Chris Froome laid down a Tour de France warning to his rivals as he climbed to victory and claimed the leader’s maillot jaune on the fifth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Thursday.
The Briton timed his attack to perfection at the end of the 139km ride from Gresy-sur-Aix to Valmorel, France, to beat his main Tour rival, Alberto Contador, into second, with Matthew Busche of the US third.
Perhaps even more ominous for Froome’s rivals is that the Kenya-born rider, who was second on the Tour de France last year, claims he is still trying to find his form.
Photo: AFP
“From now until the Tour I hope to improve my form,” he said. “I’m not yet at 100 percent, I’m just where I want to be.”
The Sky Pro Cycling rider took over from Australian Rohan Dennis in the leader’s jersey, with Australian teammate Richie Porte moving into second overall.
Overnight leader Dennis slipped to third as he lost almost a minute in the final 2km.
Photo: AFP
Froome’s victory was agony for Busche, who was the last man standing from a 15-strong breakaway group that went clear within the first 10km.
Busche looked capable of holding on for the win as he passed Belgian Tim Wellens, who had been the first breakaway rider to make a solo bid for home, in the final 5km.
Alejandro Valverde broke out of the peloton to try to chase him down, but made few inroads. Busche’s lead was still hovering at about 20 seconds as he approached the final kilometer, but Contador, hoping to make up for a poor showing in the time trial the previous day, put in a devastating burst.
That blew apart the remnants of the peloton, which by then was only about a dozen strong, but Froome stayed calm on Porte’s wheel and when the Sky leader finally counterattacked, there was no stopping him.
He reeled in Contador, who then tried to latch onto the Briton’s wheel, before kicking again to overhaul Busche inside the final 200m.
Froome finished four seconds ahead of Contador and now leads Porte by 52 seconds.
Contador did look strong on the uphill finish, even though he could not quite match Froome, but the Briton believes it is too simple to assume the Tour will boil down to a straight fight between the pair.
“I can’t say that, I don’t know. In my opinion there will be more than two challengers for victory, I think more like six or seven,” Froome said. “Sky is in a strong position, we have the advantage of having two of those riders [himself and Porte].”
Yesterday’s sixth stage took the riders over 143km from La Lechere to Grenoble, France, before two mountain stages this weekend.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was