While his teammate Tom Dumoulin tried to win the stage and the GC riders battled for seconds, Marcel Kittel was one of many sprinters who fought hard to make the time cut in the queen stage of the Tour de France. The German was pleased to have saved what could potentially have been a very dangerous day.

Tom Dumoulin was once again active off the front of the peloton on the short, sharp seventeenth stage of Le Tour de France today but the succession of tough mountain climbs were to prove too much for him.

Dumoulin bridged across to the breakaway on the lower slopes of the Col du Portillon and crested this climb in the front group, but the pace being set on the second climb proved too much and he had to let go and return to the peloton.

He went on to finish in his own time while behind Marcel Kittel and Tom Veelers were in a fight to make the time cut – a fight they won.

The stage got underway in the valley roads with a long 50km run to the opening climb of the day and on these valley roads a group of eight riders formed out front. Katusha however were not happy to let them ride away and chased hard limiting the gap and then attacking on the lower slopes of the climb.

This led to a large group forming ahead of the peloton and it was this group that Dumoulin bridged across to. He spent until the second climb of the day, Col de Peyresourde, with them but eventually sat up after not feeling too good, preferring to save his energy for the more important days to come.

“Today was a hard day so it’s good for the morale that all the guys made it through in a good way. Cheng [Ji] had a good day and didn’t suffer too much with his knee, while further back Tom V and Marcel survived in a good way too, and didn’t panic.

“Tom D made the break but didn’t feel good so he decided to take it easy and sit up on the second climb of the day.”

Tom Dumoulin added: “I wanted to ride out my frustration from yesterday but in the end I didn’t have the legs and I also had some pain from a saddle sore so I eased off. I was with the right group but today wasn’t my day.”

Kittel added: “It was important to stay together as a grupetto and keep pushing on all day to the finish. In the end we were OK and the group was big enough but it wasn’t easy.”

Tom Veelers, who finished with Kittel said: “it was a hard fight today with a fast pace all day meaning that once the gruppetto formed we had to keep working hard. It was flat out on the climbs and I was on the limit for what energy I had left but we made it home OK. One day closer.”

Special guest in the team car today was ex-international Dutch footballer Mark van Bommel, and he said: “Today was a really great experience. Normally I just watch the race on television so being here really makes you feel a part of the team. You hear all the contact between the guys and the coach which was really nice. I even gave a bottle out which was cool. I am a fan of cycling together with my oldest son who follows everything so it was a really nice day.”