COLMAR, July 23: Neil Stephens of France won the 17th stage of the Tour de France today, covering the route from Fribourg, Switzerland, to Colmar in 4:54:38 hours.

Stephens crossed the finish line ahead of Oskar Camenzind of Switzerland and Viacheslav Ekimov of Russia.

Jan Ullrich of Germany, who completed the stage together with his main rivals 3:58 minutes behind the winner, kept the yellow jersey of overall leader with just four stages to go in the gruelling race.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.