With the conclusion of today’s 22.5km individual time trial, the most of the jersey positions are set for Sunday’s procession onto the Champs d’Elysee to conclude the 2017 Tour de France.
BORA-hansgrohe’s time trial specialist Maciej Bodnar had ridden hard in support of his teammates on every stage of the 2017 Tour de France so far, but today was his chance to take centre stage. Smashing the day’s previous best time by over a minute, the former Polish national time trial champion rode a perfect race that stood for the remainder of the day. With his stunning ride, he took took a well-deserved first stage victory at the Tour de France, and BORA-hansgrohe’s second of the race.
The 22.5km time trial was a course that would challenge every kind of rider, with its long straight sections, a steep, challenging climb, along with some twists and turns on a circuit through the streets of Marseille, starting and finishing in the famous Orange Vélodrome. In spite of three weeks of racing in the riders’ legs though, this would be the last day that there would be a chance to go full gas, ahead of the traditional procession into Paris for the race’s grand finale.
The crowds at the vélodrome finish had already been whipped into a frenzy by the La Course women’s race, and were eager to see the outcome of the men’s time trial. The first riders out on the course were setting times around the half-hour mark, with the early leader having set a time of 29:21. While the first BORA-hansgrohe riders out came in with some strong times, they were still short of the time needed to take the top spot. Jay McCarthy came close, with a time of 29:43 while Emanuel Buchmann and Marcus Burghardt each came in with the same time of 30:41, but it wasn’t enough to unseat the top-placed rider.
This was until Maciej Bodnar hit the course. The former Polish national time trial champion took every corner perfectly and took as much time as he could on the flats, riding at an incredible pace for the final part of the stage. Entering the Orange Vélodrome, Bodi smashed the provisional first position’s time by more than a minute, finishing in 28:15. It was where he stayed, watching intently the performances of the GC contenders as they all pushed hard to take time from each other. The last rider who could beat him was the Maillot Jaune, Chris Froome of Team Sky, but as the overall leader came to the finish six seconds down, Maciej’s first stage victory at the Tour de France, and BORA-hansgrohe’s second of the race, was confirmed.
Having waited three hours in the Orange Vélodrome for his win to be confirmed, Maciej could finally celebrate his first victory. “It was a really amazing day for me today. I’ve waited a long time for this moment, for my first stage victory at the Tour de France. When I was a child, my dream was to race in the Tour de France, and now I’ve taken a stage! It is a fantastic moment. I’d like to thank my girlfriend who always stood by me, my mother and, of course, my father who, unfortunately, passed away and wasn’t able to watch this great moment. Thanks go also to my team, BORA-hansgrohe. This victory is for them. We had a tough start at the Tour this year and this victory goes also to Peter and Rafał. We have shown we are a great group.”
Chris Froome locks in overall lead
Overall race leader Chris Froome did well, as expected, finishing just six seconds back from Bodnar to secure his 4th Tour de France victory. Froome extending his overall lead out to a convincing 54 seconds.
Froome crossed the line moments behind chief rival Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), who dropped to third place on the day, 2:20 behind the maillot jaune. Despite a brief crash on the penultimate corner, Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) was able to elevate himself into second place overall.
“It’s an amazing feeling and atmosphere in this stadium,” said Froome after stepping off the podium.
“Three weeks of racing has almost come to an end and obviously we have to get to Paris tomorrow, but it’s an amazing feeling.
“It was tough, there were just a 1000 ‘what ifs’ and things that potentially could go wrong and trying to think of all the different scenarios so it was certainly not an easy one coming into today with it being so close.
“It just feels incredible.”
Froome also reserved praise for team-mate Landa, who came so close to joining him on the overall podium in Paris.
“That’s [missing out] really tough for him.
“I think that if anything it shows that he’s definitely capable of being on this Tour de France podium and I imagine that will just give him even more motivation in future.”
2017 Tour de France Stage 20 Brief Results:
- Maciej Bodnar (Poland / BORA-hansgrohe) 28:15″
- Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland / Team Sky) +1″
- Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) +6″
- Tony Martin (Germany / Katusha-Alpecin) +14″
- Daryl Impey (South Africa / Orica-Scott) +20″
- Alberto Contador (Spain / Trek-Segafredo) +21″
- Nikias Arndt (Germany / Team Sunweb) +28″
- Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Cannondale-Drapac) +31″
- Stefan Kueng (Switzerland / BMC Racing Team) +34″
- Sylvain Chavanel (France / Direct Energie) +37″
General Classification After Stage 20:
- Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 83:55:16″
- Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Cannondale-Drapac) +54″
- Romain Bardet (France / AG2R La Mondiale) +2:20″
- Mikel Landa (Spain / Team Sky) +2:21″
- Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana Pro Team) +3:05″
- Daniel Martin (Ireland / Quick-Step Floors) +4:42″
- Simon Yates (Britain / Orica-Scott) +6:14″
- Louis Meintjes (South Africa / UAE Team Emirates) +8:20″
- Alberto Contador (Spain / Trek-Segafredo) +8:49″
- Warren Barguil (France / Team Sunweb) +9:25″
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