Benoit Cosnefrois (AG2R La Mondiale), who had dominated the podium for 15 days as the Tour de France's mountain class leader, finally caught his breath after handing the polka-dot jersey to Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) on stage 17 in Meribel.

Although there were only two mountains in this stage, the Madeleine and the Pass de la Rosé are the highest in the Tour de France and can earn double points for the Henri Desgranges mountain prize.

There were four riders in the breakaway group, but after Cosnefrois lost contact in the Madeleine, Pogachar saw his chance and surged up to take fifth place and eight points. Pogachar, whose victory in Sunday's Grand Colombier (HC rank) put him in third place in the mountains, two points behind Cosnefrois and Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels - Vital Concept), heads into the stage with 66 points, moving him into the lead in the battle for the mountains prize.

Race leader Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma) is in second place with 63 points, while stage winner Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana ProTeam) is in third with 51 points.

The UAE Team Emirates rider, who still wears the white jersey of the best young rider and is in second place overall, 57 seconds behind Roglic, is still looking ahead to much more important competition, but said he will fight for the polka-dot jersey if he cannot overtake his compatriot in the overall.

"I saw there were 10 free points in Madeleine, so I went there. I'm happy to get the two jerseys. My goal is still the overall. Even if I don't get the yellow, I can still get this," Pogachar said.

ASO changed the point distribution for mountains in 2019, with Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) winning his class with one result, mainly on stage 18 to Valloire, and 30 points each in the HC ranks Col d'Isere and Col du Galibier He took the jersey from Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal).

With only five mountain categories in this year's Tour de France, and with the maximum points cut in half to 20 except for today's stage 17 finish, the mountain prizes are yet to be decided, especially for the fastest individual time trialists on Saturday at Planche des Belles Fils points, it seems likely that one of the top GC riders will win it.

Kosnefroe has not been ruled out entirely. Stage 18 is the last chance for non-GC riders to take the polka dots from Pogachar.

Kosnefroi's teammates Nance Peters (stage 8 winner), Richard Kalapas (Ineos Grenadier), Marc Hirschy (Sunweb), Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Renard Kamuna ( Bora-Hansgrohe), and even Julien Alaphilippe (Deschuninck-Quick Step), all have the potential to join the polka-dot jersey fight if they escape tomorrow and score maximum points on the five climbs from Meribel to La Roche-sur-Follon.

The battle for the yellow jersey has yet to be settled between the two Slovenians and Lopez (both within 90 seconds of each other), but the battle for the mountains and points prizes is equally interesting.

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