Chris Froome took a commanding lead at La Vuelta on Wednesdayas the three-time Tour de France winner finished second on the 187.5-kilometres route from Lorca to Observatorio Astronomico de Calar Alto, won by Colombia’s Miguel Ángel López.

Froome’s second-placed finish, 14 seconds behind Lopez, was accompanied by six bonus seconds and time gains over many of his rivals as his overall advantage grew to one minute 19 seconds. Froome is seeking to become only the third person to win the Tour-Vuelta double in the same year and the first since 1978. The Tour of Spain was moved from April to its present post-Tour position in 1995.

Froome had held a 36-second lead over Colombia’s Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) entering the 11th stage of the race, which finishes in Madrid on 10 September.

The mountainous route offered an opportunity for Froome’s rivals to claw back some time, but the Briton proved strong once again.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) accelerated on the final ascent but Froome bridged the gap.

Lopez surged and Froome, aware the Astana rider is not an overall threat, was content to allow him to push on for the stage win.

Nibali, who won La Vuelta in 2010, was then beaten to the line by Froome as the Italian finished third to gain four bonus seconds.

Holland’s Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) was fourth, also 14secs behind but without any bonus time.

Chaves finished 17th on the stage, 2mins 05secs behind Lopez to fall 2:33 behind Froome overall. He dropped to third overall behind Nibali.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) had begun the day in third, 36secs behind, but finished 4:17 behind Lopez on the stage to fall to 11th overall, 4:45 adrift, and see his podium hopes effectively come to an end.

Meanwhile, Team Sky have unveiled a strong six-man squad for the OVO Energy Tour of Britain, led by Geraint Thomas and Michal Kwiatkowski. Thomas and fellow Welshman Owain Doull were announced in the Team Sky squad last week for the race which begins in Edinburgh on Sunday and finishes in their native Cardiff a week later.

Poland’s Kwiatkowski, the 2014 world road race champion, and Belarus’ Vasil Kiryienka, the 2015 world time-trial champion, will also ride for the British team ahead of the Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway towards the end of September.

Italy’s Elia Viviani, the Olympic omnium champion on the track, is the team’s sprinter and Londoner Tao Geoghegan Hart, who is enjoying a strong first year at Team Sky.

Thomas won the opening time-trial of the Tour de France on July 1 to take the race leader’s yellow jersey for the first time in his career.

It was a welcome response after the 31-year-old had been forced to abandon May’s Giro d’Italia following a crash, but then Thomas had to quit the Tour with a fractured collarbone.

Thomas won two Olympic team pursuit gold medals in 2008 and 2012 and Doull was part of the victorious British team in Rio in 2016.

Thomas, racing in the Tour of Britain for the first time since 2011, said: “The support from the British fans is always fantastic and it’s going to be great to race at home. We’ve got a strong squad coming and I’m really looking forward to it.

 

“Coming back to Cardiff is going to be special and it’s something the Welsh guys have been talking about since the route was announced. I’m sure the fans will do us proud

Source: AFPv