A measured response from Chris Froome (Team Sky) on the Lagos de Covadonga during stage 10 saw the Briton drop back from the group of favourites early on the toughest climb of the Vuelta a Espana so far before returning to contention in dramatic style.
TV images showed triple Tour de France winner off the back of the Covadonga climb with around 10 kilometres to go and as Movistar cranked up the pace. Froome lost nearly a minute at one point on the Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Alberto Contador group.
But then after using team-mates Pete Kennaugh and Leopold König for solid initial support to start to claw back time, from then on the clock was slowly ticking in reverse as Froome began cutting back on the gap. Froome steadily moved past dropped riders, gradually squeezing the margin on Contador and Quintana to a bare 20 seconds.
ADVERTISEMENT
As Froome continued his relentless clawback, the Colombian dropped Contador with around 3.5 kilometres to go, and around a kilometre later, Froome passed the Spaniard too, with only Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Quintana left to beat ahead of him on the climb.
By the finish the gap opened slightly between Quintana and Froome, to 25 seconds between the stage winner and the Briton as Froome reached Gesink. The Netherlands rider then passed him again, but Froome, in any case, had not only limited the damage inflicted by Quintana, but also managed to open a small gap on Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and a larger one on Contador and the rest of the field.
“I just rode the climb at the best pace I felt was the efficient way to get up there and according to how I thought the legs were feeling,” Froome, third overall at 58 seconds on Quintana, told a small group of reporters later.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2bNf2s4
No comments:
Post a Comment