Chris Froome extended his advantage in the yellow jersey as Ilnur Zakarin won stage 17 of the Tour de France to Finhaut-Emosson.
After Katusha's Zakarin took stage honours up the road, Froome raced clear of his main rivals to build a cushion of almost two and a half minutes at the end of this 184.5-kilometres stage from Berne.
When BMC's Richie Porte attacked from the group of main contenders late on the final climb up to the Emosson Dam, only Froome could respond to join his former team-mate.
Behind Dutchman Bauke Mollema, who started the day second overall, was the first to be dropped, giving up 40 seconds to Froome.
But most encouraging of all for Team Sky will have been the sight of Quintana completely unable to respond as the attacks began.
The Colombian has usually come on strong in the third week of Grand Tours and threatened Froome's position in yellow late in last year's Tour, but does not appear to have the legs to rival him again.
As Froome crossed the line alongside, Quintana was dropped by Adam Yates, who rode away to boost his hopes of a podium finish.
The provisional general classification showed Froome two minutes 27 seconds clear of Trek-Segafredo's Mollema with Yates, riding for Orica-BikeExchange, two minutes and 53 seconds back.
That puts the 23-year-old Briton 34 seconds clear of Movistar's Quintana in fourth.
Source: PA-WIRE
