Advertisement

Tour de France is mine to lose now admits leader Chris Froome

Chris Froome retained the Yellow Jersey after stage 19
Chris Froome retained the Yellow Jersey after stage 19

Chris Froome called the Tour de France his to lose as he heads into Saturday’s penultimate time trial with a 23-second lead over Frenchman Romain Bardet.

Froome and the other contenders enjoyed a sedate stage 19 as the breakaway contested honours in Salon-de-Provence, where Froome’s former team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen made up for being on the wrong side of two photo finishes by winning solo.

As the peloton eased over the line more than 12-and-a-half minutes later, attention quickly turned to Marseille, where Froome’s rivals have one last chance to overhaul him in a 22.5 kilometre battle against the clock before Sunday’s traditionally processional stage into Paris.

READ MORE: Boasson Hagan wins stage 19

READ MORE: How stage 19 unfolded from start to finish

“Certainly at this point it’s my race to lose,” Froome said. “I have to make sure I do everything right, follow the right processes and hopefully not have a bad day. I’ve got the legs, and hopefully everything else will be alright.”

A day after the final mountain test, the organisers threw the longest stage of the entire Tour at the riders as they rode 222.5km from Embrun.

Perhaps for that reason Sky – in control of the peloton – allowed a 20-man breakaway to go more than 10 minutes up the road and settled in for a tranquil day.

Chris Froome is on course for a fourth Tour de France win
Chris Froome is on course for a fourth Tour de France win

Froome even had time to high-five famous Tour fan Didi the Devil as they headed into Provence.

“It was cool seeing Didi out there, he’s a legend of the Tour,” Froome said. “Certainly I think today was one of those days for us GC guys, who’ve been full gas for the last few days in the Alps, where we could just sit in the wheels and retain some energy before we go and do it all again in Marseille.”

Saturday’s stage will start and finish at Marseille’s Velodrome as the football stadium returns to its cycling roots for the afternoon – with a crowd of 67,000 expected inside.

Although Froome is favoured to gain time in a battle against the clock, he has little margin for error.

AG2R La Mondiale’s Bardet remains within striking distance, while Colombian ex-Sky rider Rigoberto Uran is third, only 29 seconds back. Froome has said it is the Cannondale-Drapac rider he fears most.

“I think I have to treat it like any other time trial that I’ve done before,” Froome said. “I have to do everything right. I’m not going to go out there and take any big risks.

“I’m in a fantastic position and I’d much rather be in this position than second, third, or fourth trying to make up time.”

Chris Froome has revealed he feels the race in his own hands now
Chris Froome has revealed he feels the race in his own hands now

Sky dominated the short opening time trial in Dusseldorf with four riders in the top eight and Geraint Thomas winning, 12 seconds ahead of sixth-placed Froome.

Much was made of the aerodynamic skinsuit Sky wore – with the UCI race jury dismissing claims from rival teams that it was illegal.

Froome’s team-mates will have the suit again, but the race leader will have to do without the ‘vortex generator’ as rules dictate he must wear a yellow skinsuit provided by the organisers.

“It’s a huge honour to be in the yellow jersey at this point,” Froome said. “I’ve ridden in the skinsuit provided by race organisers almost every year I’ve won the Tour so it hasn’t been a problem. At the end of the day it’s all about the legs.”


It was third time lucky for Boasson Hagen, who collected his third career Tour stage win – the other two coming in Sky colours in 2011.

The Team Dimension Data rider was denied by just six millimetres – or 0.0003 seconds – when Marcel Kittel won stage seven to Nuits-Saint-Georges in the first week of the Tour.

He was then edged out by Michael Matthews on stage 16 to Romans-sur-Isere, a victory that would have been all the sweeter for his South African-based team as it would have come on Mandela Day.

Add in two third places along the way, and he was due a victory.

“I’m really happy,” Boasson Hagen said. “It’s been really close many times, but today I managed to make an attack so we didn’t have to do a photo finish.

“I’ve been getting confidence by seeing I could be so close so many times. It’s always bitter when you’re not winning but now I’m so happy.”

The break had begun to fracture in the final 20 kilometres, with nine riders getting away as former Sky rider Ben Swift and the others were distanced.

On a roundabout four kilometres from home, Boasson Hagen and Team Sunweb’s Nikias Arndt went around the right-hand side and the others took the longer left-hand side – a mistake from which they could not recover.

“I’d been looking at the book before so I knew it was shorter on the right,” Boasson Hagen said. “Nikias knew that as well. When he made an attack I followed him, then I could counter-attack and he couldn’t follow.”

There was better news for Arndt’s Sunweb team-mate Matthews, who is now mathematically assured of keeping the green jersey as leader of the points classification as long as he makes it to Paris.

“The last two nights since I got the jersey I really couldn’t sleep,” said Matthews, who will be the third Australian to win the points classification.

“Maybe that has affected my performance in the last couple of days, but all of my dreams have really come true.”