Froome set fair as mountains are conquered

Lead cut but Brit still has cushion in bid for fourth Tour title

Chris Froome took a major step towards his fourth Tour de France title despite his lead being cut on the Col d’Izoard.

Frenchman Romain Bardet clawed back four seconds in bonus time as he pipped Froome to third place on stage 18, won by Warren Barguil, but the Briton emerged from the final mountain test of the race with a 23-second cushion in yellow.

With a relatively flat stage to Salon-deProvence to follow today before a time trial in Marseille that should suit Froome, his rivals are all-but out of opportunities to deny him.

“I wouldn’t say it is quite won yet but certainly the toughest part of the Tour with the Alps and the Pyrenees is done now,” Team Sky’s Froome said.

Bardet sits second overall with Rigoberto Uran third, 29 seconds down, and it is perhaps the Colombian who poses the bigger threat given his track record in time trials.

That said, the Cannondale-Drapac rider conceded 61 seconds to Froome in the opening time trial in Dusseldorf almost three weeks ago, compared to 39 by AG2R La Mondiale’s Bardet.

But even with the time gained, Bardet – who finished as runner-up to Froome in last year’s Tour – appeared to accept his fate.

“I risked everything,” he said. “I have nothing to regret. Now we have the time trial but the Tour is already a success. We confirmed what we did last year, we went a step further.”

Barguil raced away from the main group of contenders with 6km left and beat the last surviving member of the breakaway, Darwin Atapuma, to take his second stage win and underline his superiority as king of the mountains – a classification he will win providing he safely makes it to Paris.

Italian national champion Fabio Aru was dropped again, conceding more than a minute as the former yellow jersey in this race slipped to fifth on general classification, almost two minutes adrift of the race lead.