CEBU, Philippines - Once again, SKY’s dominance showed. Now, they’re 1-2 in the overall classification, with Chris Froome just over two minutes over his leader and Tour leader Bradley Wiggins.
While there are still over a week and lots of racing to go, the pattern has been set. The way SKY is controlling the race is simply boring and awesome at the same time. It is also clear now that Froome, if given a free pass, can drop Wiggins in the mountains if he wants to. In fact, he is the only rival left for Wiggins to contend with.
While we all want to know what’s in the mind of Froome, he is correctly toeing the company line. In the last 5km, he set a very past paced that he dropped Wiggins and had to be told over the radio to wait. When asked about his golden chance of wearing yellow at the end of stage 11, this is what he said: “I think Bradley’s in a better position to win the Tour this year than I am to be honest,” he said. “I follow orders at all costs. I’m part of a team and I have to do what the team ask me to do. He’s just as strong as me I think and he’s stronger than me in the time trial and we’ve still got a 50km time trial coming.”
The same thing happened last year at the VueltaaEspana where Froome helped his leader, Wiggins. In the end, Wiggins cracked and it was too late for Froome as he lost the race by 13sec! But Wiggin’s is the anointed one. He has been the main man for SKY when the team was formed 3 years ago. Huge investments has been made on Wiggins, a multi-medalled Olympian.
When Froome was asked of he would regret ending his career without a Grand Tour win, he chose his words carefully: “That’s a thing I’m going to have to see in five or six years time,” he said. “I’m happy with the work I’m doing here and I think I’m doing a really good job.”
It’s their race but France has yet to find a winner when Bernard Hinault won his last Tour back in 1985. Yes, France has won the last 3 stages in this years but it’s mere crumbs from the King’s banquet. EUROPCAR’s Pierre Rolland won the stage but he has to aim higher than stage win or the polka dot jersey. He also lost his cool when he elbowed ASTANA’s Robert Kiserlovski who passed him at the summit for KoM points.
Rolland is the French’s rising star and even though he has won two prestigious mountain stages in the past two Tours, it’s not enough. The Tour maybe their “house” but somebody else is comfortably living there. (FREEMAN)