While the yellow jersey positions hardly moved, Briton Bradley Wiggins being content with staying out of trouble to retain his second place - seven seconds behind.
The overall standings remained unchanged at the top with Thomas leading defending champion Froome by one minute 39 seconds and Dutchman Tom Dumoulin by 1:50.
Chris Froome took another big step towards a third Tour de France title when he dropped his main rivals in the finale of the 17th stage, a 184-km mountain trek won by Russian Ilnur Zakarin on Wednesday.
Jannik Sinner held onto his world number one ranking ahead of his return from a three-month doping ban
Froome in control as Contador drifts, Van Garderen out of Tour de France.
How many participate in Tour de France?
Unseeded Alejandro Tabilo beat twice champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday to maintain a remarkable 100 percent record win record over the 24-times major winner.
Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the Tour de France after Briton Mark Cavendish took Sunday's final stage on the Champs Elysees for the third year in a row.
Talk about a man in a hurry -- 10th seed Ben Shelton required just 55 seconds to finish off Australian Rinky Hijikata and reach the Wimbledon third round on Friday.
Carlos Sastre became the third successive Spaniard to win the Tour de France on Sunday in another major sporting triumph for his country this year. Australian Cadel Evans finished second overall, 58 seconds behind Sastre, who effectively secured victory on Saturday after resisting Evans in the decisive time-trial.
Alberto Contador has promised a more exciting Tour de France this year after Bradley Wiggins's Team Sky dominated all the way to the Champs-Elysees in the 2012 edition.
Seven-times winner Lance Armstrong will make a Tour de France comeback next year, his spokesman told Reuters on Monday. The 37-year-old rider announced in September he was coming out of retirement for the 2009 season.
German Andre Greipel was again far too strong for the opposition as he claimed his second win in this year's Tour de France.
Tour de France winner Alberto Contador found the time he spent off the road with Astana team mate Lance Armstrong tougher than the race itself, the Spaniard said on Monday. The 26-year-old picked up his second Tour title in Paris on Sunday, finishing ahead of Luxembourg's Andy Schleck and Armstrong who came third.
India's Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti frittered away a solid start to make a semi-final exit from the ASB Classic in Auckland.
Local hero Vincent Keymer was at his best as he drew the first blood against Fabiano Caruana of the United States. Going in with 1-0 lead with one game to go, the onus is now on Caruana to draw level that will force a tiebreaker.
Briton David Millar showed composure to claim his fourth Tour de France stage win when he prevailed in the 12th stage, a 226-km ride from St Jean de Maurienne on Friday.
The build-up to the Lance Armstrong drama has possibly seen its last as the United States anti-doping agency (USADA) has stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and issued a lifetime ban from cycling, the BBC reported on Friday.
Often cited by defending champion Vincenzo Nibali as a rider to watch on the Tour de France, Thibaut Pinot made an early impact by beating all the pre-race favourites in the opening time trial on Saturday.
In the FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final 2012-13, the Indian team outplayed the European team by 6-2 in which young Mandeep Singh scored two back-to-back goals. In the second season of FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final, India again met France in the semi-final round in Belgium and defeated them 3-2.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his visit to the United States after holding high-level bilateral talks with President Donald Trump on a wide range of subjects, including trade and technology, defence and security, energy and people-to-people ties. The two leaders decided to take a significant step in deepening their strategic ties, particularly in the areas of defence, energy, and critical technology. Modi also met with key American officials, including National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and prominent business leaders like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 Trophy Tour kicked off in spectacular style, launching 120,000 feet above the Earth.
Mark Cavendish has pulled out of the Tour de France before the 15th stage to Prato Nevoso, his Team Columbia said.
World Champion D Gukesh suffered a rare setback in normal time control, losing to USA's Fabiano Caruana in the first game of the quarterfinals of the Freestyle Grand Slam chess tournament.
Check out the main contenders for this year's Tour de France, which starts on Saturday in Utrecht, Netherlands.
The 31-year-old three-time winner of the world's biggest bike race, tweeted a picture of the twisted remains of his "totaled" training bike, saying he had been deliberately knocked off by the driver.
Three-time champion Novak Djokovic battled past Frenchman Corentin Moutet in a match that lasted more than three hours on Thursday.
Briton Mark Cavendish snatched his 21st Tour de France stage win when he prevailed in a bunch sprint at the end of a 207.5-kilometres ride.
France's Romain Bardet of AG2r-La Mondiale won the 18th stage of the Tour de France, a 186.5-km trek from Gap on Thursday.
Britons David Millar and Bradley Wiggins will be the riders to watch when the Tour de France starts with a 7.9-km prologue in London.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won the Superbet Chess Classic after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with white pieces in the final Blitz play-off game on Friday.
Former Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso withdrew from the Tour de France on Monday after revealing he has testicular cancer.
World Champion D Gukesh's quest for a victory continued as Hikaru Nakamura defeated him in the tie-breaker of the 5-8 place play-off at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam.
Check out the leading Tour de France contenders.
Belgian Tom Boonen clinched his first win in two years on the Tour de France when he took the race's sixth stage, a 199.5-km ride from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse on Friday.
Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) won the 13th stage of the Tour de France, a 37.5-km individual time trial from Bourg-Saint-Andeol on Friday.
Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Francisco Mancebo were named in a doping investigation in Spain
Riders were in a state of shock on the first rest day of the Tour de France after Sunday's chaotic and crash-strewn ninth stage.
Alberto Contador will cement his status as the best grand tour rider of the modern era if he emerges as the winner of the Big Four's battle royale at the Tour de France -- the most highly anticipated race in decades.
