‘Chapeau to them’ - Geraint Thomas salutes breakaway as Tour de France title hopes fade

“Fair play to them, they really took it on” said Geraint Thomas, after he was dropped on Stage 17 of the Tour de France, losing more time to yellow jersey holder Jonas Vingegaard and defending champion Tadej Pogacar — who won the stage. The 2018 winner still sits a comfortable third in the general classification, but he is now 4’56” back from the leader with three competitive stages to go — before the traditional procession to the Champs Elysees for the GC. Ad/> UAE Team Emirates riders Mikkel Bjerg and Brandon McNulty led a superb breakaway which Thomas was not able to live with, and McNulty guided Pogacar into a position to put down the throttle with 300m to go — eventually beating Vingegaard to the stage win.

/> Tour de FranceStage 17 highlights: Pogacar powers to victory but Vingegaard holds lead, Thomas dropped35 MINUTES AGO Thomas led others catch him — like Romain Bardet and Alexey Lutsenko — but still beat both of them, and sits around three minutes ahead of Nairo Quintana, who is fourth. “I felt alright but didn’t quite feel as light on the pedals as I’ve felt earlier in the race,” Thomas told Eurosport. “I wasn’t feeling tip-tip today.

I made the call to wait for the group behind rather than battle, go into the red and risk blowing up here and losing even more time. I was able to save the legs a little bit. Thomas was gracious in defeat, instead praising the title contenders for the courage they showed in the Pyrenees.