Froome’s prediction of tough Tour looks spot on

CHRIS Froome repeatedly said this year’s Tour de France would be his biggest challenge yet and after 12 stages it appears he may be right.

The three-time Tour winner lost the yellow jersey to Fabio Aru yesterday as he looked well short of the form which brought him overall victories in 2013, 2015, and 2016.

But, while Froome predicted a close fight for yellow, he will not have expected it to be Aru who took the jersey from him.

Froome was looking to the likes of Richie Porte and Nairo Quintana to put up the strongest fight this summer but Porte crashed out last week while Quintana is paying the price for contesting the Giro d’Italia, and has faded badly.

Instead, Froome finds himself locked in a battle with Aru, Romain Bardet and his former team-mate Rigoberto Uran — with less than a minute separating the top four.

Aru was not even supposed to be here this summer, having been lined up to ride the Giro until suffering a knee injury, but his third place yesterday saw him move to the top of the general classification by six seconds.

After winning yesterday’s stage, Bardet is 25 seconds off yellow as he bids to become the first Frenchman to win the Tour since Bernard Hinault in 1985.

Up until stage 12 to Peyragudes, Froome had ridden an almost textbook Tour as Sky held the yellow jersey from the opening day and looked to make the most of their strength in depth.

But when Aru and then Bardet attacked in the finale, Froome could not respond.

“It was a tough day for me in the final metres and my team-mates had done such an amazing job,” he said.

“But I didn’t have the legs to finish it off, it’s as simple as that. No excuses.”