Boasson Hagen wins stage 17

Twenty-four hours after narrowly missing out to compatriot Thor Hushovd in Gap, Sky youngster Boasson Hagen showed his class with superb solo break on the last climb of the 179km stage 17 to the Italian town of Pinerolo.

Boasson Hagen attacked from a 14-man break on the second-category Cote de Pramartino 11km from the finish, crossing the summit in pole position before expertly negotiating the tricky descent to follow Hushovd's example and take his second stage of the race - and Norway's fourth.

But yellow jersey Voeckler (Europcar) had a double scare when he almost crashed on two separate occasions on the controversial final descent, which had been described as "fatally dangerous" by Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) prior to the race.

Frenchman Voeckler overshot two tight bends and lost 27 seconds to his main rivals in the GC after Spaniards Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) had piled on the pressure with a fast descent on the front of the group of race favourites.

Voeckler now leads Cadel Evans (BMC) by one minute and 18 seconds, with Luxembourg's Frank Schleck in third at 1:23.

Glory on a sunny opening day in the Alps, however, belonged to Boasson Hagen. His stunning ride proved once again what a talent the 24-year-old from Lillehammer is - and why his Sky team hold him in such high regard.

The Norwegian won stage 17 by a comfortable 40 seconds ahead of Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) with Sandy Casar (FDJ) taking third place alongside fellow Frenchmen Julien El Fares (Cofidis) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) a further 10 seconds back.

Boasson Hagen was part of a group of riders which broke clear after 60km on the road and had built up a lead of eight minutes by the time lone leader Ruben Perez (Euskaltel) crossed the summit of the first-category climb to Sestrieres.

Perez carved out a lead of just over a minute on the long 46km descent to the foot of the final climb of the day but the Spaniard then faded fast on the Cote de Pramartino following an attack by the Norwegian.

Mollema, Chavanel and Sebastien Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) led the chase before Frenchman Hivert crashed into a ditch on the descent moments before remounting and then riding off the road again - this time into an enclosed concrete garage space.

Minutes later, Voeckler would make the exact same mistakes as his compatriot - and although the yellow jersey managed to stay on his bike on both occasions, he lost valuable time to his rivals at the finish.

Before riding off the road for the first time, Voeckler had opened up a small gap alongside both Sanchez and Contador, who once again put in a series of attacks on the final climb of the day.

With Voeckler out of the picture, both Spaniards continued their fast descent into the valley to pile the pressure on the pursuing Schleck brothers, not renowned for their downhill ability.

Despite opening up a gap of around 10 seconds, Contador and Sanchez were caught on the flat and crossed the line in a group containing both Schlecks, Evans, Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and the polka dot jersey Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), 4:26 down on Boasson Hagen.

Voeckler rallied to finish in a group which contained the Italian Ivan Basso, 27 seconds down on their GC rivals. Basso is the only rider in the top ten to drop a place, falling to eighth in the overall standings at the expense of his countryman Cunego.

The Tour continues on Thursday with arguably the hardest stage of the race - a 200.5km slog which features three HC climbs including the gruelling ascent of the Galibier for the first of two back-to-back summit finishes which could well decide the outcome of one of the most open Tours in recent history.

Tour de France, Stage 17, Gap to Pinerolo
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling - 4:18:00
2. Bauke Mollema (Hol) Rabobank - at 40 seconds
3. Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ - at 50 seconds
4. Julien El Fares (Fra) COF - same time
5. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step - same time
6. Dimitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Astana - at one minute 10 seconds
7. Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale - same time
8. Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack - same time
9. Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur-Sojasun - at one minute 15 seconds
10. Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM - at two minutes 20 seconds
11. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team - at four minutes 23 seconds
17. Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Leopard-Trek - at four minutes 26 seconds
22. Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Bank - same time
24. Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Leopard-Trek - same time

General classification after Stage 17:
1. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar - 73:23:49
2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team - at one minute 18 seconds
3. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek - at one minute 22 seconds
4. Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek - at two minutes 36 seconds
5. Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel - at two minutes 59 seconds
6. Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Bank Sungard - at three minutes 15 seconds
7. Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - at three minutes 34 seconds
8. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas - at three minutes 49 seconds
9. Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo - at six minutes 04 seconds
10. Rigoberto Uran (Col) - Quick Step - at seven minutes 36 seconds