Mountain Time Trial - Stage 17 - its Froome again

It was the second Individual Time Trial over 32Kms covering two category 2 mountains. The first mountain is 1173m above sea level and the second slightly higher at 1227m followed by a downhill race to the finish.

As usual the Tour Leaders were kept in the "start house" till the end.

Other riders were making their mark in the early standings.

We saw Tejay van Garderen,  Alejandro Valverde, Joaquin Rodriguez  set really fast times.

Riders like Quintana gave a surprisingly great account of his time trial skills and increased the time gap in his race for the White Jersey.

This stage saw quite a few riders change their bikes for the final descent to gain precious seconds.

Also some cyclists were disappointed to have to ride through temporary rain showers - thereby slowing down their progress and adding valuable seconds to their efforts.

As usual the race boiled down to Contador and Froome.

Contador was taking out a 20 second lead by the time he reached the second time check.

Froome somehow managed to pull another stage out of the hat and romp home with a victory.

The day's sycling was marred by the accidents to Jean Christophe Peraud - first whilst training before the start of the race and then his second during the race. The first time he had fractured his right clavicle. He had fallen again on his right side.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

This year we are having 3 days of road racing after a time trial. Usually the Time trial is held the day before the entry into Paris.

So hang on - three more exciting days in the Alps are in store.

The riders have to recover fast from today's efforts.