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SPORTS A21
Thursday 16 July 2015
Sky protects Froome’s Tour lead as Majka wins Stage 11
— and was the first over it. time to Froome.
The results had little impact
on the overall standings. Many seasoned race ob-
Froome leads Tejay van
Garderen of the United servers say it will take near-
States, who is second, by 2
minutes, 52 seconds while ly a miracle for Froome’s
Nairo Quintana of Colom-
bia is third, 3:09 back. Con- main rivals to topple him
tador is sixth, 4:04 off the
Briton’s pace. before the race ends on
Defending Tour champi-
on Vincenzo Nibali trailed Paris’ Champs-Elysees
more than six minutes be-
hind Majka, again losing on July 26. Appropriately
enough, Stage 11 took
the pack into the Roman
Catholic shrine town of
Lourdes, made famous be-
cause of a peasant girl’s
visions of the Virgin Mary
over 150 years ago.q
Poland’s Rafal Majka celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the eleventh stage of the Tour de
France cycling race over 188 kilometers (116.8 miles) with start in Pau and finish in Cauterets,
France, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Associated Press
JAMEY KEATEN us.” that is my fault,” Armstrong
Associated Press said.
CAUTERETS, France (AP) However, Armstrong’s However, Froome and his
— Tour de France leader team are ready to take on
Chris Froome understands presence is a reminder the skeptics.
those who harbor doubts “Best moment of my day
about his dominant per- that any Tour leader can was stopping to have a
formances in a sport long chat to a guy calling me
marred by doping. May- expect to come under at a doper on the way way
be, he says, it’s time to back to the bus,” tweet-
bring in an independent least some suspicion. To ed Sky’s Richie Porte, a
specialist to test his body key mountain guide for
and help prove that he’s deal with that, Froome is Froome in the race, after
riding clean. Wednesday’s stage. The
The 30-year-old Briton willing to take testing even Australian went on to use
cruised through a second an expletive suggesting
day in the Pyrenees moun- further. that he had scared off the
tains on Wednesday, finish- critic.
ing more than five minutes “I’m open-minded to po- The day’s glory meanwhile
behind Stage 11 winner went to Majka, a 25-year-
Rafal Majka of Poland but tentially doing some physi- old Pole whose solo break-
keeping his main rivals in away left behind a small
check. ological testing at some group of rivals. The vic-
The bumpy, grueling ride tory was the first for his
under a hot sun came a point after the Tour, or at strong Tinkoff Saxo Bank
day after Froome blew team and offered some
away the pack, prompting whatever point suits,” the redemption for the squad
new suspicions about dop- whose leader, two-time
ing. Ironically, it came as Briton said. “Obviously, Tour winner Alberto Conta-
Lance Armstrong — who dor, has been struggling in
was stripped of seven con- there would be some in- this year’s race.
secutive Tour titles — was Majka presented little
to return to French roads teresting things that come threat to Froome. He had
nearby, even though he’s begun the 188-kilometer
persona non grata at the out of it, and maybe as a (117-mile) stage from Pau
Tour de France. to Cauterets more than 44
Armstrong was to take part team we might even learn 1/2 minutes behind.
in charity rides Thursday Majka, who last year
and Friday to raise money something from it.” won the polka dot jersey
to fight leukemia, taking awarded to the race’s
the same route that Tour Speaking to French TV, best climber, burst out of
riders will cover a day later. a breakaway bunch on
Froome brushed off Arm- Froome said he does “sym- the way up the Tourmalet
strong’s visit as a “non- pass — the highest and
event”, noting that “he’s pathize” with people who most frequently visited
not on the start line with Tour peak in the Pyrenees
have their doubts about
him, adding: “It’s a normal
question to ask” given the
sport’s history. But he em-
phasized his hard work —
sometimes from 6 a.m. to
10 p.m. — and decried a
“lack of respect” shown by
some.
Arriving in France on
Wednesday, Armstrong
acknowledged to British
broadcaster Sky News that
he bore some responsibility
for the spotlight now being
trained on the Briton.
“I know what it’s like for a
guy like Chris to be in the
middle of a Tour to deal
with the constant ques-
tions, which of course he
is. And to be fair and to
be honest to him, a lot of
