The day after the rest day often proves to be decisive in the Tour de France and if today’s stage 17 is any indicator of what is still to come in the remaining 3 Alpine stages, cycling fans are in for a real treat in terms of the battle for the overall and the special jerseys.

Team Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez still fights for the mountains jersey and initially went on the attack to gather points toward his goal, but quickly realized another day might be more promising in the chase for polka dots.

“At the beginning of the stage Joaquim immediately went on the attack - that was his goal today after the rest day and the first day in the Alps. This was to get points toward the polka dot jersey. But then he saw that the group was too big and the makeup of this group was not good so he decided to save his energy and try again tomorrow and the day after where he can get some really big points,” explained team director Torsten Schmidt.

While Purito wears the polka dot jersey every day, it currently belongs to yellow jersey Chris Froome (Team Sky) by 9-points.

Later, another Katusha’s rider Alberto Losada did part of the daily break. From that break came the winning move of Simon Geschke (Team Giant-Alpecin). The German rider attacked on the lower slopes of the Col d’Allos as the peloton reached the highest point (2250 m) in the race.

He controlled his descent and began the finish climb of Pra Loup ahead of all chasers, keeping 32-seconds to Andrew Talansky of Cannondale – Garimin at the finish line after more than four hours of racing. Etixx – Quick Step’s Rigoberto Uran rounded out the top three at 1.01 to Geschke’s winning time of 4.12.17.

Thursday’s stage 18 is 186,5 km from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Along the way are seven climbs – it won’t be a day for the faint of heart.