Super G

Today's plan was to get as close to the finish of Stage 17 at the top of the Col de Portet as possible. This involved me upsetting the guv by setting the alarm for 6am but it paid off as we were pretty much the last people up the climb.

We first did the Pla d'Adet which was tough at the start but levelled out to 'just' 5% for the last 3km which gave me the opportunity to attack.

Then on the decent, what turned out to be the usual mode of operation, the guv did his impression of Nibali descending whilst I was more like Pinot on a very bad day.

I then though it was game over for me  when the gendarmerie closed the climb for cyclists, but a couple of Basque riders and me pretended to walk but then jumped on our bikes after 50 metres.

After stopping to chat to some chilled out Dutch people with a rainbow flag, I then set about the task of catching up with Simon which I did with about 3km to go.

Another cheeky attack with 1k to go got me to within 400m of the finish when the Gendarmes were stopping all cyclists. So we claimed our vantage point and then witnessed G finally cement his position as team leader and hopefully doing enough to remain in yellow all the way to Paris.

Cue lots of photos...

Quintana soloing to Stage victory

Dan Martin in 2nd

G, Roglic & Dumoulin

Froome in trouble

He looked shot

Terps leading in Sagan after his crash

So, all in all, a top day, climbing the highest road in the French Pyrenees and seeing first hand the end of a great stage.

All that was left was to celebrate with a couple of bottles of red and some beers.