Chris Froome: If Pogacar stays on his bike this Tour de France is over
Four-time winner says it'll take 's𝓡omething catastrophi🐻c' to deny Slovenian a second title

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) believes that, unless 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) crashes, the battle for the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France is ov🐽er and the Slovenian will defend the title that he won in 2020.
Pogačar currently leads the race by over five minutes from Rigoberto Urán (EF-Nippo) and has won two stages during the opening two weeks.
He has꧒ looked unbeatable and, but for a slight wobble on the second ascent of Mont Ventoux, has been able to match whate𝓰ver his rivals have thrown at him.
ﷺEven with a full week of raci🐓ng to come, and two massive summit finishes in the Pyrenees, four-time Tour de France winner Froome believes the young UAE Team Emirates rider has the buffer he needs to ride into Paris this Sunday wearing yellow.
"If Pogačar can stay on the bike then it’s over," Froome said at the start of stage 16 on Tuesday.
"He’s showed such class and maturity in 𝓰the position that he’s in. With a time trial coming, he’s got this in the bag unless something catastrophic happens to him."
When asked if there was potential for Pogačar’s rivals to gang up and mount a huge offensive early in one of the mountain stages in a bid to try and isolate the yellow jersey, Froome quickly dismissed the scenario.
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"No, no, he can follow. He’s more than capable ofꦦ following," he said.
Froome comes into stage 16 in 131st place overall, and al🐼most three hours off the race lead.✤ He crashed in the opening stage and lost considerable time, as well as sustaining minor injuries.
His focus on the race as been to act as Israel Start-Up Nation’s road captain and to support Michael Woods and Dan Martin as the pair hun🅠t stage wins. The Can💖adian is also in the running for the king of the mountains competition.
Froome’s efforts have also been to focus on his own recovery🉐 – both from the career-threat🐓ening crash he sustained in the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné but also the one he was part of in the opening week of this year’s Tour.
"I’m doing ༺well and I’m surviving. I’ve been soaking up the race and enjoying the atmosphere, and hopefully counting down the days until getting to Paris," he said.
"I certainly feel like I’m coming ar♑ound after that accident at the beginning of the race. That took a big knock out of me and it took quite a whi🅺le for me to gather myself but as the days go on I’ve started to feel better.
"Certainly in the bunch, when it comes to the accelerations, I’m feeling that they’re not quite as difficult as they were a couple of weeks ago﷽ when I started off in Brest. I’m quite enjoying being here."
Froome was also asked if he could be part of a breakaway in the mཧountains during the final week of the Tour.
"Potentially, potentially. I think that the biggest focus for us, Israel Start-Up Nation, is to get Mike Woods in the breakaways and looking for the king of the mountains points, and the hunt for a stage win, but certainly i🍸f the chance is there and I can try and sneak into a break to try and help them out, then I’ll definitely do that."
Daniel Benson was t💖he Editor in Chief at gxiaowu.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based ⛄Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.