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Chris Froome wins again to show Tour form in Dauphiné Chris Froome wins again to show Tour form in Dauphiné
(35 minutes later)
Chris Froome showed he is in dominant form for the Tour de France, beating his main rival Alberto Contador to win the second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné on Monday. A second stage win in the first two days of racing at the Dauphiné Libéré confirmed that Chris Froome is building to impeccable form for the defence of his Tour de France title, while the sight of the Briton and the Spaniard Alberto Contador doing battle at the top of the Col du Beal, the first summit finish of the race, indicated that, as many expect, the 2014 Tour may come down to a duel between the pair.
The Team Sky rider accelerated near the line and managed to hold off the two-times Tour de France champion on the 98.5-mile hilly stage from Tarare to Col du Beal. “It was really tough between the two of us,” said Froome, who extended his overall lead to 12 seconds thanks to a time bonus for the stage win. “I tried to attack [Contador] a couple of times but he was very strong. Everyone here is almost at the same level as at the Tour de France. Today it was our first duel with the two of us in form, so I’m delighted to win.”
“I gave everything,” Froome said. “In such a climb, it became a great battle with Alberto Contador. We rode flat out. It was really tough between the two of us. I’ve tried to attack him a couple of times but he was very strong. While Contador and Froome looked on near-equal terms, with the double Tour winner finishing on Froome’s heels at the summit, the third key contender for the Tour, Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali, finished 27 seconds back, not catastrophic but a little off the pace as he had been in Sunday’s time trial stage in Lyon. Nibali’s trainer has said recently that he is yet to hit his best form, but the same is probably true of Contador and Froome.
“Everyone here is almost at the same level as at the Tour de France. Today it was our first duel with the two of us in form. I’m delighted to win in these circumstances.” Close behind the Spaniard and the Kenyan-born Briton came a bevy of young riders who could well threaten both in years to come at the Tour. Wilco Kelderman of the Netherlands continues to show form after finishing seventh at the Giro d’Italia, and took third, with Andrew Talansky of the United States finishing fifth, and Great Britain’s Adam Yates, 21, coming through a major test with flying colours in eighth, enough to move him to ninth overall.
It was Froome’s second successive victory in the eight-stage race, after winning the opening time trial. He has a 12-second advantage over Contador and is 21 seconds ahead of Wilco Kelderman, who was third on the stage. The Team Sky selection battle for the Tour remains centre stage, and there are still questions surrounding the form of the man Froome has said he wants as his No2, Richie Porte. The Australian finished well down after being excused from doing his pacemaking stint on the final climb. Instead, it was Geraint Thomas and Mikel Nieve who did the bulk of the work in whittling down the lead group before Froome took matters into his own hands with five kilometres remaining.
Froome won the Dauphiné last year and went on to secure the Tour de France title a few weeks later. Stage three from Abert to Le Teil has a more straightforward look about it, although the brace of second-category mountains and the constant climbing and descending through the Haute-Loire and Ardèche mean that it is not a mere sprinters’ stage.