At 2,304 meters, the highest elevation in this year's Tour de France, the ski station at the Col de la Rose, above Meribel on stage 17, provided great intrigue.

The lowest point for any rider is not completing the three weeks and not being able to ride the Champs Elysees in Paris. So far, 25 riders have not completed the entire Tour.

The B&B Hotels - Vital Concepts team showed incredible teamwork behind the race leaders. Brian Coquard completed the stage, but Jens Debusschere did not make the time limit.

Mitchelton-Scott moved up to 5th overall with Adam Yates' 8th place finish on the summit of the Col de la Rose on Wednesday, but the team lost top domestique Mikkel Nieve.

Grupama-FDJ's Stefan Küng missed stage 17 in order to prepare for next week's UCI Road World Championships.

In the high Alps, the battle for the points prize continues. Sam Bennett (Dečuninck-Quick Step) has closed the gap to Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) to two points. This battle could last all the way to Paris.

Click here for a news short on stage 17 of the Tour de France.

France's Brian Coquard (B&B Hotels - Vital Concept) crossed the Col de la Rose line 35:45 behind the stage winner on stage 17. The clock then stopped and teammate Jens Debusschere, who helped him climb the last horseback of the day, was unable to finish within the time limit. Debusschere's Tour was over.

Cocard told reporters after the stage that Debusschere ambushed him on the 17.1 km climb of the Madeleine Pass and helped him from the entire valley to the steep final climb. As he approached the steep final climb of the Pass de la Roze, the Belgian had nothing left and finished the stage with a broom wagon on his back.

"It's a shame to have to leave so close to Paris," said an emotional Debusschere (Sporza). 'But that won't change. I came to the team to run for Bryan.

"In the Madeleine, I was quiet in the group with Sam Bennett, but Brian was in trouble, so I waited for him. I couldn't have a lead-out without a sprinter."

"In the valley I did everything I could to keep him close. But at the base of the last climb, that was the end for me. He left with my approval. It was over."

After stage 17, an exhausted Coquard wrote on his Twitter page, "The end of the effort. Just one word, thank you."

Both riders were responsible for keeping teammate Pierre Rolland in the top 20 throughout the 16 stages. According to Debusschere, this sacrifice was worth it for the team. He has pain in his knee, but it is getting better every day. He has two more chances. He has two more chances," Debusscher said.

The team, which had entered this year's Tour as a wild card entry, made some comments on Twitter about the win-loss situation. At the top of the Col de la Rose, we lost a runner, but most of all a teammate with boundless dedication. Thank you."

The battle for the Tour de France green jersey was enlivened in the early kilometers of stage 17, when seven-time points winner Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) tried to break away. On the unclassified climb to Saint-Pierre-d'Allevard, he had a chance to close the gap to Sam Bennett (Desseuninck-Quick Step), who was in this position. But Bennett never took his eyes off the Slovakian during the Tour de France.

In the intermediate sprint, Bennett took the lead from teammate Mikhail Morkov. Bennett then faced the more difficult task of crossing two uncategorized mountains.

"It was tough today," said Bennett. I had a good fight in the beginning and Michael helped me a lot. I had no problems on the first climbs, but towards the end it became more difficult. The climbs are stair-stepped and my rhythm always changes. I will keep fighting for this jersey.

Bennett leads Sagan by 47 points, but still has a lot of work to do to secure his points ranking. There is another tough mountain stage on Thursday, with an intermediate sprint of just 14km and 20 points up for grabs. The start of the stage will be hectic, followed by another battle to survive the five major climbs. Then there are two more sprint stages on Friday and Sunday, flanked by individual time trials.

Stages 19 and 21 have 20 points for the intermediate sprint and 50 points for the final sprint.

This means that the maximum points that can be earned in the final four stages is 160 points, leaving plenty of time to win or lose the green jersey.

Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott is in fifth place overall after a tough summit finish on stage 17. With four stages remaining before the end of the Tour de France, every teammate is important to make up valuable time for a podium finish in Paris. Yates will be without Mikel Nieve.

Nieve retired from stage 17 with residual pain from a crash early in the race.

It was the first time in 19 Grand Tour races that the 36-year-old Spaniard was forced to abandon. In those races, he has finished in the top 10 six times. He has finished in the top 25 each time while helping his teammates.

In this year's Tour, he was running 48th before retiring. The former Giro d'Italia mountains champion crashed on the first stage in Nice, but was part of a short breakaway on stage 16.

The team said on Twitter He was battling pain after his crash earlier in the race. He has put on a brave face over the last few days, but it is time for him to heal."

European time trial champion Stéphane Küng did not line up with his Groupama-FDJ team at the start in Grenoble on Wednesday. Instead, the team reported that it "made this decision with the aim of preserving the European Chrono Champion for the Specialty World Championships in Imola starting Friday the 25th."

On stage 14 of the Tour, he was awarded as the most combative rider of the day, despite a failed two-man breakaway. Racing against the clock is his forte, as he is a four-time TT champion in Switzerland. At last year's World Championships, he finished third in the road race and tenth in the time trial.

The 2020 road world championships were originally scheduled to be held in Kühn's home country, but due to Swiss COVID-19 restrictions, the UCI has moved the elite men's and women's competition to Imola, Italy, from September 24 to 27.