Fantastic Froome is in charge

Leader relishes vital climb

With the Jura mountains and the Alps looming large on the horizon, team Sky’s Chris Froome yesterday ended the first week of this year’s tour de France very much in pole position.

As Marcel Kittel sprinted to his third stage win among the vineyards of Nuits-Saints-Georges, there was no change in the overall standings, with Froome retaining the leader’s yellow jersey after the second longest stage.

‘it was definitely a day for the fast guys today,’ Froome said. ‘it was more about staying out of trouble, staying up front. there was a lot of talk of side winds, but with over 200 kilometres to race, nobody wanted to hit out that far ahead.’

But as the peloton racked up the 1,000kilometre mark since leaving Dusseldorf last weekend, Froome admitted it had still been a nervous stage.

‘i wanted to be at the front all day just in case something did happen,’ said the defending champion. ‘it was a good day to tick off and to have behind us now.’

Kittel’s stage win, the 12th in his tour career, was hardly unexpected but it came at the climax of a terrifyingly fast sprint and only after he edged out Mark Cavendish’s Dimension Data team-mate, Edvald Boasson hagen, by 6mm in a photo finish.

‘i had no clue if i’d won or not,’ said Kittel of the moment he and the Norwegian crossed the line. ‘i just thought, “OK this is going to be close!” i had to pray that the door came open to pass him and it was just enough.’

in another frenzied finish that saw more bumping and barging, the meticulously coiffed Kittel took the green jersey from French national champion Arnaud Demare, who finished 11th.

‘i’m in great shape and i’m really proud of that,’ Kittel said. ‘Celebrating three stage wins already is incredible. i’m enjoying every minute of it.’

But the German’s smile is likely to turn to a grimace as he and the rest of the peloton square up to a gruelling weekend of mountain racing, with today’s stage finish in Station des Rousses and tomorrow, a seven- climb marathon to Chambery.

‘Everybody knows that Saturday and Sunday are days for the overall classification,’ Froome said, who revealed that he had visited both stages as part of his tour preparation.

‘Station des Rousses is not quite a mountain-top finish, but there’s a big climb close to the end so it’s difficult to predict what’s going to happen. i think the more decisive stage is going to be on Sunday, but certainly it’s a big weekend of racing up ahead,’ he said.