Tour de France 2018 – stage 17 LIVE: Geraint Thomas takes major step towards Tour de France crown as Nairo Quintana wins stage 17

Follow all the action from a potentially decisive day of racing in the Pyrenees as Thomas leads the peloton into three gruelling climbs from a gridded start

Tour De France 2018 Highlights

This might just be the day the decides whether Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome or someone else wins this compelling Tour de France.

It is a unique – the purists might say gimmicky – stage 17 which begins with a gridded start of the first 20 riders and immediately embarks on the first of three brutal climbs, finishing with a 16km slog up the steep Col du Portet, making its debut in the Tour de France. It is only 65km, but promises to be an explosive couple of hours.

Thomas remains in pole position to win his first Tour de France, 1min 39sec ahead of his Team Sky team-mate Froome, who is running out of time to make the decisive attack which could bring his fifth yellow jersey. Should they falter or squabble, the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin is only 11 seconds behind Froome and in position to benefit.

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[25 July 2018 10:44 · Vithushan Ehantharajah]

Hello and welcome along to what might just be the defining moment of this Tour de France – three long hard climbs and two treacherous descents packed into 65km which could settle the race. Here's our stage preview ahead of the action, which begins at around 2.15pm BST:

[25 July 2018 12:12 · Ben Burrows]

Not for 30 years has a non-time trial stage been so short. Never has a stage begun with a gridded start. Welcome to stage 17 of the 2018 Tour de France: unique, bizarre and quite possibly decisive.

Wednesday’s 65km ride from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan is barely more than a quarter of the distance of Tuesday’s chaotic stage 16, won by Julian Alaphilippe and negotiated safely by Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and their pursuers, but it is both brutal and relentless. It is made up of three tough climbs and two treacherous descents which will be raced at high speed, and could bring more crashes like the one Adam Yates suffered with the stage win at his mercy.

“It will be a tough day,” said Thomas after stage 16. “A good two hours of climb. We’ll try to keep riding together. There’s no point in going too soon because that climb is really hard and steep. I won’t be going on the offence too early, that’s for sure, it’s a big day of climbing.”

[25 July 2018 12:40 · Ben Burrows]

Stage 17 begins in a gridded start with Thomas’s yellow jersey on pole, in order to avoid an unsafe dash to the immediate climb up the Montée de Peyragudes, a gruelling 14.9km at 6.7 per cent average gradient which cracked Froome last year.

Every rider will want to be in a breakaway, but the way the stage is structured is likely to setup up a straight shootout between the main general classification contenders, with a brave and attacking ride likely to bring the greatest reward – and risk.

“It’s different but I get to start at the front,” said Thomas. “It’s always great to wear the yellow jersey but we’ll see how tomorrow goes.”

[25 July 2018 13:05 · Ben Burrows]

Next comes a sharp descent to the smallest of the three climbs, the Col de Val Louron-Azet, but 7.4km at an average gradient of 8.3 per cent is enough to seriously damage one of the leading contenders.

After another quick descent comes the Col du Portet, one of the toughest climbs in the Pyrenees which immediately kicks up more than nine per cent and never lets up, draining the legs for 16km.

The Portet is making its debut in the Tour and it will be memorable: the 65km to its summit, 2,215m above sea level, might just decide the fate of the yellow jersey. 

[25 July 2018 13:30 · Ben Burrows]

The replay is hard to watch without wincing. Philippe Gilbert was out on his own leading stage 16 of the Tour de France when he lost control of his bike on a left bend. His front wheel gave way on the damp asphalt, and as he wrestled with his handlebars he veered terrifyingly towards the edge of the mountain pass.

In the seconds when Gilbert hurtled off piste, the 1995 Tour flashed to mind and images of Italian rider Fabio Casartelli, who crashed and died on the same descent of the Col de Portet d’Aspet, aged 24, when he hit his head on concrete blocks on the roadside.

Fortunately Gilbert did not suffer the same fate. His bike crashed into the wall, propelling him over the edge, and although his body was battered and bruised and his lead had slipped away, he managed to complete the stage half an hour after the eventual winner, Julian Alaphilippe.

[25 July 2018 13:45 · Ben Burrows]

It promises to be a unique afternoon.

[25 July 2018 13:56 · Vithushan Ehantharajah]

Around 15 minutes until the start of the stage. It is baking here on top of the Col du Portet, where this race will be decided in a couple of hours' time.

[25 July 2018 14:15 · Vithushan Ehantharajah]

The riders are on the grid! This is odd. It is hard to know what effect this will have on the start of the race. The leaders could zoom out ahead and create an elite breakaway group, but the reality is they would probably prefer to wait for their team-mates to catch up. Here we go...

[25 July 2018 14:18 · Vithushan Ehantharajah]

They're off! 

And straight up the road goes Lilian Calmejane, who is always on the attack in this Tour it seems. The leaders – Thomas, Froome, Dumoulin – weren't too interested in a speedy start given all the climbing ahead. 

[25 July 2018 14:20 · Vithushan Ehantharajah]

It's fair to say the grid start was completely pointless and will probably never be seen in the Tour de France again.