The 17th stage of the 2011 Tour de France on July 20th led over 179 kilometers from Gap to Pinerolo in Italy . It was the only foreign visit of this Tour de France. On this high mountain stage there was a sprint rating and a total of five mountain ratings, one of the 1st and two each of the 2nd and 3rd categories. As on the previous day, 170 of the 198 registered drivers started.
The group quickly extended its lead to over five minutes and later achieved a maximum advantage of over seven minutes. Casar decided the intermediate sprint for himself and Mark Cavendish scored the last point still to be awarded from the field. Sylvain Chavanel won the first three mountain classifications . On the way to Sestriere, Roche attacked, followed by Johnny Hoogerland and Kevin De Weert . Slowly they came closer to the top. In the leading group, Pérez attacked his fellow competitors, secured the fourth and highest mountain classification of the day and drove the long descent down alone. Chavanel finished second on the mountain, over a minute behind, the field was led over the hilltop by Thomas Voeckler . In the chasing group, Hoogerland briefly lost touch.
In the climb to the last mountain classification, Dmitri Fofonov attacked from the first group of pursuers, but was caught again. This was followed by an attack by Chavanel, who caught up with the leader, but was then overtaken and overtaken by Boasson Hagen. Jonathan Hivert followed him . In the field, too, the pace increased, whereupon the lead of the leading group decreased again. Philippe Gilbert could no longer follow the pace. At the front, Chavanel tried another attack a little later. As the day before, Alberto Contador also tried an attack, but was caught again. Behind Boasson Hagen, Bauke Mollema and Hivert finally reached the summit of Prà Martino.
On the descent, several drivers, including Voeckler, came off the road and lost valuable time. Boasson Hagen drove towards a safe victory at the front, his second in this Tour de France and the fourth for a Norwegian. Contador and Sánchez pulled away from the favorites in the descent, but were caught again by the co-favorites shortly before the finish. Voeckler finally crossed the finish line 27 seconds behind Contador's group.
^ Diary of the stage. (No longer available online.) July 20, 2011, archived from the original on July 19, 2011 ; Retrieved July 20, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.letour.fr
Paolo Tiralongo ( AST ): Task during the stage