Tour de France: Chris Froome staying focused after edging towards third title
Chris Froome is closing in on a third Tour de France title after extending his lead in the yellow jersey while Russian Ilnur Zakarin won stage 17 to Finhaut-Emosson.
As Zakarin was celebrating his first Tour stage victory from the day's breakaway, Froome latched on to Richie Porte's late attack to ride clear of his rivals and build a cushion of almost two and a half minutes.
Dutchman Bauke Mollema was the first to be distanced as his second place overall came under attack from Orica-BikeExchange's Adam Yates, but most encouraging for Team Sky will have been the sight of Nairo Quintana being unable to respond as others broke free.
The Movistar rider has usually come good in the third week of Grand Tours and threatened Froome's lead late in last year's Tour, but does not seem to have the legs to rival him and appeared to wave the white flag after dropping to three minutes 27 seconds off the pace in fourth place.
"It's been a very difficult Tour for Nairo," Froome said. "He's still a great rival and a big challenger for me but he lost more time today. I think for him to re-enter into the game again he's going to have to do a real good time trial tomorrow."
At the end of this 184.5km stage from Berne, Froome now leads Trek-Segafredo's Mollema by two minutes and 27 seconds after the Dutchman gave up 40 seconds on the climb to the Emosson Dam.
Third-placed Yates has seen his chances of a podium finish in Paris enhanced after the 23-year-old moved to within 26 seconds of Mollema and extended his advantage over Quintana to 34 seconds.
"I said if there's an opportunity to take some seconds I'd go for it," Yates said.
"I'm satisfied with my performance. I took some time on Mollema but I wasn't thinking of Mollema himself, I was trying to bridge the gap to Froome and Porte."
Belfast Telegraph
