SAINT-LARY-SOULAN, France — His tongue dangling from his mouth, his pedal stroke strained, Chris Froome’s hopes of a record-tying fifth Tour de France title slowly drifted away.

Up amid the thin and misty air of the Col du Portet — rated the second toughest climb in Tour history — Froome cracked on the feared 17th stage through the Pyrenees on Wednesday, solidifying Sky teammate Geraint Thomas’s hold on the yellow jersey.

“Froomey said on the radio (at) maybe 5K or 4K to go that he wasn’t feeling super,” Thomas said after increasing his lead to nearly two minutes over Tom Dumoulin. “That gave me confidence because I knew if Froomey suffered, everyone suffered.

“I didn’t want him to have a bad day like he did but it just gave me confidence.”

Froome finished eighth, 1 minute, 35 seconds behind stage winner Nairo Quintana, and dropped from second to third overall, a distant 2:31 seconds adrift of Thomas.