Chris Froome (Team Sky) carefully controlled his nearest rivals at the Tour de France during stage 18 on the road to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. He still leads Nairo Quintana (Movistar) by more than three minutes and is ticking off the mountain stages, knowing his grip on the race leader’s yellow jersey is tightening and that the chances for his rivals reduce day by day.
Main rivals Quintana and teammate Alejandro Valverde looked happy to finish in the select front group that came in 3:02 down on lone stage winner Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale). The Movistar riders and almost every other rider in the top 10 overall are racing to defend their current placing, with Movistar also leading the team competition and with Quintana wearing the best young rider’s white jersey.
Froome again sensed their fear of risking everything and was able to control the racing thanks to another strong, consistent performance by Geraint Thomas. Froome again expressed his hopes that the Welshman can finish on the final podium with him in Paris, even if defending the yellow jersey comes first on Friday’s tough stage to La Toussuire and then on the grand finale stage to l’Alpe d’Huez on Saturday.
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“We’re getting towards the end now and there are only two real racing stages to go, both quite short. So we can expect them to be hard. But I feel I’m in good shape, I’m happy compared to two years ago. Then I was hanging on. Now I feel quite good and in control,” he said during his post-stage press conference.
“I’ve got two wheels to follow at this point: Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde. I hope we can finish the job now.”
Froome dismissed a suggestion that he had never come under real attack during this year’s Tour de France, as he pursues a second victory, two years after triumphing in 2013.
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