LA PIERRE ST MARTIN, France, (Reuters) – One by one, with the exception of Nairo Quintana, Chris Froome’s rivals were dropped from a thinning group of challengers up the gruelling final climb of yesterday’s 10th stage of the Tour de France.
The amazing pace set by Froome’s team mates Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas was too hot to handle for seasoned grand tour riders like Vincenzo Nibali, Alberto Contador, Tejay van Garderen and Alejandro Valverde.
While Froome clung to the wheels of his domestiques before powering away to victory, his rivals were left trailing and discouraged.
Froome won the 167-km stage by almost a minute from Australian Porte, who abandoned the Giro d’Italia after a poor start in May.
Quintana could not follow Porte in the finale and took third place.
The first to be spat out of the leading pack was Nibali, who now sits 6:57 behind Froome and all but surrendered the title he claimed in flamboyant style last year.
“I’m not even a distant brother of the Nibali of last year’s Tour,” the Italian admitted.
“It was a hard day, my legs were not responding, I just did what I could in the ascent.”
Van Garderen added: “Sky put on quite the performance.
Contador, sixth in the general classification and 4:04 off the pace, said: “It was a complicated day, we knew it was an important day, we wanted to avoid losing too much time but I could not breathe well, my legs were not spinning like I wanted them to.” Yet the Spaniard, who is attempting a rare Giro/Tour double, is not the kind of rider to concede defeat so early, whatever the damage.
“We need to rethink our strategy,” said the Tinkoff-Saxo leader, who can be unpredictable on the bike.
Froome said that his rivals possibly struggled to find their rhythm after a rest day and Van Garderen seemed to agree.
“We have done almost two weeks without climbing any real mountains. So it can be quite a shock to the system, especially after a rest day. I feel like it should go better from here,” Van Garderen said.
Quintana, who lost 1:04 to Froome after being dropped when the Briton attacked 6.2 km from the line, was staying positive. “I’m going to continue, day by day, we will see what we can do to make up for the time lost. The priority is to rest and calmly see how we can turn this around.
“Mentally and physically I feel well, I have good sensations.”