Froome had to fend off just two short-lived attacks – from Fabio Aru and Romain Bardet on what turned out to be a routine day in the yellow jersey.
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And as I said, it will all seem like a distant memory when we resume racing on Wednesday with the first Alpine stage – all of it in Switzerland – from Berne to Finhaut-Emosson.
Vincenzo Nibali proved a race is not finished until the final stage is completed by pulling off one of the most remarkable late comebacks in history at the Giro d’Italia in May, but a similar shock at the Tour just doesn’t look likely.
Froome crossed safely in a much-reduced peloton a little over three minutes after Pantano, and the Team Sky man remains one minute 47 seconds clear of Trek-Segafredo’s Bauke Mollema in second, with Briton Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange still third, two minutes 45 seconds down and leading the young riders’ classification.
Secondly, even if a rival does suddenly find form and decides to attack Froome, they will nearly certainly be hunted down by Team Sky’s relentless mountain domestiques, who have been so good and are so numerous that getting away from them – let alone getting away from Froome – appears virtually impossible at the moment.
“I just wanted to get a feeling for how the group was, and who was reacting and who to look out for”, Froome said.
Defending champions Chris Froome held on to the yellow jersey for the third straight stage and will see if he can improve his lead today.
Although Froome’s rivals tried their luck on the final ascent, none was able to create a gap as Froome’s Team Sky lieutenants Woet Poels and Mikel Nieve did not panic, pulling their leader on the serpentine climb without losing any ground. Behind them are as many as seven other riders who could stull vie for a podium place.
“What we need to attack him is for his team to be spent”, said the 26-year-old Colombian.
“I think people are expecting more fire and fight from us. We’re definitely going to try something”, he said after the 15th stage.
The hilly stage could favor a breakaway or a selective sprint. Colombian climber Nairo Quintana lags 2:59 behind in fourth.
The Etixx-QuickStep duo’s efforts were to count for nothing too, as Alaphilippe found the going too tough on the day’s sole categorised climb, the 1.2km, category-four Cote de Muehleberg.
His team-mate Cavendish, victor of four stages in this Tour, did not have the legs to engage in the sprint coming off the climb and rolled home in 22nd place.
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But Froome has rubbished suggestions he has no rivals for the title ahead of what he described as four “very tricky” days.
