Tour de France 2017: Maciej Bodnar Wins Stage 20, Chris Froome Defends Lead
Maciej Bodnar of Bora-hansgrohe took Stage 20 of the 2017 Tour de France 2017 on Saturday, while Chris Froome of Team Sky finished the time trial in third place to strengthen his lead at the top of the general classification.
AG2R's Romain Bardet nearly tumbled off the podium, with Cannondale-Drapac's Rigoberto Uran overtaking him and Sky's Mikel Landa falling one second short.
Here's a look at Saturday's results, via CyclingHub:
The current general classification:
Recap
As Le Tour's official Twitter account shared, the time trial took place in Marseille and was relatively flat, save for one bump just past the midway point:
Froome was the clear favourite among the GC contenders, while a handful of riders were in contention for the stage win. Cannondale-Drapac's Taylor Phinney and Katusha-Alpecin's Tony Martin impressed early, and Bodnar took the lead after the climb.
Movistar's Jonathan Castroviejo was one of the favourites for the stage, but as cycling writer Michael Hutchinson shared, he didn't stay upright for long:
Alberto Contador of Trek-Segafredo impressed on the climb, making up plenty of ground on Michal Kwiatkowski. But at that pont of the stage, all of the attention had turned toward the GC contenders. Bardet lost time to Uran at the first check, while Froome passed it in second place.
By the second check, Bardet fell back even further, with Landa threatening to overtake him in the GC. Uran made a mistake in the final sector, breaking his rhythm, but his time was still good enough for the podium.
Froome nearly caught Bardet inside the Stade Velodrome, and team-mate Landa came agonisingly close to a podium spot, with the French crowds shouting their compatriot across the finish line in the nick of time.
Sunday's final stage in Paris should result in a mass sprint, with no changes in the GC expected.
