Chris Froome (Team Sky) reinforced his overall lead in the Vuelta a España's first summit finish with a slight gain, but more importantly, the Briton has once again shown that he is the strongest climber in the race.
In a repeat of the final installment of Sky's tactics in the ascents to Andorra on Monday, a devastating acceleration by Sky teammate Gianni Moscon left many of Froome's rivals reeling. Then it was up to the Briton himself to deliver two surging attacks to see how many of the Froome's fellow contenders could handle the pace.
This time, once again, Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) showed he could keep Froome company, but beyond that only Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and Canadian Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) could follow the Sky rider. Contador even put in a timid counter-charge, but it was not enough to shake Froome in the slightest.
ADVERTISEMENT
As a result, what was the tiniest of margins, just two seconds advantage over three rivals, has now stretched to 10 seconds margin over one, Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team). These are not the gaps that are in any sense conclusive - this is a 3km climb, not the Angliru. But in any case, there's the sense, like in Andorra, that little by little Froome is opening an advantage, and at best his rivals can only manage to get briefly on equal terms. Only Chaves has managed to show complete consistency in matching Froome.
"I'd need to look at the GC, but he's showed that he's one of the strongest climbers so far in the race," Froome said of Chaves after claiming his third red jersey of leader in the Vuelta. "Last year, he rode extremely well, and I imagine this year he will be up there again. The [stage 16] time trial, though, is not really in his favour."
Froome singled out Contador, too, for praise after the Spaniard's bounce-back, albeit one in which he remains at three minutes overall and is therefore hardly a major GC threat.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2w7Aezs
No comments:
Post a Comment