see Froome romp to another stage win or two and a ten minute overall total victory or to see him have a bad day and have this race go all the way to Saturday than for it to die out with those behind Froome content to leave him be, focusing on the defence of their podium places, and Froome content to mark his rivals wheels. Given the entertainment of this Tour despite Froome's dominance so far, I don't think we'll see a quiet trip through the Alps.
Stage 17 results (32 km ITT)
1. Froome in 51'33"
2. Contador + 9"
3. Rodriguez + 10"
4. Kreuziger +23"
5. Valverde +30"
6. Quintana +1'11"
OTHERS:
11. Mollema +2'09"
15. Schleck +2'27"
16. Ten Dam +2'29"
27. Tony Martin +3'06"
28. Hesjedal +3'07"
32. Dan Martin +3'22"
167. Evans +8'04"
General classification after stage 17
1. Froome in 66h 7'09"
2. Contador +4'34"
3. Kreuziger +4'51"
4. Mollema +6'23"
5. Quintana +6'58"
6. Rodriguez +7'21"
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Heading into the Alps the race to finish last in the general classification and sweep the Lanterne Rouge prize is still wide open. Knowing that riders can and will lose more than half an hour in an Alpine stage you can see why the 27 seconds splitting first (last) and third (175th) means very little. All it takes is one to make the mistake of getting into an early break which keeps them clear of the autobus by the finish and they could blow their chances at the iconic prize. Of course you don't want to drop too far off the back either in case you miss the time limit. Going for the Lanterne Rouge is a fine line between doing too much and doing too little. Of course, I say all that in good humour. The three men at the bottom of the GC standings will be merely hoping to survive through the mountains and will look and see where they land up overall once they're clear and headed towards Paris. I'll keep track though, if only for entertainment purposes. They really should have a jersey for this guy!
Race for the Lanterne Rouge
1. Dimitriy Muravyev
2. Tuft +12"
3. Veelers +27"
