FROOME AS STRONG AS EVER, SAYS RIVAL
He has the yellow jersey, closest rival says in denouncing rumours
CHRIS Froome is as strong as ever, according to his principal Tour de France rival, Fabio Aru. Questions have been asked of Froome’s form this year as for the first time since he started dominating the world’s greatest bike race, he came into the Tour without a stage-race victory all season.
And although he holds the race leader’s yellow jersey after nine stages, his lead over Aru is a slender 18 seconds and he has yet to win a stage or strike a decisive blow to his rivals – unlike previous years.
But Aru denied Froome was any weaker than before.
“Certainly, he’s shown himself to be as strong as before, he has the yellow jersey – that’s the answer.”
But Aru suggested he and Astana teammate Jakob Fuglsang would still be looking to attack Froome.
“As always we’ve got maximum respect [for Froome] but we’ll stick to our tactic as always,” he said.
Astana have been the only team to really attack Froome so far, with Aru riding away to win the fifth stage at La Planche des Belles Filles last Wednesday, while Fuglsang got clear on Sunday’s final climb, the Mont du Chat, before being pegged back just before the summit.
But their strong showing has left them second and fifth on the standings, and they are the only team with two riders fighting for overall victory. That was something they used to great effect during last month’s week-long Criterium du Dauphine, which Fuglsang won while Froome finished fourth and Aru fifth.
“We hope we can use it as an advantage, it’s been our idea from the beginning,” Fuglsang, who is 1min 37sec back from Froome, said.
“Also from what we saw in the Dauphine, it was an advantage.”
At La Planche de Belles Filles, Froome had chosen not to follow Aru’s attack but said later he would have to watch the Italian more closely from then on.
He did that on Sunday but then let Fuglsang, who struggled on the Planche des Belles Filles where he lost more than a minute to the favourites, get away.
On Sunday, the Astana duo seemed to concentrate on putting time into rivals who had been dropped on the final climb while reeling in third-placed Romain Bardet, who had attacked on the descent down to the finish into Chambery, rather than look to put Froome into difficulty.
It seemed to be a tactic designed more at fighting for the minor places than competing for top spot.
“The tactic was to gain as much time as possible on those behind,” Aru said.
Fuglsang admitted he was delighted with his position but said his Dauphine experience had taught him not to rule out aiming higher.