gruelling 17th stage. just a0 miles long in terms of distance but a day of intense climbing, won by nairo quintanaas drew savage reports. time running out for anyone wanting

columbia's nairo quintana rescued what has been a poor race from his standards.uld move him up to fifth overall but the fight was on the road behind. defending champion chris froome desperate to make something happen. the dutchman made his move, looked over his shoulder and saw a rear site, the man who has won the tour de france four times, left behind. chris froome would lose nearly a minute but as he slipped to second place his team—mate tightened his grip on the first. the welshman riding away and his advantage on 01 minute and 59 seconds. the jersey is not his defeat yet but more than ever before that looks like his to lose. —— has turned keep yet. here's how the leaderboard now stands just days away from sunday's finish in paris. thomas now1 minute 59 seconds ahead of tom dumoulin, who goes ahead of defending champion chris froome. froome is 2 minutes and 31 seconds behind thomas and victory is now seemingly out of reach. but it isn't over until it's over — or is it?? 5live‘s cycling commentator tom fordyce spoke to former british cyclist rob hayles about wh

wednesday's mountain stage was won by colombia's nairo quintana — but thomas finished 3rd to extend hisll lead. we thought stage 17 might be a decisive one. short and 65 kilometres, but packed with three brutal climes of. it may well turn out to be that way. geraint thomas, third on the stage on a day that was w011 third on the stage on a day that was won by nairo quintana, but thomas putting time into his rivals, particularly his teammate chris froome. we thought this might be the toughest test —— test yet of his credential, he passed that test with flying colours. he truly did. the waiting sky road that final climb was pretty much to perfection. acra one only had to look out, really, for tom domoulin. tom domoulin, who we nt for tom domoulin. tom domoulin, who went on the attack at one point but he was straight on him. he looks so sharp. so much that yes, third on the stage, but more importantly, taking his advantage over what is potentially the better time trialist, 20 seconds more. so he is onlyjust under two trialist, 20 seconds more. so he is only just under two minutes trialist,

colombia's nairo quintana rescued what's been a poor race by his standards, riding clear to take theat'd move him up to fifth overall but the fight for first was on the road behind him. thomas, defending champion chris froome, and third—placed tom dumoulin desperate to make something happen. the dutchman made his move, looked over his shoulder, and saw a rare sight. the man who's won the tour de france four times, the vuelta a espana and the giro d'italia, left behind. chris froome would lose nearly a minute. but as he slipped from second place, his team—mate tightened his grip on first. once again, the welshman riding away from his rivals. his advantage over dumoulin extended to one minute and 59 seconds. thatjersey isn't his to keep yet. but more than ever before, it looks like it's his to lose. let's look at the overall classification. not what many would have expected. geraint thomas is on course to win the tour de france, he's pulled away from sky teammate chris froome. beginning to look a little weary. and a shock for england's women at the hockey world cup this evening as they

wednesday's mountain stage was won by colombia's nairo quintana — but thomas finished 3rd to extend his65 kilometres, but packed with three brutal climes of. it

colombia's nairo quintana rescued what's been a poor race by his standards, riding clear to take theh overall but the fight for first was on the road behind him. thomas, defending champion chris froome, and third—placed tom dumoulin desperate to make something happen. the dutchman made his move, looked over his shoulder, and saw a rare sight. the man who's won the tour de france four times, the vuelta a espana and the giro d'italia, left behind. chris froome would lose nearly a minute. but as he slipped from second place, his team—mate tightened his grip on first. once again, the welshman riding away from his rivals. his advantage over dumoulin extended to one minute and 59 seconds. thatjersey isn't his to keep yet. but more than ever before, it looks like it's his to lose. england are taking on the usa in the second match of their hockey world cup campaign it was an 8pm push back, and as you can see the latest score is 0—0. england drew their first match in the tournament 1—1 against india, they are expected to win this one co mforta bly. you can listen to the match over on bbc radi

this shows what can happen, wednesday's stage winner nairo quintana, crashed with adam yates, you canand they treated him as he rode along from the open top car — a steady hand if ever it was needed. frenchman arnoud demarr, won the stage with thomas coming home safely in the peleton, and leads overall, by1 minute and 59 seconds. but thomas won't have slept thinking about paris just yet, there's a monster coming over the hill. 125 miles lourdes, to laruns, thats like riding from cardiff to birmingham, the first peaks you see, may look like mole hills, but they're still nearly twice the height of the shard in london — and they're just for starters. they then have 3 major peaks which are much higher than ben nevis in scotland — infact the highest point — in the middle there, the col du tournalet, is nearly twice as high as the scottish mountain and involves one stretch of constant climbing for over 12 miles. imagine the pain and after that you still have another summit to climb near the end. ifi if i had that in front of me, doesn't now have good an athlete you are. mentally... you know

colombia's nairo quintana won the stage.e incredible performance of the england's women's hockey team winning gold, but at the world cup they are not doing so well. yes, they're facing a battle now to reach the quarterfinals after being held to a 1—1 draw by the united states. england opened the scoring with a brilliant individual goal from captain alex danson in her 200th international appearance, which equalled the all—time england and great britain combined scoring record. her side are second in pool b, and could now face a play—off to reach the last eight. of course it is very special, that this is a team game. you can't play the game without your team—mates. you can't score any goals without somebody party knew the ball and you can't be on the field without another 15 people with you. i am obviously very grateful but this is i have ever played with, every code i have ever played with, every code i have ever played with, every code i have ever worked with, who have got me to this point. —— every coach. now the football w