Wednesday's stage: The toughest climb of the Tour so far took riders along a 130.8-mile route from Embrun to L'Alpe d'Huez with three climbs beyond classification.
Winner: Carlos Sastre of Spain won by attacking at the bottom of L'Alpe d'Huez and finished clear of the chasing pack. Samuel Sanchez of Spain was second and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg was third. Both were 2 minutes 3 seconds behind Sastre.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, July 26, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 37 words Type of Material: Correction
Tour de France: A chart of the 17th stage of the Tour de France in Thursday's Sports section said that second-place finisher Samuel Sanchez finished 2 minutes 33 seconds behind winner Carlos Sastre. Sanchez finished 2:03 behind.
Yellow jersey: Sastre took the yellow jersey and leads Franck Schleck, the overnight leader, by 1 minute 24 seconds. Bernhard Kohl of Austria is third at 1:33.
Quote of the day: "When you have the 10 best bike riders in the world behind your wheel and you have a two-minute gap to close on one of the best climbers in the world, it's not any situation to be in."
Cadel Evans of Australia
*--* STAGE 17 RESULTS 1. Carlos Sastre, Spain: 6:07:58 2. Samuel Sanchez, Spain: 2:33 behind 3. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg: same time 4. Alejandro Valverde, Spain: 2:13 behind 5. Frank Schleck, Luxembourg: same time *--*
--
*--* OVERALL STANDINGS 1. Carlos Sastre, Spain: 74:39:03 2. Frank Schleck, Luxembourg: 1:24 behind 3. Bernhard Kohl, Austria: 1:33 behind 4. Cadel Evans, Australia: 1:34 behind 5. Denis Menchov, Russia: 2:39 behind *--*
