It was hardly surprising that after a series of difficult stages and with even more tough stages to come, stage sixteen turned out to be one for the breakaway. A large break was able to get away, as GC contenders were happy to bide their time. 26 riders got into the break, including the likes of Jeannesson, Coppel, Navardaukas, Gilbert, Meyer and Rui Costa, as none were a threat in terms of the GC. In the end, it was Costa who managed to take the victory. Although the peloton didn't cross the line for another 11 minutes, there was still plenty going on in the background, as attacks were taking place, with Contador trying to take back time on Froome, only to misjudge a corner and nearly come off his bike. Froome followed his line and almost came off, too. In the end, they made it across the line safely, but some of the GC contenders lost time, including Fuglsang and Dan Martin.
Stage seventeen was a time trial stage that was going to be much more of a challenge than the first time trial, as the climbs were tougher and the weather more changeable. Some of the riders started off on normal road bikes and changed to time trial bikes once they had got past the climbs, whilst others decided to use road bikes with clip-on tri-bars. This was a decision which may have cost Alberto Contador the stage victory, because whilst Froome opted to change to a time trial bike, Contador did not, and Froome ended up winning the stage by nine seconds. The top ten also featured Rodriguez, Kreuziger, Valverde, Quintana, Kwiatowski, Fuglsang, Talansky and van Garderen. A number of GC riders lost time, including Ten Dam and Mollema. Thus, Contador is now in second place on the GC, 4:34 behind Froome, with Kreuziger in third, Mollema in fourth and Quintana in fifth. The next big test for the GC riders is L'Alpe d'Huez, which they will have to ride up twice in the next stage! Ultimately, it appears that everyone is now pretty much riding for second place.
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