Ireland's Dan Martin put in an incredible ride on a day when the Tour de France title looks to have been settled for 2018.
Dan Martin's huge fight on Tour de France stage 17
When Dan Martin's career is over and done, there will be few days that sum up his tenure in the pro bunch more perfectly than today.
He raced at the front of the best climbers in the world; aggressive from the start of the finale and unafraid to bury himself on the final mountain.
Martin is the racing man's racer; a swashbuckling climber more suited to the days before every contest was so carefully measured out in watts and tactics.
His is a compelling 'total cycling' approach when his tail is up. He went for it today on Tour de France stage 17 and put on a brilliant show.
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The only trouble for him was that one of the best climbers the sport has ever seen, Nairo Quintana, also threw caution to the wind.
And in the grind up to the finish line at the top of the Col du Portet, after a balls-to-the-wall 65km stage; the Colombian had the measure of the Birmingham-born Irishman.
There was to be no second stage win for Martin; not today at any rate. But once again the UAE Team Emirates man has shown himself as one of the best on this race.
He crossed the line, shattered from his effort, the runner-up; some 28 seconds behind Quintana.
Top down: Quintana wins. Bernal leads the Team Sky train; Thomas looking comfortable, Froome about to fade. Three climbs one after the other made for a brilliant stage.
Martin had been with the winner earlier on the climb, having been the first to attack only for Quintana to go after him.
The Irish rider let the Colombian go when Quintana surged. The two men caught and went through all of the riders from the early breakaway.
And after Quintana went on alone it looked for a short time like Dan Martin just might claw his way back up to him.
He would hold the diminutive Colombian at 15 to 20 seconds for the longest time. But then rather than chipping away at that lead like he needed to; it nudged wider.
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And so the runner-up slot was to be Martin's reward when the race was done.
Behind him the general classification men were fighting a battle of their own. The biggest winner was yellow jersey Geraint Thomas; the loser his team mate Chris Froome.
For two weeks Team Sky has said the road would decide which one of them was the leader. And today that selection was made.
Thomas not only stayed with his rivals but distanced them at the finish to eke out more time in the general standings.
Furthermore, as he was going forward Froome was losing time. Thomas would cross the line in 3rd place, some 47 seconds down on Quintana and 19 down on Martin.
After him came the remaining contenders; the men Thomas has been far too good for on this race.
Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), the 28-year-old former ski jumper who had attacked early only to be marked by Froome, finished 4th just five seconds down on Thomas.
With him, and on the same time, was Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb); the man who Thomas sat behind early on the climb and forced to chase down Roglic and Froome.
Then came Roglic’s team mate Steven Kruijswijk; another 13 seconds back and 1:05 down Quintana.
Next over the line, and in 7th and 8th place, were perhaps what might be called Team Sky’s future and its past.
Egan Bernal (21) led in Chris Froome (33). The young Colombian had done Trojan work up the climb for the team and finished 1:33 down on Quintana and 46 seconds down on Thomas.
Froome’s struggle was confirmed by his even losing time to Bernal; only two seconds but significant in that any gap was there at all.
The result means Thomas still leads; with Dumoulin now up to 2nd overall at the expense of Froome who drops a place to 3rd.
Thomas has 1:59 in hand on Dumoulin and 2:31 on Froome. It is an order that very much looks like the final podium that will take the crowds applause and its boos in Paris on Sunday evening.
Froome has won four Tours, a Giro and a Vuelta and he should not be written off just yet.
He very likely has more wins in him and perhaps even another Tour; though one that does not follow a Giro assault in the same season.
But today seemed like a significant one in Froome’s career. He was nowhere near to being the strongest when the heat was really on, having looked invincible in the past in the same scenarios.
Dan Martin’s effort did not bring him the second stage victory he wanted to add to his stage 6 triumph atop Mur de Bretagne.
But he did take an excellent 2nd and he also nudged one place higher overall. He is now 9th rather than 10th having leapfrogged Jakob Fuglsang (Astana).
For the third year in succession Dan Martin has been one of the men to light up the race. And but for a crash, puncture and a poor TTT his overall placing would be higher.
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