A day of drama on Friday came as a reminder of how quickly the Tour de France can change, but also why Chris Froome appears destined for a third title this weekend.
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Team Sky’s Froome hit the deck inside the last 15 kilometres of the 146km stage 19 from Albertville to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc and was forced to finish on team-mate Geraint Thomas’ bike, with his rivals looking to put him under pressure on the final climb on Mont Blanc as the rips in his yellow jersey revealed his scars.
The 146-kilometer (91-mile) ride features four ascents in the Alps and has been marred by several crashes on roads made slippery by rain. The big loser was Dutchman Bauke Mollema who started the day second but dropped to 10th overall after coming home more than 3min 30sec after Bardet after crashing once and skidding off the road a second time in rainy conditions. He now leads France’s Romain Bardet by 4 minutes and 5 seconds, while Nairo Quintana of Colombia is 3rd overall. “It was great for me to have teammates all the way up until the finish there, with Wout in particular and all the guys. It was a great team effort today and it feels good to be one day closer to Paris”. “The classification is gone”.
Friday also produced the first French victor of a stage at this year’s Tour as Ag2r-La Mondiale rider Bardet prevailed, much to the delight of a home crowd who had earlier been less sporting in cheering when Froome fell.
“I rode with my instinct”.
Bardet’s second career Tour stage win came by 23 seconds from Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez and his fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of Movistar, with Quintana a further three seconds back.
But the ideal scenario changed dramatically when the weather turned wet. But the Frenchman slid off the road on the descent and heavily hit the tarmac.
“Tomorrow is going to be hard, it’s going to be really hard and I’m sure that I’m going to be a bit stiff after today”, he said. “Hopefully I can rely on my team-mates for one last push to get through tomorrow’s stage”.
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The Tour concludes Sunday in Paris with a mostly ceremonial stage and a finish line on the Champs-Elysees.
