I can repel attacks

CHRIS FROOME’S bid to become Britain’s first winner of the Vuelta will hit crunch time this weekend.

He faces two days of very difficult mountain climbing in southern Spain.

Froome leads by 59 seconds with nine days to go in the Spanish equivalent of the Tour de France.

Seventh on yesterday’s punchy uphill finish near Seville, raced in temperatures of 37 degrees, Froome was cautiously optimistic about remaining leader by Monday.

Because today’s ultra-steep final ascent of La Pandera and Sunday’s 54km on the Sierra Nevada mountain range will surely see attacks rain down.

A heatwave will make it even tougher.

Froome has had a roller-coaster second week so far, crashing heavily twice on Thursday in the space of 100metres on a slippery descent. It meant he lost nearly a minute to key contender Alberto Contador. Earlier that week, though, the Briton had given a strong showing on the brutal Calar Alto climb, shedding all his key rivals bar 2014 Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali.

He said after yesterday’s stage: “Saturday’s final is tough, steep, and I expect Contador and Nibali will want to make up time.

“But we’re ready, the team are going fantastically well and we have a lot of faith in them.”

He added: “Sunday’s stage is even harder again, when we go up to Sierra Nevada – we’re 2,500metres above sea level and it comes at the end of a tough week. So we should see some very big time gaps.”

Three times second in this race, raising his arms in victory in Madrid on September 10 would make Froome the first rider to win both Tour and Vuelta in the same season since 1978.