Chris Froome‘s lead in the Tour de France increased slightly as his closest challenger, Italian Fabio Aru, dropped to fourth place overall in Wednesday’s penultimate mountain stage in the Alps.
Froome, eyeing his fourth Tour title in five years, led by 18 seconds over Aru going into Wednesday in the closest Tour de France in history.
But Aru struggled in Stage 17 and crossed 31 seconds behind Froome, fading over the final climb and failing to claw back on the descent to the finish.
Froome goes into Thursday’s crucial summit finish with a 27-second lead over Colombian Rigoberto Uran and Frenchman Romain Bardet.