Meanwhile, Peter Sagan has acquired 405 points in the Tour de’ France classification post-Stage 16, with 291 points for British lad Mark Cavendish of Dimension Data, according to BBC reports. Although the stage win will be up for grabs on the Sunday in Paris, the overall victor of the Tour and the yellow jersey will be decided by the end of Saturdays stage in Morzine. But what memories he has created.
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Cav’s four wins at this year’s race extended his Tour de France stage win record to 30, taking him to second on the all-time Tour Stage Wins record.
It left the stage open to a bunch sprint at the end, but with an uphill, cobblestone finish, those with raw power were still left facing a hard challenge to contend at the head of the race.
Of Quintana, two-time champion Froome stated that “last year he made up a lot of time in the final week, and I expect he’s going to be one of the main guys putting us under pressure these next few days”.
Asked what has stood out so far from this Tour from the others Sky have won with Froome, Braislford said: “We [have] raced more aggressively”.
“Phenomenal rider”, Froome said of the long-haired rider with the Tinkoff team.
There are just five stages remaining after a rest day on Tuesday, with Froome seemingly on course for a third Tour title. “I’m looking forward to getting back into the mountains now”.
After Monday’s stage, Froome still leads by one minute 47 seconds over Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and two minutes 45 seconds over compatriot Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange).
But he struggled in the mountain stages. “(Froome) looks strong. I can’t see him having a bad day, but why not?
“I think everyone’s glad there is rest day tomorrow, that was tough out there”.
There are those who feel that Froome has no real rivals in this Tour because of the lack of attacks from the likes of Quintana, but the race leader has described that as “rubbish”.
There was a minute of silence at the start of the stage to pay tribute to the 84 victims of the truck attack in Nice. During post-Stage 16 Tour de’ France interviews, Sagan had stated that his most recent win was an indication that “destiny was turning his way”, as shown during the young racer’s lunge for the finish line.
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Etixx-QuickStep pair Julian Alaphilippe and Tony Martin had animated the day with a breakaway which lasted for 170km and saw them pull nearly six minutes clear at one point.
