Tejay Van Garderen entered the 17th stage of the Tour de France within five minutes of leader Christopher Froome of Great Britain. He left it more than 23 minutes back and probably out of the running for a top finish.

Van Garderen finished 26:15 off the leaders pace in 64th and now sits 17th overall, 23:03 back. It’s a testament to how difficult this race is that Van Garderen really had his first bad day and was so quickly shuffled out of the top ten. Peter Stetina was the top American on the day after finishing 41st, 17:11 back. It was the first time in this year’s tour that Stetina had been the top American. He moved up to 43rd 0verall, 1:29:46 back.

Brent Bookwalter was 85th, his third top 90 finish in the last five stages, while Alex Howes had his best finish since stage five when he was 92nd. This was the first stage where four Americans finished in the top 100 since stage 10.

Thursday the Tour de France continues with an 11-mile mountain time trial. The race ends with five straight days of racing culminating on Sunday.

Previous Tour de France Coverage:
Preview
Stage One Update
Stage Two Update
Stage Three Update
Stage Four Update
Stage Five Update
Stage Six Update
Stage Seven Update
Stage Eight Update
Stage Nine Update
Stage Ten Update
Stage 11 Update
Stage 12 Update
Stage 13 Update
Stage 14 Update
Stage 15 Update
Stage 16 Update