Former champion ski-jumper Primoz Roglic took a sensational solo victory on the mountainous 17th stage of the Tour de France yesterday
Primoz Roglic rides during the 17th stage in the French Alps yesterday. PIC/AFP
Former champion ski-jumper Primoz Roglic took a sensational solo victory on the mountainous 17th stage of the Tour de France yesterday.
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Chris Froome came home third to stretch his overall lead to 27 seconds as Rigoberto Uran moved up to second and Fabio Aru dropped to fourth, with Romain Bardet remaining third.
Slovenia's Roglic, 27, was junior world ski-jumping champion in 2007 but became a professional cyclist in 2014. He was part of an initial 33-man breakaway that was whittled down to just six riders when Roglic attacked solo 6.4km from the summit of the hors category Col du Galibier, which at more than 2,600 metres above sea level was the highest point of this year's Tour.
He crested the climb, 28km from the finish in Serre-Chevalier, with a lead of just over a minute and half on a group of chasers including the top contenders. On the descent, Roglic easily managed his lead while a five-man chase group developed, including Froome.
But Italian Aru, who started the day second at 18sec, had been dropped by an acceleration from Bardet just before the Galibier summit and he was chasing desperately to limit his losses.
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