Tour de France Stage Seventeen

Stage Seventeen:  Majka doubles up

The Tinkoff show goes on! Following Michael Rogers' day of glory in the first day in the Pyrenees, Rafal Majka claimed his second stage win at Saint-Lary Pla d'Adet. The Polish rider took advantage of his triumph to increase his lead over Joaquim Rodriguez in the King of the Mountains competition while the Frenchman of the day was Jean-Christophe Péraud. The veteran from AG2R-La Mondiale positioned himself as a potential top 3 finisher as he was the only rider able to follow race leader Vincenzo Nibali in the final climb.

Sergio Paulinho (Tinkoff), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin), Yukiya Arashiro and Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Jens Voigt (Trek), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Martin Elmiger (IAM) attacked in the second kilometer of racing. They got caught at the beginning of the ascent to the col du Portillon after covering more than 50km in the first hour! Six riders rode away at the initiative of Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) who had the polka dot jersey as his main objective of the day. Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Kristijan Durasek (Lampre), Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff), Bauke Mollema (Belkin) and David Lopez (Sky) accompanied him. After Rodriguez took ten points at the Portillon, 16 riders bridged the gap in the downhill: Vassil Kiriyenka (Sky), Jesus Herrada, Jon Izagirre and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Tom Dumoulin (Giant), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto), Amaël Moinard and Peter Velits (BMC), Pierre Rolland, Yukiya Arashiro and Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Fränck Schleck (Trek) and Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis).

Read more at http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2014/us/stage-17/news/flm/majka-doubles-up.html


(CAPTION:  Second stage win for Rafal Majka.  Credit: ASO / B.Bade)