Colombian rider Rigoberto Uran won his first ever Tour de France stage and the victory was even sweeter as it came on arguably the most difficult day of the three-week race. Britain's Christopher Froome was under attack during the last of the day's seven climbs but he did well to keep things under control and gain another four seconds in the general classification on second-placed Fabio Aru. Richie Porte, one of the strongest contenders for the final victory, suffered a heavy crash on the day's final descent and left the race in an ambulance.
Earlier in the day, Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome's lieutenant at Team Sky, also crashed and had to abandon the race. Robert Gesink and Manuele Mori also had to abandon early in the stage after hitting the deck. A large group of riders broke away from the pack very early in the stage but most of them were gradually reeled back in before the end of the day's final ascent, the Mont du Chat. French rider Warren Barguil was the first to reach the summit but he was then caught by Romain Bardet on the subsequent descent.
Chris Froome was with general classification rivals Fabio Aru, Jakob Fuglsang and Rigoberto Uran and they worked together to catch Romain Bardet. The six-man group went to the finish together and the sprint saw Rigoberto Uran beat Warren Barguil by just a few inches. Now Chris Froome has an advantage of 18 seconds in the general classification over Fabio Aru and 51 seconds over third-placed Romain Bardet, while stage-winner Uran is a further four seconds back. Nairo Quintana lost quite a bit of time today and now he is 2 minutes and 13 seconds behind Chris Froome in the general classification, while Alberto Contador has a deficit of over 5 minutes.
Chris Froome is now 2/7 at Bet365 to win the 2017 Tour de France, while Fabio Aru is 4/1.
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