Gallery: 2017 Tour de France, Stage 17

Slovenian Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) overcame an early crash on Stage 17 to solo to victory at the Tour de France Wednesday, riding clear from a breakaway over the Col du Galibier to finish ahead of a fractured group of GC contenders.

Roglic, a former ski jumper, finished 1:13 ahead of Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), Chris Froome (Team Sky), Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), Warren Barguil (Sunweb), and Mikel Landa (Team Sky), while further back, Fabio Aru (Astana), who started the day second overall just 18 seconds down, crossed the line in tenth place, 31 seconds back, dropping to fourth overall. With the win Roglic, 27, became the first Slovenian to ever win a stage of the Tour de France.

Earning six seconds time bonus, Uran moved into second overall, 27 seconds behind Froome, and tied with Bardet.

The 183km stage from La Mure to Serre-Chevalier delivered four categorized climbs, including the HC climbs of Col de la Croix-de-Fer (24km at 5.2%) and the Col du Galibier (17.7km climb at 6.9%), the latter being the highest point of this year’s race at 2,642 metres (8,668 feet). Following the summit of the Galibier was a 28km descent to the ski resort at Serre-Chevalier. In total, the stage delivered around 4,500 metres (almost 15,000 feet) of elevation gain.

In the battle for the green points jersey, Australian Michael Matthews (Sunweb) earned an additional 20 points on rival Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) by riding into the day’s early breakaway of 31 riders and taking the day’s only intermediate sprint point, at Allemont, 47km into the stage.

Kittel, who had been caught up in a crash 20km into the stage that also took down Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) and Warren Barguil (Sunweb), did not ride into the breakaway and earned no points; the difference between Matthews and Kittel was just nine points with three road stages remaining. But Kittel would abandon the race on the Croix-de-Fer, succumbing to injuries sustained in his crash.