Vuelta a España leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) has explained that he preferred to race more conservatively than usual on La Pandera’s summit finish on Saturday because on Sunday the peloton faces a much tougher stage.
Froome did not come across to Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) when Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) attacked halfway up the climb and then Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and the Italian, Froome’s most dangerous rival on GC, bridged across.
Even as Nibali surged ahead and Chaves dropped back, Froome stayed at around 40 metres back before bridging across when Nibali and Contador appeared to slow slightly. From that point onwards, Froome remained in control, despite a brief surge by Contador in the final kilometre that fizzled out before the line, an explosive charge away by Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) and Nibali’s well-calculated lunge for the finish.
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All in all, it was a somewhat muted performance by Froome, but he said that this was calculated. He added that he had made a small error, in accelerating too soon at the finish, which perhaps cost him the four second time bonus on offer for third place, which was snapped up by Nibali.
“I was thinking about tomorrow’s [Sunday’s] stage, it’s a big stage so I think it suited us to be a bit more controlled,” Froome said afterwards. “When Chaves, Contador, Nibali and Lopez attacked, I was confident to stay with Wout Poels and then ride steadier.
“In the end, that was the right decision. I’m glad I kept some energy back for tomorrow’s [Sunday’s] stage.”
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