Two failures if they don't make a collapse come close: Wednesday the Galibier, yesterday the Izoard, the two legendary Alpine hills of the Tour extinguished Fabio Aru's dreams of the yellow jersey and also of the podium. It was a slow, painful, inevitable surrender that of the Sardinian, who no longer had either legs or companions - but this is not a novelty of yesterday - when the road entered the impressive scenario of the Casse Deserte, a piece of lunar landscape donated to cycling to write its most beautiful legends. The first hole three-quarters of the way up was created by Romain Bardet's shot among the big names: an expected move that didn't surprise Froome and Uran but which immediately sent Aru out of speed.
The Italian tried to react but no longer caught up with his three rivals who secured the podium in the last tough km of the Izoard, definitively expelling the leader of Astana in the tricolor jersey. Once Aru was taken out, Bardet and Uran were unable to worry the yellow jersey. Indeed it was Froome, after having sent Landa to reconnoiter, to attack by swinging his legs as only he knows how to do: it could have been the final solution of the Tour making the time trial in Marseille completely useless, but this time Bardet and Uran were good at hanging up the jersey yellow who with Landa was chasing the two leaders: Atapuma – survivor of the breakaway of about fifty runners born before the Cote des Demoiselle Coiffées and skimmed by Vars who was looking for a prestigious success on the day of the Colombian national holiday – and Barguil who was the most quick and alive in chasing him honoring his white jersey with red polka dots as leader of the climbers.
Behind only shots and skirmishes that did not bother Froome who sees the fourth success in the Tour ever closer. They only served to weigh down Aru's gap who, in the absence of teammates – the last to give up was the Kazakh Lutsenko sent to attack on the Vars and then shut down in the middle Izoard without any use for the Italian – he was desperately looking for occasional alliances: with him there was also Quintana who, however, is more of a burden than a help these days. In front of Warren Barguil, he showed off his class of grimpeur by grabbing and leaving Atapuma who consoled himself by preceding, as in a high sprint, Bardet and Froome and Landa who had caught up with him.
For the Frenchman, a triumph that repeats that of Foix and that candidates him to be a protagonist in the race for the yellow jersey in the upcoming Tours. An historic success because the Izoard is the mountain linked to the big names in cycling: first and solitary champions such as Coppi and Merckx passed through it, up here in 1953 he built success in his first Tour Louison by freeing the French from the nightmare of Italian dominance (with Bartali in 1948 3 with Coppi in 1949 and 1952) and the Swiss (Kubler in 1950 and Koblet the following year). Now the French with a Barguil of this size feel closer to the day in which to win the Tour again, which hasn't seen a transalpine in the yellow jersey in Paris since 1985.
And to comfort their hopes there is also Bardet who yesterday burning Froome in the sprint and preceding Uran by 2" earned a 4" bonus, just enough to reduce the gap from the yellow jersey to 23" and ensure second place no longer in cohabitation with Uran now third at 29” from Froome, but who in the time trial could overturn the small result decided by Izoard in favor of Bardet. After all, Froome also considers the Colombian, an excellent time trialist, the last possible obstacle to his fourth yellow triumph. Aru, who finished 13th at 1'22 from Barguil, also preceded by Contador and de Quintana, slipped to fifth place in the standings, also overtaken by Landa.
