The 161km stage seventeen in the 2015 Tour de France, first of four in the Alps towards the Cat-2 Pra Loup climb including four other categorized ascents, brought Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) onto the overall podium, now ranked 3rd after a very eventful ride from the start.

Numerous splits in the favourites' group led into an attack by Nairo Quintana with almost 130km remaining, quickly neutralized by a bunch which later let a 28-man breakaway go, with three of the Blues: Castroviejo - 8th across the line, with Simon Geschke (TGA) victorious - José Herrada and Gorka Izagirre - plus Adriano Malori who jumped away later on. While Tejay van Garderen (BMC, 3rd overall) abandoned due to sickness, the main bunch broke into pieces through the Colle-Saint-Michel (Cat-2) after an attack by Contador (TCS), quickly brought back by Valverde.

The pace by Trek and especially Astana in the peloton during the Col d'Allos reduced the group to only five elements: Nibali, Froome (SKY), Contador, Valverde and Quintana, who briefly attacked near the summit. On the descent, led out by Nibali and Valverde, a crash by Contador and Valverde's subsequent effort, ultimately helped out by Izagirre and Herrada on the Pra Loup climb, kept the pace high and produced a series of accelerations from the Blues' leaders, the latter leaving Quintana and Froome alone, face to face, with a handful of seconds over Valverde across the line.

Quintana remains 3'10" behind the yellow jersey and leading the Young riders' competition as second overall, while Valverde now sits in 3rd spot, 4'09" down, with a 2'25" margin over Thomas (SKY, 4th) and 2'31" ahead of Contador (TCS), now in 5th place. In turn, the Movistar Team conserves almost 17' over MTN-Qhubeka in the lead of teams' classification with three Alpine stages to go, the longest to come on Thursday. 186.5km are on the race programme, with no less than seven categorized cols and the Glandon (HC) set to produce big drama en route to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

“I felt really well today," Quintana said. "I recovered fine and did not struggle after the rest day. We fared pretty well, both me and my team-mates . With the pace we rode on the Allos climb, I didn't realize until the end of the climb that we were only four of five at the front. That's where I tried to attack, just like I did in the finale, though I didn't get a gap.

"I couldn't go faster in the downhill of col d'Allos. I've seen the crashes so Alejandro and I preferred to play safe, for Alejandro to make the podium and for the teams classification. From that point of view, I'm satisfied with today's result because this classification means a lot to us. During the race, we decided to neutralize Contador's attack because he's a real threat for Alejandro's podium placing.

"Today I was almost at 100%. I didn't manage to dethrone Froome but now there'll be stages that suit me even better. Climbs will be longer and harder. I'll have to attack from further out. We'll keep attacking. Our team is very strong. Our goal remains the yellow jersey.

"We didn't have an intention of trying to turn things around today as there are days where the mountains are more demanding, and we think we'll be able to try harder later on. Tomorrow's stage will be complicated; the one on Friday, finishing at La Toussuire, is a route that suits me well - full of ups and downs, with serious climbs, a hard route with long ascents - and Alpe d'Huez is a long climb whose slopes are really good for me.

"There's still room for battle. We also entered the podium with Alejandro Valverde, who has a nice chance to snatch a place in the top-3, and kept the lead in the teams' classification, so today's overview must be pretty good for us.

"Safe on the GC podium? I don't really know if it's secured yet," Valverde said. "It's true that there are only three days left in this Tour before Paris, but there's still much left to cover. It's also true that I'm feeling really well, working hard for my team-mate Nairo and trying everything to create some gaps, but Froome is really strong and it's hard to beat him.

"The team's in a very good place at the moment. I think we're doing a very good job together. We've been battling very hard out there, to tell you the truth. I would say we're happy. We're close to the podium, but we have three very tough days remaining.

"When Contador crashes I was ahead of him and couldn't see the incident, but I was told afterwards. Alberto is a really fighting and dangerous rider - what can you say from him - someone you can never give a gap and he was really close to me on the GC.

"It was awful to see Van Garderen leave the race, too - I want to send him all my support, I know how it feels - the Tour and cycling are as hard as this. I was left out of the podium last year, fourth after the final TT following a tough final week, and know the bad side of this race. All in all, we're still there and, as many have seen, we keep trying to take the yellow jersey."