#		GC	TT
190.	Goldstein	+ 4h37‘36	79
189.	Viennet	+ 4h24‘34	80
185.	Yatsevich	+ 4h14’27	80
181.	Sütterlin	+ 3h58‘34	80
176.	Leung	+ 3h38‘21	78

Most time trialists are poor climbers and thus, many start the day very early. Goldstein has held the Lanterne Rouge for a while now, having spent more than four and a half hours longer in the saddle than Herklotz. He sets a good first time at the intermediate checkpoint, but that’s immediately bested by Viennet.



There’s a steep ramp shortly before the time check where the road rises at almost 10%. It’s not great for the pure time trialists, but they have to conquer it. Yatsevich has already almost caught Zariff and he beats Viennet by 19 seconds there, which exactly doubles to 38 seconds at the finish line. A strong performance by the Russian champion.



Sütterlin overtakes Kalf on his way to a provisional second best time at the finish, 7 seconds faster than Viennet. Noia had a decent ride, beating Goldstein.



Leung beats Sütterlin by 5 seconds but he’s still far off Yatsevich.

#		GC	TT
175.	Haugard	+ 3h37‘19	79
166.	Dal Col	+ 3h13’38	79
164.	Vorobev	+ 3h07’40	79
163.	Howson	+ 3h03’50	80

Haugard finishes just 2 seconds slower than Leung and then surprisingly also 2 seconds slower than Sergent, who jumps into provisional second place at the line. A good result on his old days.



Dal Col doesn’t crack the Top 5 but teammate Vorobev actually sets a new best time, five seconds faster than Yatsevich! Just like we had in the prologue at one point, it’s a Tinkoff 1-2 for now.



Howson takes third place, 15 seconds behind the new leader. No one else of this batch comes particularly close, the best one is actually Turek, who comes through in 6th place.

#		GC	TT
150.	Mullen	+ 2h38‘08	81
145.	Zakarin	+ 2h30‘07	79
144.	Lammertink	+ 2h24‘32	80
140.	Razumov	+ 2h22‘22	79

The heavy hitters in the fight for the stage win continue to roll in. Mullen sets a new best time by five seconds at the time check, but at the finish line, he’s 1 second slower than Vorobev!



Zakarin then takes the best time at the time check by another 11 seconds! He, too, loses some time to Vorobev in the second half, but still sets a best time by 9 seconds. That’s three Tinkoff riders in the Top 4 now.



But Lammertink breaks that up, he finishes one second faster than Vorobev, provisional second place. Politt also has a good day, he’s sixth as he crosses the line.



Another Russian with a great time, but this one doesn’t wear the Tinkoff jersey: Razumov beats Lammertink and is the new rider in second place, 5 seconds off the lead. His teammate Christian also does well, provisional 7th place for him.



Rather surprisingly, Brunel actually managed to set the best time at the intermediate time check and then … he falls just one second short of Zakarin! A huge ride by the young Frenchman.

#		GC	TT
100.	Oliveira	+ 1h25’43	80
86.	Cataford	+ 1h14’42	79
60.	Fraile	+ 51’25	79

Few big names for the stage win remain, but stage 1 winner Oliveira is certainly one of them – and he’s not looking too bad for a second victory, indeed. He destroys Zakarin’s best time by 19 seconds.



We’re also getting glimpses of what good climbing skills, or rather the energy they may have saved you until this point, can get you. Both Leknessund and Sendeku enter the provisional Top 10, on par with guys like Yatsevich or Politt. And also Cataford, who has an underwhelming day.



It has started to rain, which certainly won’t make the remaining riders happy. But it doesn’t seem to stop Fraile very much. He takes the lead at the time check by 7 seconds but loses 12 in the second half, still enough for second place. His teammate Kennaugh also does well, just missing out on the Top 10.

