Ferocious Tadej Pogacar wins Stage 17 as Jonas Vingegaard holds on, Geraint Thomas dropped at Tour de France

On a day that Tadej Pogacar’s stricken UAE Team Emirates threw everything but the kitchen sink at turning the tables on yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), the Slovenian two-time champion moved just four seconds closer to the race summit despite beating his Danish rival to the line on the steep airstrip at Peyragudes. A thrilling Stage 17 in the Pyrenees saw Pogacar’s remaining three teammates blow the race apart on the third of four climbs before American climber Brandon McNulty set up his leader for his third win of the race.

But Vingegaard kept his cool to finish in Pogacar’s wheel as the gap between the two strongest riders in the race came down to 2’18” ahead of Thursday’s final summit finish. Ad/> Britain’s Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) battled to limit his loses after being dropped on the penultimate climb, the Col de Val Louron-Azet.

Thomas crossed the line for fourth place over two minutes down but strengthened his position in the general classification after finishing well ahead of his rivals for the third spot on the podium. Tour de France'Deary me!' — Shock as key Ineos man Yates suffers 'complete capitulation' at Tour2 HOURS AGO Thomas now trails Vingegaard by 4’56” but has a cushion of almost three minutes on fourth place Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic).

It was a day to forget for the 2018 champion’s Ineos team, who saw British duo Adam Yates and Tom Pidcock crash out of the top 10 after UAE’s Mikkel Bjerg set to work on the front of the main pack inside the final 50km on the climb of Hourquette d’Ancizan. With injured Polish climber Rafal Majka becoming the fourth UAE rider to withdraw just ahead of the 129.7km stage, Bjerg put in prolonged pull on the front to whittle down the yellow jersey