Froome, searching for a third Tour de France title and second in a row, now leads the Trek Segafredo rider by 2min27s in the overall standings, with just four stages remaining – including the procession into Paris on Sunday.
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Zakarin appeared to be in contention to win stage 15 before losing a contact lense and finishing eighth, but the Katusha rider was not to denied on the 184.4-kilometre route from Berne to Finhaut-Emosson.
The Brit finished 11th on stage 17, 7min59s behind victor Ilnur Zakarin, but crucially crossed the line 40s ahead of his closest rival, Bauke Mollema. “I gave everything. It’s really, really big for me”, said Zakarin, who is back at the top after a horror crash in this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Team Sky’s dominant two-time Tour victor, who followed Richie Porte on a late charge to leave his competitors behind, now looks increasingly likely to defend his crown by extending that overall advantage to two minutes and 27 seconds.
Briton, Adam Yates (Orica-Bikeexchange) ranked third place, 0:02:53 behind the leader. Quintana sits in fourth place, 3:27 behind his British rival.
“It’s been a very hard Tour for Nairo”, he said. “But my team were incredible, they did an unbelievable job and I was able to stay with the best”.
A 14-man breakaway, featuring world champion Peter Sagan and his Tinkoff team mate Rafal Majka, the polka dot jersey wearer, took shape after a insane first hour of racing during which the peloton covered 51.8km.
The stage started in Bern following the second and final rest day and featured two major climbs in the final 30 kilometers: Col de la Forclaz, a 13-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 7.9 percent, and the brutal beyond-category 10.4-kilometer ascent to the finish line. Froome’s teammates did not chase and the leading pack built a 13-minute lead. His early breakaway was nearly caught late on as he painfully struggled on the final climb – the steepest of the whole stage – but he ended up winning by 55 seconds from Jarlinson Pantano.
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Thursday’s 18th stage is another tough day in the mountains with the last individual time trial of the three-week race. It’s the Tour’s first mountain time trial since the 2004 race against the clock up l’Alpe d’Huez.
