Chris Froome crushes competition in first Tour de France mountain stage
The 2013 champion riding for Britain's Team Sky took a huge step towards regaining the Tour de France crown on Tuesday. His Australian teammate Richie Porte took second on the stage to deny third-placed Movistar Nairo Quintana a couple of bonus seconds.
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Froome, who led by 12 seconds overnight, broke away with 7km to go in the 167-kilometre ride from Tarbes to La Pierre-Saint-Martin in the Pyrenees moutains.
The ride was the first major test for the climbers with a 15.3km, 7.4 average gradient finish.
This means Froome has extended his lead to his closest rival Tejay Van Garderen to 2:52 in the overall standings.
It was a miserable day for reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali, who dropped more than 10km from the finish, and Alberto Contador who was almost three minutes back in 11th place on the stage.
The three French hopes, Jean-Christophe Peraud, Thibot Pinot and Romain Bardet - respectively second, third and sixth last year - were torched near the bottom of the brutal final climb.
Froome, though, gave a demonstration every bit as impressive as his victories at Ax 3 Domaines and Mont Ventoux in his Tour winning year in 2013 as he won his sixth stage at the grand Boucle.
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