A faultless time trial performance by Chris Froome on Friday has seen the Team Sky rider roar back into overall contention in the Vuelta a Espana with one major mountain stage remaining.
The Briton captured his second Vuelta stage win of 2016 - and Team Sky’s third - with a commanding performance in the technical 37km time trial that, crucially, left Nairo Quintana (Movistar) struggling to contain the damage and limiting the gap to a hefty 2 minutes and 16 seconds.
Froome, therefore, is still at a one minute 21 second disadvantage overall on Quintana. But having made such major inroads on the Colombian’s overall advantage, what was a very slim possibility of victory may yet remain lower than Quiintana’s - but it has multiplied considerably compared to 24 hours before.
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The Briton showed he meant business from the word go in the time trial, opening up a whopping gap of 28 seconds on Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) - the rider he had beaten into fourth by four seconds in the Olympic Games - after just 12 kilometres. Asked later if he could enjoy racing a time trial so hard, Froome looked surprised and said, “No, that’s not possible. But I do get a lot of satisfaction when I hear I’m setting the fastest time. That’s the whole reason you race.”
Froome therefore could be even more pleased when his margin over Castroviejo - the best of the rest of the field - increased to 39 seconds at the second check point at kilometre 24 and then 44 seconds by the finish. The heat and humidity were such that Froome poured one bottle of water over his head to try and cool down at the finish in the coastal town of Calp, but the results more than justified his massive effort.
“It wasn’t at all straightforward as a time trial,” Froome said afterwards, “it was technical, windy and with tough little climbs and a fast descent. It was a really testing route.
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