Froome trashes 'Tour over' talk

Relentless leader says he's ignoring headline hype

Chris Froome on Monday dismissed suggestions he has the Tour de France wrapped up, pointing to four tough stages in the Alps still to come.

French sports newspaper l'Equipe ran a headline saying "Sans rival" - "Without rivals" - at the end of the first two weeks of the Tour, with Froome leading Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands by 1min 47sec overall.

The 31-year-old Kenyan-born Englishman has been relentless during the race, launching a daring solo attack on a fast descent to win stage eight. He then broke away alongside world champion Peter Sagan on a flat 11th stage with crosswinds to snare more time from his rivals.

Froome took time out of all but two of the top climbers - Mollema and Australian Richie Porte - on the uphill finish on Mont Ventoux and then crushed the other contenders on Friday's time trial.

But the Sky team leader said it is far too early to start crowning him with a third Tour victory.

"I don't agree," he said when asked about the l'Equipe headline.

"Other teams have said they're going to attack this week in the Alps, I expect they will do.

"To say I've won and I don't have any rivals, that's rubbish. I ignore it. A lot can happen in four days in the mountains. You only need one bad day and you can lose a few minutes."

The possibility of cracking and losing time will be high over the next four stages.

Wednesday's 17th stage finishes with 23 km of climbing over the final 30 km. On Thursday there's a 17 km uphill time trial, while Friday and Saturday both have four categorized climbs.

Before the Tour began, Froome and several rivals all identified those four days as the key to the whole race.

Reserved

He said it was with that in mind that he is remaining understated.

"I am more reserved because this next block is four very tricky days," Froome said. "Each day is different and has it's own challenges. Obviously the time trial is important.

"Each day is extremely challenging - it's definitely a four-day block as opposed to picking one day to go harder than the other ones."

He said Wednesday's stage looks particularly arduous, with the 13 km first category climb followed by a 10 km hors category one at the finish, and only 7 km of downhill respite between the two.

"That's an extremely tough stage in itself. It's an uphill finish - we've only had one real uphill finish and that was Mount Ventoux," Froome said.

"Everybody knows the story of (what happened) on Ventoux already; it will be interesting to see what happens on Wednesday."

While Froome will be on the defensive, BMC Racing pair Porte and Tejay van Garderen will be going on the attack. They're seventh and eighth respectively at 4:27 and 4:47 behind Froome, and a top three finish is their aim.

Briton Adam Yates currently holds that and is 1:42 ahead of Porte.

"I'm in good condition and it is a hard four-day block coming up after the rest day," said Tasmanian Porte, 31.

"I think I've got everything to play for now, I'm not too far off the podium. It's a big goal, so bring it on."

Van Garderen, 28, suggested the two could work together to improve the chances of one making the podium.

"As of now I'm not really going to put a number on where I hope to finish, but we've got to be happy with our best," said the American.

"We have to see how things play out, because there are a number of different tactics."

(China Daily 07/20/2016 page23)