“It’s a completely different kind of race, and for me a lot of the training I do is based on the final and the finish climb and race in a steady tempo”.
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Britain’s Team Sky rider had humiliated his rivals with a stunning acceleration up to La Pierre Saint Martin a year ago, prompting a heated debate about his power data and the possible use of a hidden motor.
On Thursday, Bastille Day, the Tour will head up the feared Mont Ventoux – scene of a big victory for Froome in 2013. “Those are seconds I hope won’t decide the race”.
Froome was also asked about mechanical doping, amid unprecedented checks for tiny, hidden motors in bikes. I’ve won the queen stage.
During a weekend of great British sporting success, Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish and Adam Yates played their part at cycling’s premier event. “I am going to have to fight for every second”. “I’m going to do whatever I can to try and win the race”.
The 23-year-old Yates is second in the overall standings, 16 seconds back and in the white jersey as the best young rider.
His main rival, two-time runner-up Nairo Quintana of Colombia, is fourth, only 23 seconds back. But that never came. Chris Froome was fined by the UCI race jury for pushing away an over-enthusiastic fan on Saturday.
“I wouldn’t quite say easy”. “He was risky at that moment”. It was the second spectator contact incident in consecutive days.
The UCI, cycling’s govering body, responded by checking hundreds of bikes at the Tour with thermal imaging equipment. But about 5km from the top of the Hors Categorie summit finish, Sky’s Sergio Henao attacked. “It’s one less thing for us to worry about, but it’s maybe a shame for the race”.
“I couldn’t continue”, he said.
“I’ve got more maturity”.
“I don’t think that if he drops off a little bit that he should sit up and go for stage wins”.
Considering that two high mountain stages in the Pyrenees have been completed among the nine stages so far, the top order of the general classification is unexpectedly close.
He leads the points classification but expects to be replaced by Slovak Peter Sagan, who has finished with the green jersey in the last four Tours.
Ventoux was also the site of an epic contest between Lance Armstrong and Marco Pantani in 2000, and where British rider Tom Simpson died in 1967 after he used a lethal cocktail of amphetamines and alcohol. Sky rode as expected throughout much of the stage, controlling the race at the front, setting a stiff pace on the climbs, and keeping Froome out of trouble. Add a return to track training, with the structure that brings, plus that indefinable factor for any sprinter: the release of stress after a major win which means that regained confidence leads to more victories.
“To win up there again would be unreal. The whole day, queen stage, it was really hard, and I did it”.
Contador crashed in each of the opening stages – damaging his right shoulder, elbow and hip – and had already lost time on the other overall favorites.
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“The Tour is long”, he said.
