Chris Froome’s uk canada goose outlet form other conclusions
The canada goose coats on sale Criterium du Dauphine is usually an accurate barometer of a rider condition ahead of the Tour de France and this year edition exposed some stark differences in form.
Chris Froome claimed victory ahead of Romain Bardet and Dan Martin, but Richie Porte and Alberto Contador could finish only and fifth respectively.
Froome peaking perfectlyGiven that Froome’s victories in the 2013 canada goose outlet in usa and 2015 Tours were both built on wins at the Dauphine a month prior, his triumph this week offered concrete evidence canada goose outlet that he is peaking perfectly for his bid for canada goose clearance sale a third maillot jaune.
Froome could easily have canada goose outlet store been forgiven for targeting just the top five when you consider that he was ill for large parts of the spring and consequently finished goose outlet canada only eighth at canada goose black friday sale the Volta a Catalunya in March and 38th at the canada goose outlet new york city Tour de Romandie in April.
Froome appeared to be in ideal canada goose outlet uk sale form at the Dauphine
But instead he soundly defeated Contador on two mountain stages, had the race sharpness to beat Porte in a sprint for victory on stage canada goose coats five, and he then defended brilliantly when under heavy pressure on Canada Goose sale stages six and seven.
He said after the Dauphine that he has more work to do between now and the opening stage of the Tour of July 2, but from what we saw this week, it can’t be much canada goose outlet reviews more than fine tuning and tinkering.
Contador has ground to make upWhile Froome appears to be exactly on track for the Tour, Contador seemingly has a lot of ground to make canada goose outlet shop up.
The 33 year old Spaniard had enjoyed a superb season up until this week, but his condition was canada goose outlet badly exposed when he was dropped by both Froome and Porte on Friday’s mountainous fifth stage to Vaujany.
Contador was off Froome’s pace in the mountains
He lost more time to Froome on Saturday and although he canada goose jacket outlet launched two huge attacks on Sunday’s finale, he still couldn’t shake off the canada goose outlet black cheap canada goose friday Briton and eventually finished the race 35 seconds down in fifth.
Unless he can muster a significant improvement in form, Contador right now looks like he’s racing for a place on the podium at the Tour at best.
Aru in crisisThe consolation for Contador is that his condition is not half as bad as Fabio Aru’s. The 25 year old Italian is expected to lead Astana at the Tour and had been touted as a potential winner, but on the evidence https://www.outletmoncler.de of the past eight days, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Granted, he won stage three of the Dauphine on Wednesday, but that was an opportunist attack on a flat day and did not give an accurate indication of his form.
Fabio Aru won a stage of the Dauphine but finished only 45th overall
Far more pertinent were his dreadful performances in the mountains, which ultimately resulted in him finishing more than 40 minutes down on uk canada goose Froome in 45th overall.
He now needs to make remarkable improvements over the next three weeks to have any hope of finishing on the podium at the Tour, let alone win the yellow jersey.
Porte hot and coldPorte looked to be peaking beautifully for the Tour when he was the canada goose clearance only rider able to follow Froome’s attack on stage five of the Dauphine to Vaujony.
However, the 31 year canada goose outlet sale old Australian is prone to off days and duly suffered one 24 hours later, losing 14 seconds to Froome and six seconds to Contador on the climb to Meribel.
Also See: Froome seals Dauphine title Froome: Still more work to do
Porte had both good and bad days at the Dauphine
That he suffered such a loss of climbing form after just seven days of racing was a worry given that will have almost three weeks and 3,000km in his legs by the time the Tour reaches its potentially decisive mountain stages in the Alps.