Froome abdicates Tour crown to Thomas
TOUR de France king Chris Froome virtually ended his bid for a record-equalling fifth crown on Wednesday, giving his full backing to Sky teammate and race leader Geraint Thomas.
Froome, 32, had been hoping to join an elite club of five-time winners and become the first cyclist since Marco Pantani, in 1998, to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same calendar year.
But Froome’s bid to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain on the five-time winners list may have to wait another year.
Starting the 17th stage with a deficit of 1min 39sec to Thomas, the Kenyan-born Briton showed rare glimpses of weakness on his way to finishing nearly a minute behind his Welsh teammate at the final mountaintop finish of the race at Saint-LarySoulan won by Colombian rival Nairo Quintana of Movistar.
Froome dropped to third overall and now trails Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) by 32secs and Thomas by 2:31, ahead of a final mountain stage on Friday, which finishes downhill, and the penultimate stage time trial on Saturday.
“It was a very intense day but I’ve got no regrets,” said Froome at the finish after struggling to keep pace with Thomas when Slovenian Primoz Roglic launched one of several attacks in the closing kilometres.
“’G’ (Geraint) has ridden such an amazing race and he deserves to be in yellow – and, fingers crossed, he holds it now until Paris.”
Froome had also been bidding to claim his fourth Grand Tour win in succession after adding the 2017 Tour of Spain and this year’s Giro d’Italia to a collection that has often been boosted by Thomas’s help.
He added: “I’ve won the last three Grand Tours I’ve done now, so it’s certainly been a tough build-up for me, but I’m still going to try and fight for the podium and try and obviously keep ‘G’ up there in yellow.”
Thomas, who won back-toback stages in the Alps to underline his yellow jersey credentials – and crucially give himself a 1:39 advantage over team lead- er Froome – is now assured of Froome’s support over the coming stages.
“He looks really strong so I imagine he’ll be able to finish it off,” said Froome. “We’ve just got to try and look after him now, these next few days.”
“We’ve got a lead of two minutes,” said Team Sky chief Dave Brailsford.
“The probability of us winning this race lies more with Geraint now I think, but it doesn’t mean it’s all over.
“At this moment in time, overall, we’ll look towards the next mountain stage, try and retain the jersey then it will all come down to the time trial.”
The 18th stage on Thursday was to be a mainly flat ride from Trie-sur-Baise to Pau that should have favoured the few real sprinters still in the race.
Asked what advice he could give Thomas, Froome laughed: “I don’t think he needs any. I think he’s doing fine.”