DOMINANT FROOME ON BRINK OF HIS THIRD TOUR
CHRIS FROOME continued his march towards a third Tour de France title, winning the time trial in Megeve in front of the greatest cyclist of all time, Eddy Merckx, who was a guest at the finish. Merckx said nothing beats a time trial victory in the yellow jersey — it was the icing on the cake. The cake already seems to be Froome’s. Remarkably they still include Adam Yates, the 24-year-old from Bury who was strong enough to hold on to third. He looks secure in the white jersey of best young rider but a place on the podium is beginning to look a real possibility. Froome has been so dominant in this Tour that the greatest of them all was asked if a comparison with Merckx was valid. But Merckx did not just win five Tours, he won every other big race too, and there was a veiled barb in his reply. ‘In stage races, Froome is better than Eddy Merckx,’ said Merckx. ‘Maybe he can win five, six Tours de France, but my focus wasn’t only on the Tour de France. I was riding all year.’ Froome paced his time trial brilliantly, gradually improving his placing through the time checks to end up the winner by 21 seconds over Tom Dumoulin, the winner of the first, flatter time trial. Dumoulin has been targeting an Olympic gold medal in the time trial at the forthcoming Rio Games, and Froome said afterwards the Dutchman is the favourite in his eyes. ‘That course really suits Dumoulin, so he’s going to be the man to beat in Rio,’ said Froome. On this evidence, Dumoulin’s main rival is likely to be Froome. Behind Dumoulin, there was a scrap among the riders who are now battling for the podium. Fabio Aru was best of the rest, with Richie Porte and Romain Bardet just behind, and Yates and Bauke Mollema further back. There is just over a minute between Mollema, in second, and Porte, in sixth. Though he wouldn’t admit the race is over, Froome did concede: ‘At the moment, I’ve got a great advantage with three days left to go. I want to get to Paris and keep this jersey on my shoulders and I’ve got a lot of confidence in my team-mates. ‘The main thing for me right now is staying safe and staying away from any big incidents before Paris. I’ve got a fantastic advantage, almost four minutes, so it’s about looking after that advantage and not taking any risks that I don’t really need to take.’