cycling: Tour de France Stage #18: Froome has no weaknesses

Cycling: Chris Froome (Sky) won the mountain time trial to Megève at the Tour de France. With that he turned the tables compared to the Individual time trial on the 13th stage because this time he was able to push Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) off the lead.

Quintana is completely lacking in form

Tom Dumoulin was allowed to sit in the hot seat at the finish for a very long time. He stayed there until the very end, because he only had to leave when the last starter crossed the finish line. But after that we didn't go directly to the award ceremony, but into the team bus, because Chris Froome was actually able to oust him. The overall leader was trailing after the first split but then closed that gap and took the lead in the final kilometers. The competition for the overall Tour de France victory could only dream of a time for Dumoulin a few minutes earlier. Especially Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) took a hard hit. They lost 1:10 minutes and 1:25 minutes to the day's winner and now have to worry about the podium places. Although Bauke Mollema still keeps his second place overall and also the biggest competitor at the moment Adam Yates (Orica BikeExchange) lost 1:23 minutes, but Richie Porte (BMC) is closing in on the three. The Australian finished fourth and, like Italian Fabio Aru (Astana), lost just 33 seconds. Romain Bardet (Ag2r) also continued to claim his podium claim with just 42 seconds lost. There are now only 68 seconds between the overall second Mollema and the overall sixth Porte. The next two days in the Alps, the fans can expect real fireworks in the fight for the podium places.

Froome dominated the 2016 Tour de France on every terrain

Although it is premature to speak of a Tour de France winner after 18 of 21 stages, there is hardly a cycling expert who doubts Chris Froome's third overall victory. The Brit has proven to be the strongest rider on every terrain over the past few days. Because he not only got his lead in the mountains and in the time trial as usual, but also on the flat with a wind edge and on a descent with a special sitting position. If you add the mountain time trial as a special discipline, he was able to beat all his competitors for overall victory in five different ways. It doesn't matter whether you find Team Sky and Chris Froome particularly likeable - one thing is certain: Chris Froome is the absolutely logical and well-deserved Tour de France winner of 2016. Of course, Sky's dominance is tiring and at times makes for a duller race, but that's hardly Froome's or Sky's fault. He simply hasn't found an opponent this year, as the only opponent in the mountains - Richie Porte - lost around two minutes due to a breakdown at the beginning of the Tour de France. After the departure of Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and the poor form of Nairo Quintana, Chris Froome no longer has to give everything in the Alps. Lucky that Bauke Mollema and Adam Yates (Orica BikeExchange) have been able to surpass themselves so far and so the fight for the podium places at least remains exciting.

Tour de France Stage #18 – The day's result

Tour de France Stage #18 – The General Classification