FROOME’S SUMMIT SPECIAL
Tour leader denies rivals in Alps.. and then meets French President Macron
CHRIS FROOME granted French President Emmanuel Macron an audience here – but only one of them will be King of Paris on Sunday night.
Flawless Froome could almost see the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Col du Galibier – at 8,667ft the Tour de France’s highest point – as he closed in on a fourth Yellow Jersey in five years. After extending his advantage at the top of the leaderboard by nine seconds, Froome did his bit for the entente cordiale by shooting the breeze with Macron. Le President complimented our man in the maillot jaune on his French, and said he was in Bagnere de Louchon last year to see Froome’s daring downhill heist on the top bar.
On a brutal stage in the Alps, Froome expected all the big cheeses in the general classification to attack him.
But Romain Bardet was the only one who had a dart, and as Fabio Aru – who borrowed the leader’s jersey for 48 hours last week – lost 31 seconds, Froome remained the biggest fromage of them all.
He said: “The altitude affected everyone, but it was always going to be a big day of climbing and my team-mates rode out of their skins again to keep the Yellow Jersey on my shoulders.
“We’ve shown we’ve got the team to control the race, and it’s so impressive to watch when you’re tucked in behind them.
“Everyone is on their hands and knees in the third week of a Grand Tour, and it’s still a very open race with only 27 seconds separating the top three.
“But I’m feeling a lot better than I did in the Pyrenees a week ago, which is hopefully a good sign, and hopefully I can effectively finish the job toMonsieur morrow.” Froome is now 1-9 on with bookies William Hill to ride around Paris in his own arc de triomphe this weekend, but first he must face another “absolute beast” of an Alpine assault course.
Today’s stage 18 features a summit finish on the 7,743 ft Col d’Izoard, and there is still scope for it all to go wrong.
But if Froome, 32, goes to Marseille for Saturday’s time trial in yellow, he could probably afford to ride around the Stade Velodrome on a Raleigh Chopper and collect the loot.
Yesterday’s stage was meant to be one of the most boobytrapped, but Froome made it look like a games console race.
The lumpy 114-mile trek from La Mure to Serre-Chevalier was won by Slovenia’s former world junior ski jumping champion Primoz Roglic.