Froome set to win Tour
July 25, 2015
The Tour de France reached its figurative, if not literal high point on Saturday with a 110.5 kilometer ascent up the Alpe d'Huez. With attacking traditionally forbidden on the Tour's final day, Stage 20 was the final chance for the field to prevent Britain's Christopher Froome from staking his claim to a second Tour triumph.
Froome took a comfortable 2 minute 38 second lead into the stage and said on Friday that he had saved himself for the Tour's final climb. But second-placed Nairo Quintana of Colombia mounted a furious challenge, cutting into Froome's lead over the final kilometers.
"It was the last day to go for it," the Movistar team leader said after the stage. "We got a little time, but it wasn't enough. Being second at the Tour de France isn't half-bad."
Unfortunately for the Colombian, he ran out of road before he could completely eradicate his rival's advantage. His time of 3:17:39 reduced Froome's lead to one minute and 12 seconds, but unless something unprecedented happens, the Kenyan-born Froome will seal his second Tour de France victory in Paris on Sunday. Froome also won cycling's premier event in 2013.
Home fans had reason to cheer as Frenchman Thibaut Pinot was the fastest on the day with a time of 3:17:21 - 18 seconds faster than Quintana.
"There no word to describe it," said Pinot, who crashed in stage 17. "Because of my bad luck, I thought of dropping out, but I always believed."