By contrast, Froome was not only caught out by the surprise move but also deserted as six of his remaining seven Sky teammates couldn t even stick with the pace in the chasing group.
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Nairo Quintana of Colombia comfortably held on to his Spanish Vuelta lead as Jean-Pierre Drucker of Luxembourg sprinted to win Monday’s flat stage in northeastern Spain.
As Quintana forged on ahead, although the Colombian was finally beaten by Italy’s Gianluca Brambilla at the finish, Froome was the biggest loser, ceding over two and a half minutes.
You are reading news and information on LongIsland.com, Long Island’s Most Popular Website, Since 1996. “We joined forces and we pulled it off”, Quintana said.
The uneventful 16th stage, the last before the race’s final rest day Tuesday, came after a three-day mountain marathon in which Quintana built his significant lead over Froome. “It went better than I could have imagined”.
The short stage was blown apart by an early attack by Alberto Contador, which left riders like Chris Froome fighting not to lose too much time over the course of the following 110km.
Taking advantage of the twisting, hilly terrain, the three-time Vuelta victor shattered the peloton with an attack only 13 other riders, including Quintana, could follow.
Movistar followed up with a second attack by Alejandro Valverde that eliminated all but one of Sky’s teammates, David Lopez, who soon spent his energy and faded. “I knew that he was looking for time and if I sat in, it was general classification for Quintana and the stage for me”.
Colombian Johan Esteban Chaves remains third, a further 20 sec behind Froome, having finished the stage 47 seconds ahead of Froome after riding most of the stage with the Briton.
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Another mountain finish awaits on Wednesday on the 177.5km stage from Castellon to Llucena.
