Chris Froome rubber-stamped his Tour de France domination by putting time into his rivals as Ilnur Zakarin won Wednesday’s 17th stage. It’s the Tour’s first mountain time trial since the 2004 race against the clock up l’Alpe d’Huez. “Also, my level is better than it was three years ago”.
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His main rival, Colombian Nairo Quintana, is fourth overall, 2:59 off the pace. While many observers have been struggling to understand why Quintana and Valverde have not harassed Froome with relentless attacks in the Pyrenees and the Jura mountains, Unzue says his cautious approach was right. I’ve attacked on a descent, I’ve attacked in crosswinds, I time-trialed as hard as I can to be in this position.
This year, however, Froome is hoping his own conditioning is better after he changed his preparations for the Tour with the final week in mind.
“Now I know a little bit what to expect with all this kind of things”, Mollema said.
“Starting the season later helped and I had a quieter run-in to the Tour”.
The stage covers a length of 184.5 kilometers from the Swiss capital of Berne to the Alpine finish on top of the Finhaut-Emosson.
“I wish Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka and all the other competitors luck in the final few days into Paris, a special place that I will definitely miss the emotions of this year”.
“From myself personally I feel as if I’m more ready for this third week than I have been in previous editions”, said the Sky rider. “Other people are exhausted”, said the defending champion, who is looking to become the first rider to retain his title since Miguel Indurain in 1995.
Mark Cavendish pulled out of the Tour de France during the rest day on Tuesday, returning to the United Kingdom in order to save his strength for his next challenge, the omnium and possibly the team pursuit at the Rio Olympic Games.
It’s left Froome with a healthy advantage on his rivals, thanks in no small part to his solid time-trial performance, and he is not expecting to need to go on the attack over the next four stages in the Alps, where he believes the Tour will be won or lost.
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“After the heat and intensity of the previous stages, we analyzed my fatigue levels and decided I’m at a point that would have a detrimental effect on my other big goal for the year, the Olympic Games”, Cavendish said on the team’s website.
