Mountain Tour test for Wiggins
Tour de France leader Bradley Wiggins faces one final mountain test in the Pyrenees as the Londoner seeks to become the first British winner of the yellow jersey in Paris on Sunday.
Four more Pyrenean peaks, including the summit finish at Peyragudes, faced Team Sky's Wiggins on the 143.5-kilometre 17th stage from Bagneres-de-Luchon.
The three-time Olympic champion began the day - the key part of the 539.5km route between the Pyrenees and Paris - with a lead of two minutes five seconds over Team Sky colleague Chris Froome, with Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) 18 seconds further adrift in third place.
No other rider was within five minutes of the triple Olympic champion.
Frenchman Pierre Rolland, who began the day in ninth, 10mins 10secs adrift, was the early aggressor on the day's opening climb, the 9.3km category one ascent of the Col de Menthe.
Rolland's Europcar team-mate Thomas Voeckler, the winner of the 16th stage, crested the mist-shrouded summit first, beating Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) his nearest rival for the polka dot King of the Mountains jersey, to the top.
Rolland was third, with Wiggins' team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen leading the peloton in fifth place, 30 seconds behind.
There were 116km of the stage remaining at the summit.
On the descent, Nibali made a move, bridging the gap to the eight-rider group containing Voeckler and Kessiakoff.
Sandy Casar (FDJ-Bigmat), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Alejandro Valverde, Rui Costa (both Movistar) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r La Mondiale) were also present.
