photo credits @ Le Tour
Race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) stormed to victory in stage 18 of the Tour de France today, after winning the 17 kilometer mountain time trial from Sallanches to Megève.
The British rider set a scorching time of 30:43, beating Tom Dumoulin’s (Giant-Alpecin) earlier benchmark by 21 seconds.
Meanwhile, Fabio Aru (Astana) rounded out the podium, after clocking the third fastest time which was 33 seconds down on Froome.
As a result of today’s victory, Froome increased his lead even further in the overall classification by 3:52 ahead of Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), and 4:17 ahead of Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange).
Race Highlights
Race hopeful Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lost even more time during today’s uphill time trail, conceding more than a minute more to Froome.
However, the Colombian rider did manage to gain time on Mollema and Yates, moving him closer toward a possible position on the final podium.
Additionally, Aru moved up into seventh place in the GC, as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) dropped down a notch, while Daniel Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) fell to 10th spot – swapping positions with Louis Meintjes (Lampre-Merida) who is now in 9th.
Unlike some of his rivals, Froome elected to use a full time trial bike with disc wheel on the back.
Others like Ritchie Porte (BMC Racing) however, elected to use a road bike with clip-on bars.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:30:43 2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:21 3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:33 4 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:42 6 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:02 7 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:03 8 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:01:05 9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre – Merida 0:01:08 10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:10 11 Jerome Coppel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:01:15 12 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:18 13 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff Team 0:01:20 14 Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling 0:01:22 15 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:23 16 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 17 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:25 18 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:01:28 19 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:38 20 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:44
General classification after stage 18
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 77:55:53 2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:52 3 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 0:04:16 4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:04:37 5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:57 6 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:05:00 7 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:06:08 8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:37 9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre – Merida 0:07:15 10 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:07:18 11 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:08:11 12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff Team 0:08:23 13 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ 0:12:40 14 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:17:30 15 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:22:24 16 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac 0:22:51 17 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:27:54 18 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:30:23 19 Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling 0:32:37 20 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:35:54
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