Today was the day that Romain Bardet, Rigoberto Uran, and Fabio Aru HAD to attack if they had any chance at all to win the Tour. On the Col d’Izoard they tried to go at Froome and they COULD NOT DROP HIM.
Ag2r tried to out-Sky Sky on the lower slopes of the climb and ended up burning off their own team. Contador once again tried to get off the front and had a small gap but his legs just don’t have the pop in them that they have had in the past. Still it was a valiant effort by the 2 time Tour winner to not give up. Once again Aru was not able to keep up once the tempo was raised and lost more time.
Stage 19 should be a day for the sprinters even though there are 3 category III climbs on the route. The last one occurs far enough away from the finish so as not to be a factor. Maybe Andre Greipel will finally get his stage win.
As long as the GC men maintain the status quo tomorrow then Froome should win his fourth Tour de France. He has a 23 second lead on Bardet and a 29 second lead on Uran. Neither of these riders will come within a minute of Froome on the time trial.
Three Weeks in July 