#		GC	TT
48.	Goos	+ 43’34	76
45.	Powless	+ 40’33	78
44.	McNulty	+ 38’58	75
43.	Barbio	+ 38’30	76

A few more secondary riders to get through before we take a look at the GC contenders. Goos has a really strong day, he finishes provisional third, 18 seconds behind Oliveira.



Powless can’t quite maximize his potential, he’s 10 seconds slower. McNulty and Barbio just barely make it into the Top 20, another 11 and 13 seconds slower, respectively. The rain has already stopped again, nothing to interfere as the best GC riders head onto the road.

#		GC	TT
19.	Kritskiy	+ 15‘56	76
17.	Geoghegan Hart	+ 12’30	76
15.	Foss	+ 12’23	76
12.	Pogacar	+ 10’19	74

Kritskiy is third at the intermediate check, Geoghegan Hart fifth. Oliveira has to fear them, and afterwards still Eastman and Tenorio as he watches from the hot seat.



Both Kritskiy and Geoghegan Hart trail Oliveira by 12 seconds at the finish line. The Brit is listed first of the two for now, he also overtakes Beltran, Foss (provisional 8th at + 25) and Karnulin and moves up to 14th in the GC.



Pogacar has some good legs today it seems. He was second at the time check and still is at the finish! He ties Fraile, a very strong performance.

#		GC	TT
10.	Schelling	+ 7’28	72
9.	Godoy	+ 7’19	67
8.	Eastman	+ 6’13	77
7.	Wellens	+ 6‘11	72
6.	Yates	+ 5’41	71

No one will lose their Top 10 place today, the gap to Chiarello in 11th is just too big. But there will be a few shifts among them: For instance, Schelling pretty easily overtakes Godoy to take 9th in the GC, he’s 15th at the finish line (+ 32), 59 seconds faster than the Brazilian.



Looking at what some of the other Top 20 riders did a few minutes ago, Eastman should be a contender for the stage win. But he doesn’t quite get there. 6th place for him, 17 seconds off the lead.



He still overtakes Wellens, who was just 2 seconds ahead of him in the GC prior to today. The Belgian is 29 seconds slower, but he does get closer to Yates, who ends up at + 1’01 and also falls behind Eastman, who moves up to 6th overall.

#		GC	TT
5.	Latour	+ 4’54	70
4.	Tenorio	+ 4‘02	79
3.	Morton	+ 3’44	73
2.	Sivakov	+ 3‘30	76
1.	Herklotz	68h57‘06	74

Tenorio is the only realistic contender for the stage win left, and at the time check he beats Oliveira by 11 seconds (and Latour by 49). But many have beaten the Portuguese at the time check and yet he still is in the hot seat. A lot can change on the second half.



Morton can’t match that, of course, but he limits his losses to 13 seconds for the time being. Sivakov on the other hand is an active contender for the stage win, he’s just 2 seconds slower than Tenorio!



Herklotz rides at a steady pace. 11 seconds slower than Tenorio at the time check, that’s very acceptable. Now he has to keep it up for the rest of the stage.

Latour doesn’t have great legs today. He ends up just outside the Top 100, losing over a minute and a half. He remains in 5th place by just a few seconds, but the podium is much farther away now.



Time to crown the stage winner, part one: Tenorio does not falter in the second half. Oliveira was still a couple of seconds faster there, but in total, the MOL captain takes the lead by 9 seconds.



Morton does about as well as one could expect him to. He crosses the line in provisional 11th place, losing 32 seconds to Tenorio. He drops behind him into 4th place overall, but is still well within striking range.



Time to crown the stage winner, part two: Sivakov was just 2 seconds behind Tenorio at the time check and now … that’s a gap of 5 seconds. Justo Tenorio wins Stage 17 of the Tour de France, but Sivakov can be very proud of this second place.



Not a spectacular ride by any means today from Herklotz, but it does the job. He finishes 10th, and by losing 24 seconds to Sivakov and 29 to Tenorio, his lead heading into the Pyrenees remains above the three minute mark. He also gains 3 seconds on Morton.