Froome stretches lead as Tour rivals fade
CHRIS FROOME is closing in on a third Tour de France title after extending his lead in the yellow jersey while Russian Ilnur Zakarin won stage 17 to Finhaut-Emosson.
As Zakarin was celebrating his first Tour stage victory from the day’s breakaway, Froome latched on to Richie Porte’s late attack to ride clear of his rivals and build a cushion of almost two-and-a-half minutes.
Dutchman Bauke Mollema was the first to be distanced as his second place overall came under attack from Orica-Bike Exchange’s Adam Yates, but most encouraging for Team Sky will have been the sight of Nairo Quintana being unable to respond as others broke free.
The Movistar rider has usually come good in the third week of Grand Tours and threatened Froome’s lead late in last year’s Tour, but does not seem to have the legs to rival him and appeared to wave the white flag after dropping to three minutes 27 seconds off the pace in fourth place.
“I still have a lot of years,” Quintana said. “I am 26 and there are a lot of people ahead of me who have more experience. I still have a lot of years ahead of me to fight for the ‘yellow jersey dream’.”
With this being Colombian National Day, the stage had been set for Quintana to show his colours but he was visibly struggling as Froome and Porte rode away.
“It’s been a very difficult Tour for Nairo,” Froome said. “He’s still a great rival and a big challenger for me but he lost more time today. I think for him to re-enter into the game again he’s going to have to do a real good time trial tomorrow.”
At the end of this 184.5km stage from Berne, Froome now leads TrekSegafredo’s Mollema by two minutes and 27 seconds after the Dutchman gave up 40 seconds on the climb to the Emosson Dam.
Mark Cavendish, meanwhile, has taken an early leave from what could be remembered as one of his most successful appearances in the Tour de France.
Cavendish announced late on Tuesday’s rest day that he was leaving the Tour to focus on his preparations for his bid to win gold in the omnium in Rio.