Even if at the end of the three Pyrenean stages the classification of the Tour is guided Chris Froome remains short with a dozen runners collected in just over a minute, for the bookmakers there is only Nairo Quintana which can undermine the third success of the "white Kenyan".
Just read the odds that see Froome given at 1,75 and the Colombian grimpeur at 2,25. There is emptiness behind it: third at 25 there is Richie porte and Fabio Arau, after the opaque performance in Andorra-Arcalis, it slipped to 33. They follow Romain Bardet e joaquin rodriguez, both at 50. At 100 Valverde is given equal to Yachts, Mollema e Van Gardenen.
All we have to do is wait for July 14, when the arrival on Mont Ventoux is scheduled, the bald mountain that always issues important sentences, to see if the bookmakers have got it right or those who, perhaps deluding themselves, speak of new scenarios convinced that Froome this he year is less Martian than before.
That is, from 2013 and 2015 when the leader of Team Sky had killed the Tour prematurely by imposing himself at the first opportunity, respectively at Ax-3 Domaines and at La Pierre Saint-Martin. This year he conquered the yellow jersey by attacking not uphill but downhill immediately after the Peyresourde brow: an action that was more spectacular than profitable given the handful of seconds – 13 to be exact – which earned him.
The Tour always exalts its master but he would like to find out in the last few days in the Alps. Already out of the race Alberto Contador, with Nibali lost in mid-table, only Quintana remains capable of undermining Froome's primacy. Until now, the Colombian Condor has contented itself with remaining at the wheel of its rival, a sort of impenetrable sphinx, without ever experiencing a sharp note.
Quintana seems to be waiting for the Alps again this year, trusting in the tremendous triptych scheduled for the last week when fatigue will make a natural selection of the forces in the field. In 2015 Froome also suffered a slight decline in the Alps but Quintana attacked him too late to hurt him.
Beyond the Colombian one really needs to have faith to imagine others who can break the bank even if Aru at the debut and the British Adam Yates in his second Tour they deserve to be followed closely. Doors e Van Gardenen so far they have run well but in the past they have always had a failure that has put them out of contention.
Valverde e Rodriguez they are safe second hand, old champions always capable of a feat but it is not clear where they can screw up the domination plans of Froome and Team Sky. As for the French, they are right to focus on Bardet, the only one of them still in the chart after the flop of Pinot need Alaphilippe, but also this year they will have to resign themselves to lengthen their fast which has lasted since 1985, the last of the five victories of Bernard Hinault.
Meanwhile, today, after the first day of rest, the Tour restarts by indulging in a stage for finisseur a la Sagan or Alaphilippe, which includes the initial climb to the 2.408 meters of theEnvalira, the pass that connects Andorra with France. Then lots of downhill and flat before the Cote de Saint-Ferréol (1,8km at 6,6% gradient) less than 10km from the finish in Revel.
