Froome reaches end of the road

SAINT-LARY-SOULAN, France — Tour de France king Chris Froome virtually ended his bid for a record-tying fifth victory on Wednesday, giving his full backing to Sky teammate and race leader Geraint Thomas.

Froome, 32, had been hoping to join an elite club of five-time winners and become the first cyclist since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same calendar year.

But Froome’s bid to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain on the five-time winners list may have to wait another year.

Starting the 17th stage with a deficit of one minute and 39 seconds to Thomas, the Kenyan-born British showed rare glimpses of weakness on his way to finishing nearly a minute behind his Welsh teammate at the final mountaintop finish of the race at Saint-Lary-Soulan won by Colombian rival Nairo Quintana of Movistar.

Froome dropped to third overall and now trails Dutchman Tom Dumoulin of Sunweb by 32 seconds and Thomas by 2:31, ahead of a final mountain stage on Friday, which finishes downhill, and the penultimate stage time trial on Saturday.

“It was a very intense day, but I’ve got no regrets,” said Froome at the finish after struggling to keep pace with Thomas when Slovenian Primoz Roglic launched one of several attacks in the closing kilometers.

“’G’ (Geraint) has ridden such an amazing race and he deserves to be in yellow — and, fingers crossed — he holds it now until Paris.”

Froome had also been bidding to claim his fourth Grand Tour win in succession after adding the 2017 Tour of Spain and this year’s Giro d’Italia to a collection that has often been boosted by the help of Thomas.

“I’ve won the last three Grand Tours I’ve done now, so it’s certainly been a tough build-up for me. But I’m still going to try and fight for the podium and try and obviously keep ‘G’ up there in yellow.”

Thomas, who won back-to-back stages in the Alps to underline his yellow jersey credentials — and crucially give himself a 1:39 advantage over team leader Froome — is now assured of Froome’s support over the coming stages.

“He looks really strong so I imagine he’ll be able to finish it off,” said Froome. “We’ve just got to try and look after him now, these next few days.”

“We’ve got a lead of two minutes,” said Team Sky chief Dave Brailsford.

“The probability of us winning this race lies more with Geraint now I think, but it doesn’t mean it’s all over.

“At this moment in time, we’ll look towards the next mountain stage, try and retain the jersey then it will all come down to the time trial.”

Brailsford, though, was quick to credit Froome for his support of Thomas throughout.

“If ‘G’ goes on to win the race, he’ll be a legend,” added Brailsford.

“But if Froomey helps him, the way he sacrificed today, he’ll be a titan. One of the all-time greats, without even winning the race.”

The 18th stage on Thursday is a mainly flat ride from Trie-sur-Baise to Pau that should favor the few real sprinters still in the race.

On Friday, Thomas and Froome will be praying they successfully negotiate a 19th stage featuring six categorized climbs. It starts in Lourdes and finishes in Laruns.

Asked what advice he could give Thomas, Froome laughed: “I don’t think he needs any. I think he’s doing just fine.”

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