FROOME ON TOP DESPITE PUSH FROM TOUR FOES
CHRIS Froome’s main Tour de France rivals insist they still have everything to ride for, despite missing a chance to gain time on the champion in the Massif Central.
Froome had a mechanical problem on a rapid run to the foot of a first category climb that crested 30km from the finish of Monday’s 15th stage.
The Brit fell 50 seconds behind his main rivals, but a concerted effort from his Sky team, and a 20km chase, bridged the gap before the summit and saved the day.
Many observers felt it was an opportunity wasted for Romain Bardet, Fabio Aru and Rigoberto Uran.
But third-placed Bardet (23 seconds) said tonight’s Alpine summit finish would be decisive after another tough stage in the Alps.
“With the two back-toback Alpine stages and the altitude finish, there could be some big gaps,” he said.
“For me, that’s the key stage, given my qualities.”
Yesterday, the three closest challengers to Froome had a chance to work together to put some time into the three-time winner, but they didn’t and Aru, second at 18sec, said it’s difficult to organise such teamwork between rivals.
“You can’t know what you’ll do before finding yourself in that situation,” he said.
“We’ll see how the race goes. In my opinion, you have to make things up on the bike as you go.
“You can come up with all great tactics possible, but it’s in the race you’ll see whether or not you have the legs.”
Bardet said it was the strength of Froome’s Sky team that has nullified any hopes of ganging up on him.
“For the moment it doesn’t look likely as noone’s taken the initiative,” the 27-year-old said.