Froome Extends Tour Lead - but Then Docked 20 seconds - after Home Favourite Riblon Conquers Brutal Double Climb
Froome stands on brink of yellow heaven after extending lead after Alpe d'Huez battle despite 20-second penalty for illegal feed
Daily Mail UK, 18 July 2013
On another dramatic day at the Tour de France, Chris Froome held on to the yellow jersey as a Frenchman, Christophe Riblon, won the home country’s first stage at the summit of Alpe d’Huez.
It was Froome’s most difficult day. On the second ascent of the mountain his shoulders began to rock, his head dropped, and he lost the wheel of Nairo Quintana, the little Colombian climber.
When he British favourite then stuck his hand up it seemed he had a mechanical problem. But the issue was not with his bike: it was his body. He had hit the wall, running out of fuel just 5km from the end, where riders are no longer permitted to be fed by their team cars.
On top, just: Chris Froome kept hold of his yellow jersey after stage 18, despite his hardest day of the Tour
Froome’s Sky team-mate Richie Porte, who was immense in helping his leader throughout, came up with a novel solution. He dropped back to the car, collected some sachets of energy gel, then re-joined his leading man to hand them over. The thinking was that the Kiwi rather than Froome would receive the 20-second time penalty, but the race jury thought otherwise, and docked the Brit the time.
It was not quite enough to revive Froome, who could only watch as Quintana took off up the mountain. He claimed just over a minute to move up to third overall, while Alberto Contador, who endured a tricky day after attacking as promised on the descent of the Col de Sarenne, came in later, but holds on to second overall.
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At the end of all that, Froome has actually extended his overall lead, to five minutes, 11 seconds over Contador. But with two more days in the Alps it is Quintana who now looks the danger man.
The battle for the stage, meanwhile, was just as thrilling. Riblon, a 32-year-old with a previous mountain stage win in 2010, was a survivor from an early break, along with the American Tejay van Garderen, who broke away before the final climb of the Alpe and seemed to be heading for the win.
Top man: Christophe Riblon delivered the first win for a Frenchman of this year's race
Thanks pal: Richie Porte was immense in leading his team-mate up to the top of the brutal climbs
Then, slowly, van Garderen began to struggle. And Riblon began to close. Once he had him in his sights, and van Garderen began to glance around with more urgency, there could be only one outcome.
When he caught him, with 2km left, he sprinted straight past him to score a famous victory, for the second successive French victory on this iconic stage after Pierre Rolland’s win in 2011.