Tour de France 2017 Stage 21 Preview

He’d known from the start in Germany that this Tour would be unusual and likely open, because it had few mountain-top finishes, not huge amounts of time-trial kilometers, and many tricky days over all five of France’s mountain ranges. Maciej Bodnar took the stage win with a blistering time of 28mins 15secs. Thus, Froome’s only choice is to outperform both of them in the individual time trial which is his forte. He gets the golden opportunity of getting to go last, which means he will know what he needs to beat to clinch yet another crown.

Personally, I don’t think an extremely long stage like today has much place in a Grand Tour anymore.

Finishing at the front of the peloton, more than 12 minutes back from race victor Boasson Hagen, Froome could hardly have been in a more comfortable position. From the general classification group, he is the next strongest in time trials.

“I think if we all went into the time trial with the time gaps we have now, Rigoberto would be the most unsafe”, Froome said of the Cannondale-Drapac rider, a former Sky team-mate.

The 26-year-old had begun the 22.5km circuit of the port city still with an outside chance of becoming the first home victor since 1985, trailing leader Chris Froome by 23 seconds.

Edvald Boasson Hagen won stage 19 of the Tour de France as Chris Froome crossed safely in the pack to retain the yellow jersey with two stages to go.

Froome was just two seconds slower than Kwiatkowski at Palais du Pharo and three adrift after the climb to the Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde cathedral, but he was unable to mount a late push for his first stage victory this year.

Commentating for Eurosport, Carlton Kirby was shocked at how the atmosphere changed – with the cheers for “hero” Bardet suddenly turning into bellowing catcalls for Froome, the “arch villain”. Four riders have won five.

“I’m happy that I went through the Alps without any major problem”, the 32-year-old Froome said.

And while for many the dice have been rolled as Froome is usually a far superior time-trialist to Bardet, there is one glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

The 179.5km stage from Briancon saw a 54-man breakaway go up the road early on, but did not come to life until the imposing climb of the Izoard, 14.1km long at an average gradient of 7.3 per cent as it took the peloton to a height of 2,360m.

The Team Sky rider finished with the third fastest time of the day in 21:21, effectively sealing the overall victory.

Only three riders held the yellow jersey during this year’s iteration of the Tour.

The Team Sky leader has a 23-second lead over Romain Bardet and is better than his French rival in the race against the clock. He also holds a 29-second edge over third-place Rigoberto Uran of Colombia. Marseille’s Stade Velodrome will stage the start of Stage 20. The challenging route with more than two dozen bends will take riders on mainly flat urban roads.