Slovak Sagan claimed his third victory at the Tour this year and seventh in total in the third photo finish of the 2016 race.
Advertisement
Even his team manager, Eusebio Unzue, admits Quintana is not at his best.
“We did not see the Nairo we know at the Mont Ventoux. Hopefully, things will return to normal in the Alps”, he said.
“Today it was just about not taking any risks”, Froome said.
So far, Froome has been surrounded on every stage by an armada of team-mates who’ve been setting a high tempo and chasing down the few attacks they’ve faced.
Cavendish is targeting the six-discipline omnium in Rio and may also ride in a round of the team pursuit alongside Sir Bradley Wiggins if men’s endurance coach Heiko Salzwedel deems that to be the right strategy.
In the stage, Quintana attacked twice unsuccessfully on the lower slopes before losing time when Froome put in a burst of acceleration in the final kilometres.
“Last year he made up a lot of time in the final week, and I expect he’s gonna to be one of the main guys putting us under pressure these next few days”, said Froome, who is much less anxious by his compatriot, the 23-year-old Yates.
“As it stands I’ve got nearly three minutes on Quintana (2:59) and close to two minutes on Mollema (1:47)”. “I’m not going to attack for the sake of it”. As a result, he has slightly changed his preparation to be in a better shape in the final week of racing.
The Briton leads Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) by 1:47 and compatriot Adam Yates (Orica-Bike Exchange) by 2:45. I don’t think we have ever been at this point in the race and still had nine riders left, so that’s a great advantage for us.
“Starting this season later helped that, having a quieter run-in to the Tour helped that”.
Three-times time trial world champion Tony Martin and his Etixx-Quick Step team mate Julian Alaphilippe, who was denied a possible stage win on Sunday because of a mechanical problem in the final descent, broke away early on.
Advertisement
Sagan said he believed Katusha’s Kristoff made a critical error that gifted him the win, throwing his bike forward a moment too late: “It was a insane finale, very technical”, the Tinkoff rider said.
