Chris Froome Zooms To Take Stage 18 Of The Tour De France

British professional cyclist with Team Sky, Christopher Froome, has donned the yellow jersey the last ten stages of the Tour de France and is only three stages away from winning his third Tour de France title.

Froome won the stage 18 time trial 21 seconds ahead of Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, completing the 17 kilometer course in 30 minutes and 43 seconds. Froome now leads the 2016 Tour by three minutes and 53 seconds. Team Trek Dutch cyclist Bauke Mollema is in second place overall and team Orica British cyclist Adam Yates is in third place overall. Making up nearly four minutes of time is going to be difficult with three stages left.

Stage 18 started in Sallanches and included a gradual incline of nearly 700 meters over 11 kilometers before descending into Megeve.

Froome was 23 seconds behind Dumoulin at the 6.5 kilometer mark but closed the gap to 10 seconds at 10 kilometers. At the time check at 13.5 kilometers the lead had changed and Froome was 13 seconds ahead of Dumoulin. Froome proceeded to gather another eight seconds on his decent.

Froome won the Tour in 2013 and 2015 and if he wins 2016 he will be the first since Spain’s Miguel Indurain to win successive titles. Indurain won five Tours from 1991 to 1995.

At the start of stage 18, Mollema was 2 minutes and 27 seconds behind Froome. At the end of the stage he was one minute and 15 seconds behind him. Yates started 26 seconds behind Mollema and by the first 6.5 kilometers had caught up to him, but according to BBC after the 700 meter climb his legs were fatigued.

Columbian cyclist for Movistar Team Nairo Quintana holds fourth place overall. He was an anticipated contender for the Tour title but struggled in the mountains in stage 18 and lost another 70 seconds in the time trial and is four minutes and 37 seconds behind Froome.

Stage 19 marks the start of two days in the Alps. The 146 kilometers route will start in Albertville and end in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc.

Article by Lindsey Horsting