Chris Froome is in no doubt that there is still everything to play for despite increasing his Tour de France 2017 lead to 27 seconds after stage 17.
Just one mountainous stage remains for Froome on Thursday, with the double Olympic medallist finishing third for Team Sky in a thrilling latest stage of Le Tour.
Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic crossed the line first at Serre-Chevalier but Fabio Aru – the Brit’s nearest contender for the yellow jersey – slipped from second to fourth in the overall standings.
Victory this year would be Froome’s fourth Tour victory and third in succession, and with the time trial in Marseille to come on Saturday, confidence is high for Froome heading to the Champs Elysees on Sunday with his jersey of choice.
But, with in-form Colombian Rigoberto Uran and French favourite Romain Bardet second and third in the standings 27 seconds back, the 32-year-old knows tomorrow could provide the pivotal moment in the last true mountain day, finishing atop the Col d'Izoard.
“I expected it was going to be a shadow-chasing match between the main General Classification guys, and that was my mentality going through the climbs,” he said.
“I wasn’t necessarily doing too much with tomorrow in mind, but it was interesting to see the some of the guys struggling and losing a bit of time, but we’ll see what happens.
“Tomorrow is the last tough stage and the mountain-top finish, it’s still going to be all to play for.
“I didn’t expect Fabio to lose time today, that was the surprise of the day, but for me I have to thank my teammates. They made sure I was safe and I’m really happy with how it panned out.
“Tomorrow is the last big mountain stage, but the time trial is something I’m certainly looking forward to. I’ve been up to Marseille and looked at the route and it looks a good one for me.
“I’d be happy to go into the time trial with these gaps.”
Sportsbeat 2017