We are now on the final stretch of the Tour with the first of 3 brutal Mountain stages. Unlike the next 2, this one isn't quite a Mountain Top Finish but it may as well be. The first 80km of the stage are pretty easy but it then ramps up fast with the Cat 2 Cote de Corlier. The riders then descend this climb and have a short flat stretch before the incredibly steep HC climb up the famous Col du Grand Colombier which peaks 42km from the finish. That's not all though as the riders descend down the other side and are met by the steep slopes of the Cat 2 Col de Richemond. After this last climb of the day it's then 18km to the finish which ramps up ever so slightly.
A fair number of riders seeing a great opportunity for a stage win today as 12 riders make it into the breakaway which quickly establishes a 3 minute lead. A mix of GC riders in the Top 20 as well as those looking to join the KOM battle.
GC
KOM
Pinot
14th @ 5'42
9th, 42 points
Geoghegan Hart
15th @ 6'06
Bongiorno
17th @ 7'19
Inkelaar
18th @ 7'51
1st, 122 points
Aular
Supulveda
Roman
Bernard
Smit
Omarsson
Christensen
Hindley
Quite a few teams keeping the pace relatively high in the Peloton keeps the breakaway at 2'19 as we begin the first climb of the day where the breakaway should re-gain some time again.
It may not be all plane sailing for Inkelaar today as Pinot wins the Cat 2 KOM sprint ahead of his team mate Sepulveda.
The breakaway had their lead up to 3'30 over the crest of the climb but the Peloton is moving at some rate so the gap is back to 2'16 with 90km to go and still quite some time before the start of today's main spectacle.
We begin the 18.3km climb up the Grand Colombier. The weather unlikely to be helping the spirits of the riders out there today. The gap back to the Peloton for our 12 escapees is only 1'39.
9km still to climb and the gap for those remaining out front is only 1'11. Generali really setting quite the pace at the front of the Peloton now.
Pinot crests the climb on his own after attacking to take maximum points. He is still 70 points behind Inkelaar who came through in 2nd.
28km to go as the front riders start the final climb of the day. A group of Geoghegan Hart, Aular, Bongiorno and Inkelaar are 2'31 ahead of the 54 man Peloton. Pinot is 51 seconds ahead of this quartet.
Some aggression from the Peloton with 4.5km of this climb remaining and it's Barguil.
Just under 20km to go and some real attacks now. Chiarello (3rd @ +58") launches an attack which forces everyone else to respond and try to follow. Only 2km of climbing remaining for these riders though.
Pinot goes through the KOM with a 50 second gap and, with only 17.5km to go of mostly downhill, this could be another stage win for the Frenchman.
The attacks from Chiarello prove fruitless and we now have a 15 man GC group with 10km to go. Pinot is only 8km from the finish and still 49 seconds ahead of the quartet of earlier escapees who are a further 1'15 ahead of this group.
The sprint for 2nd kicks off in the quartet and it looks like Inkelaar will make it an easy 2nd place.
It's yet another stage win for Pinot who is proving too strong for his breakaway companions which is not overly surprising.
It's been quite the Tour for Inkelaar and it only gets better as he is 2nd.
Very tight battle for 3rd but it's Bongiorno who just wins that one with Aular 4th and Geoghegan Hart 5th.
The 20 man favourites group come in + 1'52 and are not too interested in the minor places but McKenna is 6th ahead of Barguil and Roglic.
Again, no changes to the top 10 of the GC. Pinot does however move into 11th. Geoghegan Hart 14th, Bongiorno 16th and Inkelaar 17th all gain a place as well.
Demare may actually have the Points Classification wrapped up already.
A good day for Inkelaar who is 34 points ahead of his team mate in the KOM. O'Connor in 3rd is 45 points back.
Inkelaar and Aular increasing the gap to the rest even more in the U25s.
There is a change in the Teams as Gazelle take the lead but by only 5 seconds!
le Tour de France - Stage 17 Report 
