Briton Chris Froome stunned his passive rivals to snatch the overall leader’s yellow jersey in the Tour de France when he won the eighth stage with a lightning attack on the final descent on Saturday.
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Then, two seconds back, were three more riders who had been with Froome, Yates and Quintana up until the last 50 metres of the stage: Australian Richie Porte (BMC) in13th, Ireland’s Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) in 14th, and Spaniard Jesus Herrada (Movistar).
Portugal’s Rui Costa was second at 38 seconds with Rafal Majka of Poland third at the end of the 184.5km Pyrenean stage that started in Spain, where temperatures reached 41 Celsius before the weather changed abruptly into driving rain and hail in Andorra.
Contador, who had crashed on the two opening stages and had a fever in the morning, called it quits 104km from the finish line after trying his luck one last time with a vintage early move.
Contador and Valverde launched an old school attack early on, pulling away from the pack and catching a big group of breakaway riders on the climb to the Port de la Bonaigua. Monday marks the first rest day of the Tour this year.
The Spaniard had actually attacked on the first categorised climb of the day, the Port de la Bonaigua, but once he had been caught he was soon in discussions with his team vehicle before eventually climbing in.
Seen as the main threat to Froome’s ambition to secure a third Tour win, Nairo Quintana has been fairly discreet.
He signed his first professional cycling contract with Team Saxo-Bank in 2010 and joined Team Sky in 2012, after which he was a key member of the team that assisted Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in winning the 2012, 2013 and 2015 Tours de France.
“I’m confident the guys will be able to ride in that defensive way to help me”. Then there is one more stage in the Pyrenees on Tuesday, a 197-kilometer (122-mile) leg from Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra, to Revel, France. “Those are seconds I hope won’t decide the race”.
“When I got to the top last time I had to get on oxygen support, I was so exhausted”, Froome said.
“I would be interested to find out from him (why he didn’t attack)”, said Froome, 31. “All the way up to the last kilometre and into the last kilometre, I thought, “He hasn’t attacked yet, maybe he’s saving it for one big move” but that never came”.
Team owner Oleg Tinkoff confirmed after the stage that Contador will now target the Vuelta, although the rider himself was less committal.
“On previous occasions, I’d lost much more [time] with less opportunities”, Quintana said.
“Tactically, [being in yellow] puts the shoe on the other foot”, Froome said. It’s special. I’ve showed that I’m not only a time trial specialist, I can do more.
Froome’s team manager said yesterday it would be “stupid” to try to use a motorised bike in the Tour de France and the reigning champion and race leader is being tested more than anyone else.
“No other team has made any attempt to control the race”.
“It could become tactical and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some riders not going all in”, Martin said. “It’s great to still be in yellow after a tough two days like that”.
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After numerous discussions with his team auto, Contador eventually got off his bike with 100 kilometres to race, a decision that came as a shock to the current leader.
