Froome in yellow, Contador at 1'03", Quintana at 1'59", Nibali at 2'22": at the foot of the Pyrenees who will face each other on Tuesday after the rest day, the response of the first nine stages of the Tour, those – let's say - without mountains but so feared for the wind and the cobblestones, if he speaks in favor of Chris Froome already in yellow with an important advantage over the other three fantastic ones in the Grande Boucle, he casts too many shadows on Nibali who continued to losing ground not only to the British but also to Contador and Quintana.
Also in yesterday's team time trial, won by Bmc for a second on Froome's Sky, Nibali with Astana, despite defending himself not badly, accused another 34" of delay from Froome, 31" from Quintana well piloted and protected by the train of the Movistar, and 7” from Contador, fourth with his Tinkoff-Saxo. Last year these days the Shark was already in yellow, more and more master of a Tour in which Quintana was not there and which had lost both Froome and Contador along the way. Absences and retirements that don't affect Nibali's great success in Paris but it's very patriotic to claim tout court that the Italian champion would have won anyway.
This year the air has changed, the competition is at the top: certainly NIbali if he hasn't lost this Tour yet, has so far done little or nothing to start winning it even if yesterday, with the time trial just completed, the Shark appeared strangely in a good mood. “Another Tour begins on Tuesday,” he said proudly and defiantly. We'll see. The leader of Astana is 13th in the standings today: ahead of him are not only the three great rivals but also a range of riders who have appeared revitalized at the beginning of the Tour: from Teejay Van Garderen (winner of yesterday's team time trial with the Bmc, second in the standings just 12” from Froome) to Rigoberto Uran (sixth at 1'18”).
Alejandro Valverde is also ahead of Nibali, who has hit the double target up to now: to protect Quintana without losing sight of his ranking. Behind Nibali, among the prominent names, there are only Joaquim Rodriguez and Thibaut Pinot. The Spaniard who had never ridden the first stages of the Tour with the authority of this year, also hitting the success in Huy, came out of yesterday's time trial disaster with his Katusha - private to Luca Paolini who was expelled for doping - which finished only 19th at 1'53 from Bmc.
Now Purito is 18th in the classification with a delay of 3'52” from Froome. As for Thibaut Pinot, the team time trial did nothing but worsen his ranking, already compromised by accidents and falls. The French rider will face the Pyrenees with a handicap of over 8 minutes. But he is an excellent grimpeur and on the ascent of La Pierre-Saint-Martrin, an unprecedented "hors catégorie" for the Tour, it is probable that we will see him among the protagonists also to honor July 14, the national holiday of the French.
