Unless he falls over or something, Chris Froome looks to be track to win his 4th Tour de France title.
Though Sunweb’s Warren Barguil made a heroic stage victory today, Froome largely kept his GCs rivals in check with only 3 stages remaining in the 2017 race.
Froome now sits 23 seconds out in front, with Romain Bardet (Ag2R) second, and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) at 29 seconds after finishing a slightly distant fifth. Froome’s Team Sky teammate Mikel Landa came through in sixth to move up to fourth overall, now 19 seconds ahead of Fabio Aru (Astana).
Froome said: “Of course it would have been nice to take a little bit of time today, but I’m pretty happy with that and I took two seconds on Rigoberto Uran who I think will be my biggest rival in the time trial.
“I’m pretty happy, the team was fantastic in the final and it’s great having the numbers there to control things and having that card to play with Mikel Landa.
“I tried to give it a little dig behind, I thought I had a gap, but Rigoberto Uran brought it back. Uran and Bardet have both ridden a very good race so far, Romain Bardet taking the bonus seconds today, he can be pretty happy with that.”
But Froome doesn’t plan on resting on his laurels with three days to go: “I think it’s all still to race for in the final time trial to Marseille,” he continued. “It’s still close, it’s still everything to race for. If everything goes well I would fancy my chances in the time trial against the other guys but anything could happen still. It’s still very close.”
Darwin Atapuma Most Agressive
UAE Team Emirates’ Darwin Atapuma produced one of the most inspiring rides of the Tour to date, as the Columbian finished second on stage 18, earning the red bib for his efforts as the most aggressive rider.
With less than 2km to go on today’s Hors Category (HC) finish in Col d’Izoard, it looked as though Atapuma was going to win the race. But the UAE Team Emirates rider succumbed to late pressure from eventual winner Barguil.
Commenting on his second place finish, Darwin Atapuma said; “Today we prepared the stage very well and I think we did a great job. It is a shame we did not take the win, but to get second place, it really means a lot to me. It is almost like a victory.”
Bardet Remains 2nd in G.C.
“We all dreamed of making great raids and seriously epic rides, but the terrain was just not conducive to that sort of thing. I am not riding in dreams. I am riding in real situations, and I wanted to make one sharp, effective attack,” Bardet commented after the stage.
“There was a headwind, and a lot of the Sky team were still there once we were on the Izoard. My team did a remarkable job, and made the race much harder since we were going for the win. And I am very happy with how we worked even if I did not manage to distance Froome.
I have given my all, and there are still several stages, so we will have to be attentive,” he concluded. “I am motivated to do well in the time trial. I really love time trials at the end of the Tour. Everything is still possible. In any case, I am going to continue to fight like I did today, with a lot of heart and a lot of desire.”
Yates Survives Mountain Test To Stay in White
Simon Yates has navigated the final mountains test at the Tour, finishing ninth today. Yates held his nerve and rode tempo to limit his time loss to 39seconds to race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) and 22seconds to white jersey contender Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates).
The 24-year-old ORICA-SCOTT rider’s performance continued his consistency on the more challenging terrain to see him maintain seventh place overall and the lead in the best young rider competition with three stages remaining.
“I had better legs today than yesterday and I didn’t lose much time so I think it was a good day,” Yates said. “I tried to do my own ride and my own rhythm and tackle the climb like this. I gave it everything so I have to be happy.”
“I was a little bit off that top group of riders on the final climb, I think it has been that way this whole Tour, but I am still happy with where I am at and how I have been riding.”
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