Froome hangs onto jersey after stage 15
CHRIS Froome kept the leader’s yellow jersey despite breaking a wheel as Bauke Mollema won the 15th stage of the Tour de France yesterday in a solo breakaway.
Diego Ulissi was second at the end of the 189.5km mountain stage from Laissac-Severac l’Eglise in the Massif Central ahead of Tony Gallopin, third.
Reigning champion Froome had to survive a worrying moment when he suffered a mechanical problem in the last 50km. This saw him drop 50 seconds behind his main rivals as he had to take a wheel from teammate Michal Kwiatkowski to continue.
With Romain Bardet’s AG2R team pushing the pace, a mad 20km chase ensued as Mikel Nieve, Vasil Kiryienka and Sergio Henao helped pace Froome back to the group, and the three-time champion made contact 3km before the summit of the first-category Col de Peyra Taillade, just more than 30km from the finish.
“AG2R did their race. They went quickly up the climb, but just before the climb I had a problem with my rear wheel – it was broken and I had to change it,” Froome said.
“My teammate, Michal Kwiatkowski gave me his wheel because the team car was a long way away.
“We did the maximum to get back to the head of race.
“Again, thanks to my friends and teammates, you can see it here [on TV].
“Sergio Henao and Mikel Nieve did everything to get back to the front of the race, and Mikel Landa as well. who waited for me at the top.”
The Briton, 32, crossed the line alongside most of his main rivals to maintain his 18-second lead over Italian Fabio Aru, with Romain Bardet of France third at 23sec and Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran fourth at 29sec.
And he admitted being relieved to hold onto the yellow jersey.
“It was a stressful moment, of course. I thought I might not be able to get back to the front,” he said.
The big loser of the day was Colombia’s Nairo Quintana, twice a runner-up to Froome, who was dropped on the Peyra Taillade climb and lost almost four minutes by the finish to the other contenders. Meanwhile, Ireland’s Dan Martin, 30, was typically abrasive and launched an attack inside the last 12km to gain 14 seconds on the other challengers.