It is official; Marcel Kittel has abandoned the Tour de France after having a horrifying crash on today’s stage 17 which took place on Alps in Croix de Fer.
Today, we had a very intense first stage in the Alps, take a look at the full summary of stage 17! #TDF2017 pic.twitter.com/tbUdx9GBLj
— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 19, 2017
Kittel, the green points jersey classification leader, after winning five from this year’s Tour de France stages, and 14 Tour stages in total, will now have to abandon the biggest event of the year and return home.
The crash left Kittel with an injured shoulder right after fishing the first 20 kilometers of the today’s stage as Sunweb’s rider; Michael Matthews was able to close the gap in the green jersey competition.
Chris Froome continues to keep the lead
Britain’s Chris Froome accepts no loss. He has extended his lead in this year’s Tour de France once again. He got a 27-second advantage during the last part of the 17th stage which was won by Slovenia’s rider Primoz Roglic.
Can’t thank my team enough for their epic performance today ? Kept it under control all day ? #TDF #TDF2017
? @letour pic.twitter.com/ghCAAmeAJm— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) July 19, 2017
Despite owning the yellow jersey, Froome was only able to take the third place during the mountainy stage while Fabio Aru, the only rider able to take Froome’s yellow jersey on stage 12 which Froome eventually took back on stage 14, took the fourth one after losing the second place.
Full results after stage 17:
Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo -> 5:07:41
Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac -> 0:01:13
Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky -> 0:01:16
Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors -> 0:01:43
Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo -> 0:01:44
Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
