Alpine pursuit as Froome's rivals try to snatch yellow

La Mure to Serre-Chevalier
Eurosport 1/ITV4, 11.20am Wednesday

The Tour de France has never been so close going into the final five stages, with the first four separated by only 29 seconds, and it’s now or never for Chris Froome’s rivals if they want to wrest the yellow jersey from him as the race enters the Alps for two huge stages on Wednesday and Thursday.

With Froome best suited of the major contenders by Saturday’s time trial in Marseille, chief rivals Fabio Aru, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran may need to take more than a minute out of him in the mountains and that puts the onus on them to attack the leader.

Wednesday’s first Alpine stage is tough and the only pity is that there is no summit finish that might have been more likely to produce a shake-up in the general classification.

There was some change on the leaderboard on Tuesday’s all-action stage 16, with Michael Matthews taking the stage victory as well as the intermediate sprint to put pressure on green jersey Marcel Kittel, while Dan Martin dropped from fifth to seventh on the General Classification at 2min 3sec after being dropped in the crosswinds in the last 15km.

Any gaps on Wednesday’s stage may stem from a sudden weakness among one or two of the top seven rather than a decisive attack. The 183km route goes over four climbs, starting with a category two but then followed by the Croix de la Fer (hors category), Telegraphe (category one) and Galibier (hors category).

The Telegraphe and Galibier come in quick succession and that is one of the key tests of the stage, along with the higher altitude compared to the previous mountain ranges traversed by this year’s Tour. The Galibier tops out at 2,642m, making it the highest point of the race.

From the summit of the Galibier, there is a 28km largely downhill run to the finish that is not as technical as others but will suit ace descender Bardet if he can open a gap on the climb. It is notable that the AG2R leader has come strong in the final week of the last two Tours, winning on stage 18 in 2015 and stage 19 last year (both times in the Alps).

Froome, by contrast, has shown some frailty in the third week of recent Tours, losing a little time not only to Bardet but also to Aru and Martin on last year’s stage won by Bardet. His racing schedule this year may have been altered with that in mind and Sunday’s strong recovery was a good sign for the Team Sky leader’s prospects in the final week.

Aru’s best chance is likely to come on the summit finish of the Col d’Izoard on Thursday, when his lack of teammates will not be such a strong factor. It is difficult to see how he could make an attack on the Galibier stick without assistance on the run to the finish, whereas Bardet could put a teammate up the road in a break to help him if he manages to get away.

Uran is the dark horse but has not yet shown the capability to drop his rivals, whereas Martin and Simon Yates have been more attacking. Yates in particular may have a go near the top of the Galibier if there have been no other moves.

The stage victory, however, may go to a breakaway as a large group seems set to form on the Croix de la Fer with the opportunity to build a big lead before the next climbs.

That was the scenario on a couple of similar stages last year and candidates include the remarkable and tireless mountains leader Warren Barguil, Jarlinson Pantano, Carlos Betancur, Tiesj Benoot, Serge Pauwels, Tony Gallopin, Sylvain Chavanel, Lilian Calmejane, Nicolas Roche, Dani Navarro and Diego Ulissi.

Diego Ulissi finished second on Sunday's stage 15Credit: Getty Images

The pick of them may be Ulissi and Gallopin, who were second and third on Sunday’s stage. They would have been sprinting for the win if Bauke Mollema had not escaped the breakaway group and their ability to sprint as well as climb may have them eyeing this stage.

Matthews took 50 points on Tuesday’s stage to move on to 344 and now just 29 behind Kittel, who was distanced early on by Matthews’ team and did not score. Matthews is now 13-8 for green with Kittel 1-2.

Notable withdrawals on Tuesday were George Bennett, the young New Zealander who had gone so well in his second Tour and was lying 12th overall, and Philippe Gilbert.

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