Bodnar in the lead after Phinney
Following lanterne rouge Luke Rowe (Sky) who opened the road, Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac), the fifth rider to have left the starting ramp, set a time of reference as he was the first rouleur to complete the course in less than half an hour. 45 minutes later, Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) bettered the American at an average speed of 48km/h. World champion Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) who was a hot favourite for the stage victory rode 14 seconds slower than the Pole. Stefan Küng (BMC), second of the inaugural time trial in Düsseldorf, was also below expectations as he lost to Bodnar by 34 seconds. On the other hand, the provisional leader was threatened by his compatriot Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky). Wearing the Polish national champion jersey for individual time trial, the winner of Milan-Sanremo rode flat out for giving Chris Froome the best indications on how to ride and he was only one second short on Bodnar after setting better intermediate time checks.
Bardet close to losing the third place
Martin and Küng weren't the only disappointed favourites. Stage 17 winner Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) who already had a deficit of 25 seconds at the first check point was forced to change his bike at the bottom of the climb to Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) showed his pride to pass Warren Barguil on GC. Another Frenchman lost one spot as Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) dropped to third but he was close to missing out on the final podium as well as he kept only one second of an advantage over Mikel Landa (Sky) overall. Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) moved up to the second place while Froome comfortably retained the yellow jersey, eyeing a fourth Tour de France victory in Paris but without any stage victory as Bodnar and Kwiatkowski made a 1-2 for Poland.
