Froome Wins The Tour's Stage 17 Time Trial

Yellow Jersey leader Christopher Froome showed he is going to be very hard to beat for this year's Tour de France -- and he did it by winning the difficult mountain time trial in stage 17. He still has an excellent rider only four minutes behind (Alberto Contador) and more mountain stages to come, but he has risen to meet every challenge so far and there is no reason to believe he won't continue to do so.

Tomorrow will be the most difficult stage of the Tour this year. Stage 18 has several climbs, including two extremely difficult unrated climbs -- with the second unrated climb leading to the finish line (on top of the infamous Alpe-d'Huez). It will be the best chance for competitors to cut into Froome's lead in the race. Here are the stage 17 top finishers and the current standings:

STAGE 17 TOP FINISHERS
1. Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Sky Procycling
2. Alberto Contador (Spain) Saxo-Tinkoff
3. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spain) Katusha

YELLOW JERSEY (Best Overall Time)
1. Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Sky Procycling
2. Alberto Contador (Spain) Saxo-Tinkoff..........4' 34"
3. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic) Saxo-Tinkoff..........4' 51"
4. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands) Belkin Pro Cycling..........6' 23"
5. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Columbia) Movistar..........6' 58"
6. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spain) Katusha..........7' 21"
7. Laurens Ten Dam (Netherlands) Belkin Pro Cycling..........8' 23"
8. Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) Astana..........8' 56"
9. Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........11' 10"
10. Daniel Martin (Ireland) Garmin-Sharp..........12' 50"
11. Michael Rogers (Australia) Saxo-Tinkoff..........13' 19"
12. Alejandro Valverde (Spain) Movistar..........15' 12"
13. Andrew Talansky (United States) Garmin-Sharp..........15' 13"

GREEN JERSEY (Best Sprinter)
1. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) Cannondale..........377 pts
2. Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........278 pts
3. Andre Greipel (Germany) Lotto-Belisol..........223 pts
4. Marcel Kittel (Germany) Argos-Shimano..........177 pts
5. Alexander Kristoff (Norway) Katusha..........157 pts
6. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spain) Movistar..........145 pts

POLKA DOT JERSEY (Best Climber)
1. Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Sky Procycling..........88 pts
2. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Columbia) Movistar..........69 pts
3. Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spain) Euskaltel-Euskadi..........53 pts
4. Pierre Rolland (France) Europcar..........51 pts
5. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spain) Katusha..........35 pts
6. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic) Saxo-Tinkoff..........28 pts
7. Richie Porte (Australia) Sky Procycling..........28 pts

WHITE JERSEY (Best Young Rider)
1. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Columbia) Movistar
2. Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........4' 12"
3. Andrew Talansky (United States) Garmin-Sharp..........8' 15"
4. Romain Bardet (France) AG2R La Mondiale..........21' 45"
5. Arthur Vichot (France) FDJ.FR..........58' 11"

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Saxo-Tinkoff (Denmark)
2. Radioshack Leopard (Luxembourg)..........1' 22"
3. AG2R La Mondiale (France)..........8' 14"
4. Movistar (Spain)..........12' 48"
5. Belkin Pro Cycling (Netherlands)..........22' 33"
6. Katusha (Russia)..........30' 58"
7. BMC Racing (United States)..........42' 40"
8. Garmin-Sharp (United States)..........51' 53"
9. Omega Pharma-Quick Step (Belgium)..........59' 32"
10. Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spain)..........1h 09' 21"