Race leader Thomas eyes win over Froome in 'decisive' stage

After surviving a chaotic 16th stage on Tuesday, the Welshman set off with the rest of the peloton in Wednesday's innovative stage from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan. He says it will be "massively decisive" in his battle with Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin.

Cycling - Tour de France - the 65-km Stage 17 from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet - July 25, 2018 - Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas of Britain, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, before the start. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Thomas has admitted the stage – with thunderstorms forecast – will be “massively decisive”.

“There could be big gaps. It's the first time we've ever done a stage like that," he said before the start of Wednesday’s mountain stage from Bagnères-de-Luchon to the top of the Col de Portet in the Hautes-Pyrenees.

At 65 kilometres, it's the shortest in the Tour’s modern era, and its steepest.

However, the big change is the new grid format, which will see the riders positioned according to their overall ranking in a Formula One-style format.

The yellow jersey starts in pole position – that's Thomas – who maintains his 1min 39sec lead on four-time champion and teammate Chris Froome after surviving a day where farmers protesting at French labour laws were blasted by pepper spray by police, which ended up in his and the other riders’ eyes.

Thomas will be tailed by Froome and the 19 closest-placed riders on the overall standings.

“I think certainly there will be some attacks, but I'm not so sure the grid start will affect the race to much. If some guys go in the top 10 that will be a gutsy move,” he added.

It is unclear whether riders will attack from the start or wait for teammates to catch up.

The stage has a profile not too dissimilar to that of the final 80 kilometres of Stage 19 of last month’s Giro d’Italia, where Froome launched his solo attack to seize control of the race.

Thomas has warned the British star, who is going for a fifth Tour victory, that they have to work together or risk the prospect of the Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin, who sits in third place, beating them both.

“We’ve got to be clever with it. There’s no point in going too hard from the start because you can run out of legs on that last climb, which is possibly the toughest climb of the Tour. It’s a big, big day and for sure there are going to be some splits,” he said.

In total, 43 kilometres will be uphill. One rider who won't be making the climb is the Belgian Philippe Gilbert, who quit the Tour after crashing on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet during stage 16.