Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Michal Kwiatkowski rode his way back into the top 10 of the Tour de France general classification with an outsanding ITT on Wednesday, finishing 7th with a time of 53'06" in the 32km mountain time trial that included two Category 2 climbs.
Kwiatkowski was 1'33" slower than stage winner and yellow jersey wearer Chris Froome (Sky ProCycling). Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) was 2nd, +09", and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) was 3rd, +10". Kwiatkowski was also in the top 8 of all intermediate checkpoints, with his fastest time being 6th at the 13.5km point, +35" to Contador's fastest time.
Kwiatkowski moved from 11th in the GC to 9th after the finish of the stage.
OPQS looks next to a 172.5km Stage 18, which includes two ascents of HC Alpe-d'Huez. The first climb is 12.3km at 8.4%, while the second trip is 13.8km at 8.1 percent of an average gradient.
"Today was pretty hard for everyone I guess," Kwiatkowski said. "I did my best, risked my life on the descent two times, but I finally finished 7th for the stage. So, I'm happy about it. I think that was one of the hardest time trials of my life. Tomorrow we have Alpe-d'huez two times. I did it already for Criterium du Dauphine so I know it's going to be a really hard stage. Probably attacks from the start. We will have sore legs after today's time trial, then another three days until Paris. I will try to do my best and get much help from my teammates. We will see."
UCI World TT Champion Tony Martin was also 27th, +3'06" back from Froome.
"I think it was more important to get the routine for the bike changes and for more hilly courses," Sport and Development Manager Rolf Aldag said of Tony Martin's performance. "Because, you know, you can be the best in the flat time trials as he has proven here at the Tour by winning Stage 11. But it's more important for his future and for the team that we have a good approach for the mountain time trials — that we have focus and do everything as good as we can. The warm-up, the bike change, he never did it before. So, it was the first time to 'feel the legs.' If you jump off the bike with a 185 bpm heart rate, and all the blood runs into your legs and they ask you 'no, it's not the finish line?' and you have to continue for another 12km. So all of that is a new experience to him and I think that's why it was important to try our best with him today."