FROOME TAKES LEAD WITH THE RIDE OF HIS LIFE
CHRIS FROOME produced a breathtaking ride – after being chased by a fan with a giant inflatable inhaler.
Although he could not escape the cynicism which greeted his adverse drug test result last year for excess asthma medication, Froome powered into the leader’s pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia.
And after taking a 40-second lead into today’s final competitive stage, Froome is on the brink of a stunning Grand Tour hat-trick as back-to-back winner of the Tour de France, Vuelta and Giro.
If he rides into Rome in pink tomorrow, Froome’s ride on the 112-mile haul from Venaria Reale to Bardonecchia will go down as one of the greatest-ever stage wins.
As fellow Brit and overnight leader Simon Yates cracked, fell down the leaderboard and trailed in 15 minutes behind the four-time Yellow Jersey winner, Froome bolted off the front with 50 miles to race.
Opening up a potentially decisive lead on defending Giro champion Tom Dumoulin, he said: “It was going to take something really special to get rid of Simon, to get away from Dumoulin and Domenico Pozzovivo and go from fourth to first.
“I wasn’t going to do that on the last climb alone, so I had to try from a long way back.”