Poland’s Rafal Majka soloed to his second mountain-top win in the Tour de France with an emphatic victory in stage 17 at Pla d’Adet in the Pyrenees.
The Tinkoff-Saxo rider followed in the footsteps of compatriot Zenon Jaskula – who won Poland’s first ever Tour stage win at Pla d’Adet in 1993 – en route to extending his lead in the polka dot jersey competition.
Race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) once again kept his cool to take more time of each of his main rivals, the Italian crossing the line for third place on the 124.5km stage, 46 seconds down on Majka.
Spain’s Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) recovered to finish tenth on the stage but conceded 49 seconds to Nibali to drop to more than five minutes down on his rival on the overall standings.
French youngsters Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Ag2R-La Mondiale) struggled on the final climb to lose ground in their battle for a podium finish in Paris.
Pinot stays in third place but is now only eight seconds ahead of Jean-Christophe Peraud after Ag2R’s French veteran shadowed Nibali up the final ascent to take a solid fourth place at the summit.
