Froome shows he has the legs
Col d’Izoard, he will have all but won the Tour for a fourth time in five years.
“I felt a lot better today than I did in the Pyrenees a week ago,” said Froome. “Hopefully I’ll have the same legs on Thursday. I was surprised by Aru getting dropped, I expected him to go on the attack but there’s certainly no hiding in the third week of a Grand Tour.”
With Aru dropping from 18 seconds to nearly a minute behind Froome, his closest rivals are now Bardet and Colombian Rigoberto Uran, both 27 seconds down.
While the Team Sky leader is going from strength to strength, Britain’s other top 10 contender, Simon Yates, of Orica–Scott, had a rough day and has dropped one spot to seventh overall.
In the process, Yates’ hold on the lead of the Tour’s Best Young Rider title has weakened notably, although he still has more than two minutes’ advantage on closest pursuer Louis Meintjes. “We’re pretty far into the Tour, I think I did well to limit my losses,” said Yates. “There’s not much to it. I went full gas and I wasn’t quite strong enough.”
One top racer who will not see Paris is Germany’s Marcel Kittel.
The winner of five bunch sprint stages in the first fortnight, Kittel looked certain to carry the Green Jersey all the way to Paris. However, two bad crashes yesterday mean the Quick-Step Floors rider had to quit injured. Australian Michael Matthews, of Sunweb, now has the lead in the points classification.
Today the sprinters will take a back seat as the overall contenders battle to unseat Froome on the final Alpine stage. But, for now, the Briton is in command.
“I’ve not got such a massive margin on my rivals when I compare it with other years but I’m happy with it,” said Froome.