Stage 17

The road

At the start

The climbers' last chance

The Aspin and the Peyresourde finished Cadel Evans, who has dropped out of the top four; Nibali attacked twice on the Peyresourde and both times Wiggins and Froome answered. Fränk Schleck did not start yesterday. Today is short, steep and the last day in the mountains: the Col de Menté, the Port de Balès where Andy Schleck lost a chain and a Tour, the Peyresourde, and a first-ever finish at Peyragudes.

How it was won

1. 187 km to go

   The break forms, and Sørensen bleeds

   The escape is away over the Col des Ares. On the descent Chris Anker Sørensen reaches down to pull a newspaper out of his front wheel and mangles several fingers doing it; the race doctor patches him up and he rides back to the peloton.

2. 239 km to go

   Valverde jumps on the Port de Balès

   Rui Costa has been alone at the front of the race for three kilometres of the hors catégorie climb. Five kilometres from the summit Alejandro Valverde surges out of the chase, drops Leipheimer and Martínez as though they were standing still, and rides straight up to his own team-mate.

3. 335 km to go

   Alone, thirty-five kilometres out

   They share it for a few hundred metres and then Costa cannot hold him either. Valverde comes out of the mist above the tree line on his own, takes maximum points at the top of the Port de Balès, and starts the last thirty-five kilometres of the high Pyrenees alone with more than two minutes.

4. 410 km to go

   The lead starts falling

   Ten and a half kilometres from Peyragudes Valverde still has 2:20, but the day is showing in his pedal stroke, and behind him Liquigas have wound the yellow jersey group up until it is attacking itself.

5. 56 km to go

   Lotto light the last climb

   Off the Peyresourde and onto the ramp to Peyragudes, Valverde's lead is down to 1:15 over fourteen riders. Vanendert attacks, Van den Broeck follows, and what comes out of the reshuffle is eight men: Wiggins, Froome, Nibali, Van den Broeck, Pinot, Rolland, Horner and Van Garderen.

6. 6At the line

   Froome eases off, and the Tour is over

   Wiggins and Froome ride away from the other six on the last mountain of the 2012 Tour de France, and inside the final kilometre it is plain that Froome has the legs to go and catch Valverde. He looks back, sits up, and waits for the man in yellow. They cross nineteen seconds behind the Spaniard, together, and the Tour is settled — one way on the road, and another way entirely inside the team.

The result