What a difference a couple of days in the Pyrenees makes. At its halfway point, the Tour de France seemed to have settled into a familiar pattern for Team Sky, but a 300-metre mountain runway and a 101-kilometre mountain thriller have thrown the winners of four of the past five editions into uncharted waters.
The theme of each of those four victories, the first with Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and the subsequent three with Chris Froome, was an early grab for the maillot jaune and total control thereafter. On all four occasions, the winner spent at least 14 consecutive days in yellow before being crowned in Paris.
When Froome took the lead of this edition on La Planche des Belles Filles on stage 5, having already gained time in the opening-day time trial, it looked like business as usual, and, despite the loss of Geraint Thomas, the embarrassment of Sky domestique strength only reinforced that notion.
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Yet Froome's Peyragudes wobble saw the team lose yellow at the Tour for only the second time, and for the first time to a GC rival. The sense of shock on the mountain, enhanced by the way Sky had stifled proceedings for the previous 214 kilometres, was palpable.
Froome, for the first time, finds himself chasing the Tour in the second half of the race, yet this is also new ground for Sky in that they have suddenly found themselves with two cards to play, rather than one.
Mikel Landa caused ripples as he rode away from Froome on the Peyragudes runway, and made waves on Friday as he jumped from 10th to fifth overall on the explosive short stage to Foix. The Spaniard is now, in theory, a potential winner of the Tour de France. Sky haven't been in the position of having two of those since 2012, when Froome, despite a couple of pointed attacks, had to cede to Wiggins, the 'chosen one' for the first British victory of the Tour de France.
A repeat of 2012 tensions?
Read more on this article
- Everything to play for in the 2017 Tour de France
- Landa: I'd love to win the Tour de France but I know my place
- Froome: Landa is a real threat for Tour de France title
- Shades of Wiggins controversy as Landa rides away from Froome at Peyragudes
Balancing act
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