Froome holds firm as pack go on attack
Landa leads rally as Sky consolidate position France’s Barguil takes Bastille Day stage win
If Chris Froome does end up winning a fourth Tour de France title in Paris a week tomorrow, he may well look back on yesterday as the day when he and Team Sky saved this race.
An enthralling day – one of the most entertaining Tour stages in years and a great advertisement for short, explosive routes – saw the race blown to bits, as expected, on the 101km blast from Saint-girons to Foix deep in the south west of France. And while it was Warren Barguil [Sunweb] who claimed victory in the end, the first French stage winner on Bastille Day since David Moncoutié in 2005, Team Sky will be extremely satisfied with the outcome.
Firstly, and most importantly, Froome himself held firm.
Having shipped time on Thursday’s summit finish at Péyragudes, surrendering the yellow jersey to Astana’s Fabio Aru, all eyes were on the 32 year-old. How would he fare on yesterday’s three categorised climbs with attacks firing off all around him? Would he wobble again? The answer was no, although he was helped immeasurably by Sky’s adventurous tactics on the day.
All the talk beforehand had been about how they would deploy Mikel Landa. The Spaniard had looked strong on Thursday, incredibly strong, so strong he barely had to open his mouth while everyone else was dying on the final climb up to Péyragudes, and complaining very loudly afterwards that he could have won the stage had he been let off his leash.
This presented a myriad of questions. With a deficit of 2min 55sec to the yellow jersey, would Sky send Landa up the road? Would he behave himself if they did? (Landa is rumoured to be off at the end of the season) Or would they adopt their usual strategy of pulling for Froome all day? The answer came on the day’s first climb, the Col de Latrape, when Landa went clear alongside Alberto Contador (Treksegafredo).
Contador was the ideal breakaway companion; possessed of a nose for long-range attacks and a cavalier attitude while being – at over seven minutes down on GC – no threat at all to the overall. Michael Kwiatkowski then got himself into a chasing group as the peloton fractured into little pieces, giving Sky yet another option.
It then became a question of how much of a lead could Landa and Contador generate, and whether they would they be able to hang on.
With 30km to go, the duo were 2min 48sec ahead of the yellow jersey group and Landa was seven seconds off being the virtual maillot jaune.
It was riveting stuff. It was also at around this point, on the final climb of the day, the Mur de Peguere, that Froome and Sky, Kwiatkowski by now having dropped out of the second group, started chasing.
It was a tactic which raised a few eyebrows. In theory, they could have let others do the donkey work and seen whether Landa could land the yellow jersey.
But there is no doubt who Team Sky’s leader is. The fuss had Landa taken yellow – and he was unlikely to anyway – would have been off the charts. As it was, Landa behaved himself, and after he and Contador were caught by Barguil and Nairo Quintana [Movistar], he rolled in fourth.
Behind them, attacks were flying. Froome twice accelerated near the top of the final climb – perhaps just showing his rivals that he still had legs – and again on the descent. ARU was not letting him go. Romain Bardet [AG2R] had a dig. Eventually Dan Martin [Quickstep Floors] and Simon Yates [Orica-scott] did get away, both of them gaining a few precious seconds by the finish to consolidate their positions in the top six. A Tour which had been a bit of a slow burner is building up a head of steam now. The final week is shaping up to be a classic, with the top eight separated by just over two minutes.
And while Froome no longer has
the yellow jersey, he has a smile back on his face.
He knows that next Saturday’s time trial, where the GC will be decided, plays in his favour. If he can keep his rivals close to him until then, he should win. And with Landa now just a minute behind, Sky have options.
“It’s a great card for us to play especially as Astana don’t have the numbers to control the race,” Froome explained. “Yesterday was a difficult day for me in the final but today I felt good. I think it was a great outcome for us.
“We’ve wanted Mikel to come back into the GC game and he is only a minute down now. It [the tactic of sending him up the road] could be a winning move for us in days to come.”
As for Landa, after the outburst on Thursday night, he seemed happy to toe the line. “Sometimes you must look more for the team than you and we are here to try and win for Chris,” he said. “I don’t think I’m stronger than Chris. He has won three Tours.”