Sky star ready to hit peak

CHRIS Froome expects to be on his best form in the final week of the Tour de France as he fights to hold on to the yellow jersey in the closest battle this race has seen.

Only 29 seconds cover the top four as Team Sky’s Froome leads by 18 seconds from Italian national champion Fabio Aru, with Frenchman Romain Bardet a further five seconds back in third and former Sky rider Rigoberto Uran, of Colombia, ominous in fourth.

The race heads towards the Alps, with stages tonight and tomorrow potentially decisive before Saturday’s time trial in Marseille.

Three-time Tour winner Froome is used to starting the final week of the race with a decent cushion to defend, but struggles in the Pyrenees saw him temporarily surrender yellow and left his rivals bunched up behind him.

However, after taking a different approach to his preparation this year, Froome believes he is about to peak.

“I certainly feel as if I’m on an upward curve,” he said. “I came in with the least amount of race days ever coming into a Tour de France. I really do feel as if I’m coming up and the last few days have been evidence of that.

“I had a bad day in the Pyrenees about a week ago, but hopefully I’m on track to be at my best in the last week.”

Froome lost yellow on stage 12 to Peyragudes on Thursday but reclaimed it 48 hours later.

However, he had to be at his best to retain it on Sunday as a broken spoke on his bike left him a minute down on his rivals at the foot of the Col de Peyra Taillade, and the 32year-old had to go into the red just to save the day as Bardet’s team drove the race on.