Froome’s pursuit of a fifth crown crashes in the Pyrenees
17th stage leaves Team Sky rider yielding as teammate Thomas strengthens overall 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’s 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.
“I didn’t want him to have a bad day like he did, but it just gave me confidence knowing someone of Froomey’s stature was struggling, and I just knew I would be able to respond to the attacks.”
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.
Insult to injury
The British rider’s day 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.
Froome was among a large group of riders whose eyes needed treatment due to the tear gas.
He has been a repeated target of fans after he was cleared of doping five days before the race began. The four-time champion had been racing under the cloud of a potential ban for using twice the permitted level of salbutamol during his victory at the Spanish Vuelta in September.
Froome said he has been repeatedly spat at since the race started, and that spectators have punched him and tried to make him fall off his bike.
He is attempting to match the Tour record of five victories shared by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, but appeared to concede defeat.
“We’ve just got to look after (Thomas) now,” Froome said after the stage. “I’ve won the last three Grand Tours, and G has ridden an absolutely faultless race this year, so he fully deserves to be in the yellow jersey, and fingers crossed, he finishes it off and gets the job done in Paris.” Down but not out
The formidable stage was a strong signal that Froome has reached his limit after winning the Tour and Vuelta last year, and the Giro d’Italia in May.
“What you’ve got with Chris is he’ll empty the tank,” Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford said. “He deserves a lot of credit, having gone to the Giro … He’s a great, great champion. He’s not out of it necessarily … If anybody can bounce back, it’s Chris Froome — I wouldn’t rule him out.”
After a less arduous Stage 18 on Thursday, there is another mountainous leg in the Pyrenees on Friday. There’s an individual time trial on Saturday before the three-week race ends Sunday in Paris.