Froome takes advantage as Aru falls back
Briton’s biggest rival has tough time on Galibier Former skier Roglic wins stage after breakaway
The nearest it came to the sky falling in on Team Sky yesterday was when a parking barrier dropped down on team boss Sir Dave Brailsford’s head mid-interview.
An otherwise textbook first day in the Alps for the British team saw Chris Froome extend his overall advantage, inching ever closer to his fourth yellow jersey as his nearest rival, Astana’s Fabio Aru, lost contact with the leader’s group on the hors catégorie Galibier.
The Sardinian ended up finishing 31 seconds behind Froome, dropping from second to fourth in the general classification at 53secs.
Froome’s complete mastery of the day was so pronounced it ended with him having a chat with the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, who commended him on his improved French since the pair last met in Luchon 12 months ago.
It feels as if this race is all but done. With Aru falling away, and with just three stages remaining before the traditional finale in Paris, Froome’s nearest challengers are now Rigoberto Uran [Cannondaledrapac] and Romain Bardet [AG2R], both of whom lie 27sec behind.
Of the two, Uran is arguably the more dangerous since he is the stronger rider against the clock and could in theory pose a sterner test of Froome’s mettle in Saturday’s Marseille time trial.
The Colombian has ridden a canny race and eked out a couple more seconds yesterday, outsprinting Froome to take second place on the line and with it six bonus seconds to Froome’s four.
A former team-mate of Froome’s at Sky, Uran is a definite threat. But only if he can take time in today’s final Alpine stage, which sees the peloton take on over 4,000m of vertical ascending, finishing up on top of the fearsome Col d’izoard.
The climb is a 2,360m monster, not that Froome sounded particularly worried. “It’s the last hard day of this Tour,” he conceded. “The last opportunity for the climbers. But there are two reasons to be optimistic. Firstly my team was fantastic today even though we were put under a lot of pressure. And secondly I’m feeling a lot better than I did in the Pyrenees a week ago.”
Yesterday’s 17th stage may have gone to Primoz Roglic, a former ski jumper from Slovenia who attacked from the day’s breakaway and held on to the bulk of the 90sec advantage he had at the top of the Galibier. But, behind him, Sky and Froome were imperious.
Aru could not hack the pace, nor could the race’s best young rider, Bury’s Simon Yates [Orica-scott] who finished 3min 14sec behind Roglic. At least Yates is still there and fighting. Marcel Kittel [Quick Step Floors], this year’s top sprinter, green jersey wearer and winner of five stages, abandoned after crashing early in the stage.
Meanwhile, after three editions on the Champs-elysées, a radicallydifferent La Course by Le Tour, the women’s race which is run by Tour organisers ASO, begins today with a stage which – like the men’s – will finish on top of the Col d’izoard.
However, unlike the men, who will be riding nearly 180km and who will also take on the first category ascent of the Col de Vars, the women’s race will be just 67km.
The shortness of the stage is not the only aspect which has drawn criticism. The first 21 riders to reach the top of the Izoard today will be taken to Marseille on Saturday where they will get to tackle the time trial course used by the men.