Froome falls back as Thomas boosts lead

SAINT-LARY-SOULAN, FRANCE

His tongue dangling from — his mouth, his pedal stroke strained, Chris Froome’s hopes of a record-tying fifth Tour de France title slowly drifted away.

Up amid the thin and misty air of the Col du Portet — rated the second toughest climb in Tour history — Froome cracked on the feared 17th stage through the Pyrenees on Wednesday, solidifying Sky teammate Geraint Thomas’ hold on the yellow jersey.

“Froomey said on the radio at maybe 5K or 4K to go that he wasn’t feeling super,” Thomas said after increasing his lead to nearly two minutes over Tom Dumoulin. “That gave me confidence because I knew if Froomey suffered, everyone suffered.”

Froome finished eighth, 1 minute, 35 seconds behind stage winner Nairo Quintana, and dropped from second to third overall, a distant 2:31 seconds adrift of Thomas.

The British rider’s day then went from bad to worse as he crashed when police mistook him for a fan on the way down the mountain, with his bodyguard also on a bike.

Froome had put a black raincoat over his racing uniform to keep warm and when police ordered him to stop, he lost control. Team Sky said the rider was not injured in the incident, which came a day after police used tear gas to disperse a farmers’ protest that had blocked the road with bales of hay. He is attempting to match the Tour record of five victories but appeared to concede defeat.

“We’ve just got to look after (Thomas) now,” Froome said. Colombian rider Quintana, a three-time podium finisher in the Tour, finished 28 seconds ahead of Irish rider Dan Martin, while Thomas crossed third in the stage, 47 seconds back.