Tour de France 2013 Stage 17 Results: Winner, Leaderboard and Highlights

In one of the most exciting time trial stages of the race thus far, it was Team Sky’s Chris Froome (51 minutes, 33 seconds) who won his third portion of the 2013 Tour de France by taking Stage 17 with a nine-second advantage over second-place finisher Alberto Contador (51:42).

Froome retains the overall lead in the general classification and yellow jacket once again by winning the 20-mile trial, furthering his lead to 4:34 over Contador.

As the Tour de France continues, expect the battle between Froome and Contador to become even more intense. Neither man wants to lose.

While the field has closed in on the overall leader, the race is now heading toward the mountains where Froome has been dominant.

With all the momentum on his side because of his three stage victories thus far, look for the British star to continue holding the yellow jersey while fending off Contador.

This year’s race is Froome’s to lose.

Spanish star Joaquim Rodriguez (51:43) also had a stellar run on the Stage 17 time trial and managed to finish in third place overall. Additionally, Roman Kreuziger (51:56) raced well on Wednesday and brought home the fourth-place finish.

Alejandro Valverde finished fifth with a time of 52:03, and the best American finisher was Andrew Talansky, who ended up in ninth place with a very respectable time of 53:14.

Despite the hard work shown by the stars of the sport on Stage 17, the cyclists will be back in action Thursday for the next mountain portion of the race. Stage 18 travels from Gap to Alpe d'Huez in a 172.5-kilometer (107-mile) trip through the beautiful visuals in the Alps.

The cyclists will face three mountain stages in a row, and this is where the champions separate themselves from the field.

Stage 17 Standings

Place	Name	Time	Time Gap	Age
1	Christopher FROOME	00:51:33	00:00:00	28
2	Alberto CONTADOR	00:51:42	00:00:09	30
3	Joaquim RODRIGUEZ OLIVER	00:51:43	00:00:10	34
4	Roman KREUZIGER	00:51:56	00:00:23	27
5	Alejandro VALVERDE	00:52:03	00:00:30	33
6	Nairo Alexander QUINTANA ROJAS	00:52:44	00:01:11	23
7	Michal KWIATKOWSKI	00:53:06	00:01:33	23
8	Jakob FUGLSANG	00:53:07	00:01:34	28
9	Andrew TALANSKY	00:53:14	00:01:41	24
10	Tejay VAN GARDEREN	00:53:24	00:01:51	24

Overall Standings

Place	Name	Time	Time Gap	Team
1	Christopher FROOME	66:07:09	00:00:00	SKY
2	Alberto CONTADOR	66:11:43	00:04:34	TST
3	Roman KREUZIGER	66:12:00	00:04:51	TST
4	Bauke MOLLEMA	66:13:32	00:06:23	BEL
5	Nairo Alexander QUINTANA ROJAS	66:14:07	00:06:58	MOV
6	Joaquim RODRIGUEZ OLIVER	66:14:30	00:07:21	KAT
7	Laurens TEN DAM	66:15:32	00:08:23	BEL
8	Jakob FUGLSANG	66:16:05	00:08:56	AST
9	Michal KWIATKOWSKI	66:18:19	00:11:10	OPQ
10	Daniel MARTIN	66:19:59	00:12:50	GRS

Full results and standings at NBC Sports.