Froome stays out of trouble and in control
Chris Froome escaped unscathed after an actionpacked ninth stage of the Tour de France as one of his rivals and his Team Sky lieutenant crashed out of the race on Sunday.
The defending champion, who was attacked by Fabio Aru just as he suffered a mechanical fault on the last climb, ended up third at the end of a 181.5km trek in the Jura mountains won by Colombian Rigoberto Uran ahead of France’s Warren Barguil. Froome had his rivals to thank, however, as none of them took turns in front while he was changing his bike in the ascent to the Mont du Chat.
“I had a mechanical problem with my gears, I had to change bikes,” said three-time champion Froome.
“I want to thank the other riders, who did not attack,” he added, saying he did not see Aru attacking past him as he raised his arms to ask for assistance. He was already without teammate Geraint Thomas, who abandoned after crashing in the slippery descent of the Col de la Biche, one of three out-ofcategory ascents of the day.
In the final descent to Chambery, Australian Richie Porte, regarded as Froome’s main challenger ahead of the threeweek event, went off the road into a wall of rocks.
“He was conscious, it’s reassuring, he is being transferred to the hospital,” race doctor Florence Pommery said.
Runner-up in 2016 Romain Bardet of France pedalled away in the final descent but was reined in by Froome, Uran, Barguil, Aru and his Astana teammate Jakob Fuglsang 2km from the finish line.
“There will be other great battles to fight in the Pyrenees and the Alps,” said Bardet.
Overall, Froome leads Aru by 18sec and Bardet by 51 as twotime winner Alberto Contador of Spain cracked on the last climb and dropped out of contention. Uran is fourth, 55sec off the pace while Astana look set to work as a double act from now on as Dane Fuglsang is fifth, 1:37 behind Froome.
Three-time podium finisher Nairo Quintana of Colombia lost 1:15 to Froome and his group. He is now eighth, 2:13 off the pace.
Monday is a rest day and the overall title fight will resume on Thursday with the first big Pyrenean stage.