Chris Froome strengthened his grip on the yellow jersey on the Tour de France’s final summit finish atop the Col d’Izoard.
Froome went on the attack inside the final kilometres on the hors categorie climb and finished fourth. Only Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) were able to follow Froome’s attack and the quartet battled hard inside the final kilometre on stage 18.
“I’m pretty happy, the team was fantastic in the final and it’s great having the numbers there to control things and having that card to play with Mikel Landa.
“I tried to give it a little dig behind, I thought I had a gap, but Rigoberto Uran brought it back. Uran and Bardet have both ridden a very good race so far, Romain Bardet taking the bonus seconds today, he can be pretty happy with that.”
But Froome doesn’t plan on resting on his laurels with three days to go: “I think it’s all still to race for in the final time trial to Marseille,” he continued.
“It’s still close, it’s still everything to race for. If everything goes well I would fancy my chances in the time trial against the other guys but anything could happen still. It’s still very close.”
