AFP/Paris
Chris Froome escaped to a summit solo victory in the Criterium du Dauphine yesterday but Tejay Van Garderen goes into the last stage wearing yellow after clinging to the Sky man’s tail.
The 2013 Tour de France winner Froome, 30, left Van Garderen with a kilometre of the fifth category 1 climb remaining, with a series of well-timed accelerations that saw him beat the American by 17 seconds.
Froome was in seventh place at the start of the stage, 1min 21sec behind leader Vincenzo Nibali of Italy. However, Nibali was nowhere on stage seven, cracking on the climbs and finishing almost four minutes back in 24th place, and dropped out of the top ten entirely.
Froome now has a chance of winning the race as it concludes on Sunday, and he was delighted with his performance after the race. “I really couldn’t be happier because the guys (his teammates) really emptied themselves there,” he saide after the stage.
“The guys rode fantastically today so I can’t thank them enough. Tejay’s ridden a really good race, so definitely I’ve got a bit to make up on him still...but I guess the race isn’t over till it’s over. I think today is a really good show of where I’m at (ahead of the Tour de France). I’m not at my best yet but I’m not far off.”
Van Garderen then goes into today’s last stage with a slender overall lead of 18 seconds over the Sky man and 45 seconds over third placed Benat Intxausti of Movistar. “My tactic was just to mark Froome and when he went, there was no way I could follow him,” admitted Van Garderen after the race. “But I’m very happy with the yellow jersey.” Friday’s stage winner and overnight leader Vincenzo Nibali had a bad day yesterday finishing four minutes adrift of Froome after difficulties on the penultimate hill. Today’s final stage ends with a summit finish at Frejus, an 8.4km climb at a 5.7% gradient that may just see the yellow jersey change hands again.
Chris Froome celebrates winning stage seven
