Page 20 - ARUBA TODAY

A20 SPORTS
Saturday 26 May 2018
Froome pulls off audacious

attack to take Giro lead

Associated Press Yates. won three or more consec-
BARDONECCHIA, Italy (AP) Yates fell far behind up the utive Grand Tours. Merckx
— Chris Froome produced grueling climb on Colle won four straight between
one of the great perfor- delle Finestre as Froome 1972 and 1973 and Hinault
mances of his career, at- launched his audacious at- took three in a row in 1982
tacking alone on a gravel tack, and finished nearly 40 and 1983.
Britain's Chris Froome celebrates as he crosses the finish line road up a grueling climb minutes behind. However, Froome is rac-
to win the the 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia cycling race, from to win the 19th stage of the It was Yates' 13th day wear- ing under the cloud of a
Venaria Reale to Bardonecchia, in Bardonecchia, Italy, Friday, Giro d'Italia on Friday and ing the pink jersey. potential ban after a urine
May 25, 2018. claim the overall leader's Richard Carapaz of Ecua- sample he provided at the
Associated Press
pink jersey. dor crossed second in the Spanish Vuelta in Septem-
The four-time Tour de stage, exactly three min- ber showed a concentra-
France champion utes behind, and French tion of the asthma drug sal-
launched his solo attack up challenger Thibaut Pinot butamol that was twice the
the three-week race's high- finished third, 3:07 back. permitted level. It remains
est climb with 80 kilometers Dumoulin came fifth, 3:23 unclear when the Interna-
(50 miles) to go and rode behind Froome. tional Cycling Union will rule
clear amid banks of snow Froome arrived at the Giro on the case.
above the tree line. with big hopes but had not Froome denies any wrong-
Pedaling furiously, Froome really been a threat after doing.
continuously increased his crashing in training before The 185-kilometer (115-
advantage over two more the opening time trial, los- mile) leg from Venaria Re-
Alpine ascents to finish ing time in a split on stage ale to Bardonecchia in the
three minutes ahead of his four, and injuring himself Piedmont region was con-
closest challenger. again in a second crash sidered the race's toughest.
The victory put Froome in four days later. His only pre- Passing through the region
position to win his third con- vious highlight in the race where the 2006 Turin Olym-
secutive Grand Tour and was winning Stage 14 up pics were held, the route
match the achievements Monte Zoncolan, one of contained more than 4,000
of the great Eddy Merckx the toughest climbs in Eu- meters of climbing and tra-
and Bernard Hinault. There rope. versed the highest point of
are two stages of the Giro "It was a very, very tough the race — the Cima Coppi
left. start for me after the fall," (Coppi peak) — at an alti-
"I don't think I've ever at- Froome said. "But I kept tude of 2,178 meters (more
tacked 80 kilometers from up my morale for the fin- than 7,000 feet) atop the
the finish, riding on my own ish and I knew that if I did Colle delle Finestre.
and going all the way to the everything right the time to Froome attacked shortly
finish," Froome said. "I knew attack would come. That after the road turned to
there was a long way to go moment came today." gravel halfway up the
but to win this Giro d'Italia Only two riders have ever Finestre.q
I had to do something ex-
traordinary. I couldn't wait
for the last climb. I had to
do something crazy.
"Colle delle Finestre was
the perfect place to do it.
Gravel roads remind me
of Africa," added Froome,
who races for Britain with
Team Sky but was born and
raised in Kenya.
Froome leads defending
champion Tom Dumou-
lin of the Netherlands by
40 seconds in the over-
all standings. Frenchman
Thibaut Pinot is third overall,
4:17 behind.
There is one more moun-
tainous stage on Saturday,
a 214-kilometer leg from
Susa to Cervinia, before
Sunday's mostly ceremo-
nial finish in Rome.
Froome had started the
day fourth overall, more
than three minutes be-
hind previous leader Simon