Geschke rides solo to Tour de France stage 17 victory as Van Garderen abandons and Contador crashes

Germany's Simon Geschke claimed Giant-Alpecin's first stage win of the 2015 Tour de France ©AFP/Getty Images

Germany's Simon Geschke finished solo at the end of the 161 kilometres route from Digne-les-Bains to Pra Loup to claim victory on stage 17 of the Tour de France, while two of the main general classification riders suffered in the saddle following the second rest day.

The first of those was the America's Tejay van Garderen, third at the start of the day and who was on course to achieve his aim of a podium finish.

The BMC Racing rider was suffering from an illness, however, and was soon dropped by the main field as the peloton began their first climb of the day, up the Col des Lèques, at the 40km mark of the stage.

Van Garderen was able to to rejoin the peloton but it proved to be only a temporary stay of execution, as he was unable to sustain their pace and found himself of the back of the main field once more after the 90km mark, where he abandoned from the race.

Up front, there was a breakaway group of 28-riders, including Slovakia's Peter Sagan, while Australia's Richie Porte, America's Andrew Talansky and France' Thibaut Pinot were other high profile additions in the group.

With 50 kilometres of the stage remaining Geschke, riding for Giant-Alpecin, launched an attack from the leading group as they approached the Col d'Allos, but was pursued by Pinot, trying to claim a stage victory to salvage something from a campaign wrecked by crashes and mechanical incidents in the opening days, costing him the opportunity of a good finish.

Britain's Chris Froome fended off attacks to maintain his lead after the first Alpine stage ©AFP/Getty Images

The Frenchman, third in last year's race when he won the best young rider award, was to suffer misfortune again as he crashed on the descent, leaving Geschke to claim the stage in Pra Loup, despite late efforts from Talansky and Colombia's Rigoberto Uran to catch him.

"It's incredible to win a stage of the Tour de France," Geschke said.

"I've been dreaming about it since I started cycling, but it wasn't easy.

"I'm not a sprinter, I'm not a climber, I'm just an all rounder.

Alberto Contador's hopes of completing the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double also appear to have come to an end after meeting the same fate as Pinot.

The Spaniard's crash in the closing stages saw him lose two minutes on his general classification rivals and, with Van Garderen's withdrawal, Britain's Geraint Thomas moved up two places in the standings to fourth.

Thomas' fellow Britain and Team Sky team mate Chris Froome continues to lead the race, with his advantage of 3min 10sec over Colombia's Nairo Quintana looking more secure having made it through the first Alpine stage of the race unscathed.

Froome, though, will expect further attacks from Quintana and third-placed Alejandro Valverde of Spain tomorrow with the 186.5km stage from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne providing his rivals with several mountains in which to launch attacks.