Froome fights back to win stage 17 nine seconds ahead of nearest rival Contador

Froome powers to victory in stage 17 of the Tour de France after reversing an 11 second defecit over Alberto Contador who moves in to second position in the General Classification over 4 and a half minutes behind the leader.

Despite some tough moments on the flat, yellow jersey holder Chris Froome has been untouchable on the mountains and with Wednesday's individual time trial including two category two climbs it was always going to be a good day out on the bike for the team Sky rider barring any injuries that is.

One man who did not manage to finish or even start the course without injury was France's leading rider of the tour, Peraud. Jean-Christophe Peraud fell during his morning run of the course and after a few scans and discovering that he had fractured his collar bone the Ag2r-La Mondiale rider decided to rate in the day's 32km time trial. The Frenchman was doing well considering the amount of pain he must have been going through but on a particular sharp bend on a decent the rider slipped and slammed hard on the same collar bone he fractured a few hours before. Peraud has now abandoned the race and has left 20th placed, Bardet, to hold the title of the highest placed Frenchman in the competition. 

The final individual time trial is usually held as the penultimate stage of the Tour and last year it was used as a kind of extravagant lap of honour for the eventual tour winner, Bradley Wiggins. This year however, as the riders made their way around the course there was everything to ride for as the yellow jersey, although over 4 minutes ahead of the field, is far from being decided. With riders like Spaniard Alberto Contador on his wheel, anything could happen. 


As American, Van Garderen crossed the finish with a time of 53'24" he also brought the rain with him and the rain continued to pour until the last five racers which included the top GC riders. With the roads beginning to dry there was a possibility of a real race developing between the top riders of this 2013 Tour de France. 


With the race route very much complementing Contador's style of riding, the Spaniard attempted to make the most of this opportunity to jump ahead of Mollema and claim that second position in the General Classification. In his signature style of dancing up the climbs out of his saddle, Froome's biggest rival of this tour was riding very well and at the bottom of the first climb he had managed to pull back 20 seconds on the race leader. Contador powered up the second climb and decided to ride the same bike to the end of the race whereas Froome changed his bike right before the summit of the second point 11 seconds behind the Saxo-Tinkoff rider. 


With a fast new bike to attack the fastest part of the course Froome managed to reverse the 11 second lead Contador over him and cross the line 9 seconds ahead of his rival. A magnificent ride by the British rider as he manages to add another stage win to the two others he has collected over the 2013 tour. The after race presentations almost took as long to finish as it was for Froome to complete the race itself. He was presented with the stage winner trophy, King of the Mountains jersey and of course, the prestigious yellow jersey which he now has 4 minutes and 34 seconds ahead of Alberto Contador who jumps ahead of Mollema to take second place. Contador's team mate and now his closest rival, Roman Kreuziger also leapfrogs Mollema and takes third place as the Belkin rider drops two places to fourth place. 


Columbian, N. Quintana, stays in fifth place in the GC after a fantastic ride by the white jersey holder. After challenging the race leader on the mountains during stage 15 of the tour, Quintana has a had a great first Tour de France and with having shown incredible talent on the mountains the young rider is set to impress further during the next few days in the Alps. 


Today the big question was whether to change bikes half way through the race or not and Froome was the one who had the right answer, despite his disbelief - "I couldn't believe it when I crossed over the line there and saw that I had the fastest time. I didn't see that coming" Froome is looking in very good condition going in to the Alps. 





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