Cycling – Tour de France cycling race – The 184-km (114,5 miles) Stage 8 from Pau to Bagneres-de-Luchon, France – 09/07/2016 – Team Sky rider Chris Froome, new yellow jersey leader on the podium after winning the stage.
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Froome will head to Rio next week after taking part in Sunday’s RideLondon event, targeting glory in both the road race and the time trial. These things will never change.
And while he accepts Froome has a more challenging proposition on his hands, he reckons his old Team Sky teammate will win at least one gold medal in Brazil. Widely proclaimed the best climber in the world, he was not even second best to Froome at this Tour.
The 23-year-old Briton Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange took the white jersey as the best young rider in the race – the first Briton to win the category – while Sagan’s team-mate Rafal Majka was confirmed in the king of the mountains’ polka-dot jersey.
“In addition to Chris, Team Sky is also bringing Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard, proven winners in their own right, and with Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) also in the field, it means that four of Team GB’s five road racers for Rio are racing on Sunday”. The way he won the Tour, there’s no question of whether that form’s going to go anywhere over two weeks.
Froome took the yellow jersey with a daring downhill attack in Stage 8, padded his lead with a late breakaway in Stage 11, and overcame a motor bike crash on the legendary Mont Ventoux and a fall on a slippery descent in the Alps with two stages to go. ‘It’s a course that suits me well, ‘ said Froome.
“It definitely gives me confidence going forward into next year – I know I’m one of the strongest riders in the peloton in July”. “I think he can win more [Tours]”.
Now in its fourth year, the Classic race is considered the festival’s flagship event and will see more 150 of the world’s top pro cyclists ride through London and Surrey.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme complimented Froome for showing “panache” after his downhill attack in the Pyrenees, and the fans have treated him better, too.
But Quintana was not at the same level as past year, when he tried to corner Froome during the third week and gained time in the closing stages.
It was also a coming of age for Bardet, who won a stage for the second year in a row and demonstrated impressive progression after finishing sixth in 2014 and ninth last year. “I really felt like a kid again”.
“It’s a strong sign that life goes on”, Froome said, giving credit to organisers for ensuring the race went ahead.
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Those aspects highlighted by the three-time victor are evident in the video above, running through all 21 stages of what has been an enthralling and often dramatic race.
