Costa wins for Movistar as Froome and Contador battle it out on the mountains.
Tuesday's 16th stage of the Tour de France was harder than many riders expected with the stage winner Costa, crossing the line twelve minutes ahead of Chris Froome and the yellow jersey group.
Team Movistar rider, Rui Alberto Costa, broke away from the group with just under 20km to go and to everyone's surprise the Portuguese rider made it all the way to the line with out being caught by the chasing group who finished 42 seconds behind. This brilliant stage win for Costa was also an immense boost for a well deserved Movistar team. Movistar suffered greatly when both Valverde, who was second in the General Classification behind Sky's Chris Froome, and Costa lost 10 minutes during one stage of the race. This hurt not only Valverde and Costa but also the team who were second in the overall team standings. However, this loss would have most definitely given Costa that extra drive today to win the race after tasting the bitterness of failure only a few days ago.
With the stage winner having been confirmed it was time to focus on the yellow jersey group who were battling hard when both ascending and descending. Team Saxo-Tinkoff were impressively using relay tactics in an attempt to break the seemingly unbreakable yellow jersey holder. With Richie Port by his side, there was no way that Froome was going to be left behind. With Geraint Thomas and fellow team Sky riders helping the GC leader throughout the middle of the race it was left to an incredibly driven Port to bring Froome home.
Catagory two climbs allow for hard and powerful attacks due to their relative shortness in comparison to the monster mountains of the Pyrenees and the Alps which they will have to face tomorrow. Contador who sits in third place most definitely took advantage of this and attempted numerous times to break away from Froome to gain some time on the leader and second place Mollema.
It seems that Froome's biking talents are endless as he is not only a stage winning climber, but also an impressive descender. The group raced down the mountain at speeds of around 90km - incredibly dangerous speeds. Despite the risks of decending at such speed Contador was determined to gain time throughout this 16th stage and the Saxo-Tinkoff rider continued to push himself further down the mountain. Having managed to kick-out around a few corners the Spanish rider eventually went a bit too far and hit the deck while momenterally pushing Froome in to the grass and forcing him to reclip and restraighten himself on the bike.
It was evident that Froome was not impressed with Contador and in a post race interview he declared that the move was "a bit careless of Contador" and explained that the reason for these descending attacks by the third placed rider was out of desperation to attempt to "get closer to me [Froome] and to distance himself from Kreuziger."
With Port leading the way Froome and Contador managed to catch their group and after, in the words of Sky rider Richie Port, a kitchen sink was thrown at the team, Froome managed to cross the line the same time as Contador and the group which allowed the British rider to keep his very comfortable time difference of 4 minutes and 14 seconds in the GC.
Despite this very comfortable overall lead it was evident today that Froome understands that his lead is not secure and that one slip could cost him the prestigious yellow jersey as the leader was determined today not to lose even a single second to his rivals. Today was also a day that momentarily muted the criticisms that have been thrown at team Sky for not being strong enough to support the potential Tour winner as the whole team and especially Port protected and supported Froome to the very end.
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places remain the same in the GC after the race but, the loser of the day, ten Dam moves down from 5th to 6th as Movistar rider Quintana moves up to 5th. Joaquim Rodriguez who made the split leapfrogs Jakob Fuglsang, who did not make the split, in to 7th place as the Astana rider moves down to 8th place 7 minutes and 22 seconds behind the leader.
If today was a challenge, tomorrow will be even harder as the race moves on in to the 32km individual time trial that includes two category two climbs.
Team Movistar rider, Rui Alberto Costa, broke away from the group with just under 20km to go and to everyone's surprise the Portuguese rider made it all the way to the line with out being caught by the chasing group who finished 42 seconds behind. This brilliant stage win for Costa was also an immense boost for a well deserved Movistar team. Movistar suffered greatly when both Valverde, who was second in the General Classification behind Sky's Chris Froome, and Costa lost 10 minutes during one stage of the race. This hurt not only Valverde and Costa but also the team who were second in the overall team standings. However, this loss would have most definitely given Costa that extra drive today to win the race after tasting the bitterness of failure only a few days ago.
With the stage winner having been confirmed it was time to focus on the yellow jersey group who were battling hard when both ascending and descending. Team Saxo-Tinkoff were impressively using relay tactics in an attempt to break the seemingly unbreakable yellow jersey holder. With Richie Port by his side, there was no way that Froome was going to be left behind. With Geraint Thomas and fellow team Sky riders helping the GC leader throughout the middle of the race it was left to an incredibly driven Port to bring Froome home.
Catagory two climbs allow for hard and powerful attacks due to their relative shortness in comparison to the monster mountains of the Pyrenees and the Alps which they will have to face tomorrow. Contador who sits in third place most definitely took advantage of this and attempted numerous times to break away from Froome to gain some time on the leader and second place Mollema.
It seems that Froome's biking talents are endless as he is not only a stage winning climber, but also an impressive descender. The group raced down the mountain at speeds of around 90km - incredibly dangerous speeds. Despite the risks of decending at such speed Contador was determined to gain time throughout this 16th stage and the Saxo-Tinkoff rider continued to push himself further down the mountain. Having managed to kick-out around a few corners the Spanish rider eventually went a bit too far and hit the deck while momenterally pushing Froome in to the grass and forcing him to reclip and restraighten himself on the bike.
It was evident that Froome was not impressed with Contador and in a post race interview he declared that the move was "a bit careless of Contador" and explained that the reason for these descending attacks by the third placed rider was out of desperation to attempt to "get closer to me [Froome] and to distance himself from Kreuziger."
With Port leading the way Froome and Contador managed to catch their group and after, in the words of Sky rider Richie Port, a kitchen sink was thrown at the team, Froome managed to cross the line the same time as Contador and the group which allowed the British rider to keep his very comfortable time difference of 4 minutes and 14 seconds in the GC.
Despite this very comfortable overall lead it was evident today that Froome understands that his lead is not secure and that one slip could cost him the prestigious yellow jersey as the leader was determined today not to lose even a single second to his rivals. Today was also a day that momentarily muted the criticisms that have been thrown at team Sky for not being strong enough to support the potential Tour winner as the whole team and especially Port protected and supported Froome to the very end.
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places remain the same in the GC after the race but, the loser of the day, ten Dam moves down from 5th to 6th as Movistar rider Quintana moves up to 5th. Joaquim Rodriguez who made the split leapfrogs Jakob Fuglsang, who did not make the split, in to 7th place as the Astana rider moves down to 8th place 7 minutes and 22 seconds behind the leader.
If today was a challenge, tomorrow will be even harder as the race moves on in to the 32km individual time trial that includes two category two climbs.
The Top 10 on General Classification
1. Chris Froome (Sky) 65hr 15min 36sec
2. Bauke Mollema (Belkin) +4min 14sec
3. Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) +4min 25sec
4. Roman Kreuziger (Saxo-Tinkoff) +4min 28sec
5. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +5min 47sec
6. Laurens ten Dam (Belkin) +5min 54sec
7. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) +7min 11sec
8. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) +7min 22sec
9. Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) +8min 47sec
10. Daniel Martin (Garmin) +9min 28sec
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