Chris Froome has been dropped on the first proper climb of La Vuelta, putting to bed any hopes that he may be able to challenge for the general classification.
The British rider was dropped on today’s
opening stage just over 18km remaining and as the field tackled the penultimate
climb of the day.
While the peloton was being trimmed
right back, with plenty of riders being spat out of the bunch, Froome being
distanced underlines how far he still is from his former level.
Now more than one year on from his crash while warming up at a TT in Critérium du Dauphiné in June of last year, Froome looks like he is nowhere near his former self.
Froome, who plans to join Israel Start-Up Nation next season, said after the stage he would focus on helping Richard Carapaz, the leader of Ineos Grenadiers who was 2nd today to Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).
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🏁 17 km a meta | ❌ ¡Froome no puede seguir el ritmo de sus compañeros! El ciclista del INEOS sufre serios problemas para mantenerse en el pelotón#VueltaRTVE20o #LaVuelta2020
🖥DIRECTO MULTISEÑAL: https://t.co/NdGZMm773P pic.twitter.com/vmRFjrVVdd— Teledeporte (@teledeporte) October 20, 2020
In some of the races he has done since
coming back to the sport he has appeared to sit up on climbs. However, today he
when he went out the back he fought back on and was clearly trying to stay in
the group.
His Ineos Grenadiers team was on the
front at the time and made no effort to wait. After he was initially distanced Froome
got onto the back of the group and was clearly struggling to remain there.
The pace then eased off on the climb and
Froome looked better able to stay at the back of the group, which numbered
about 50 to 60 riders at the time.
It appeared he had just held onto the
back of the group over the top of the climb but was then properly distanced on
the descent.
The seven-time Grand Tour winner – four Tours and a Giro and two Vueltas – then faced the final climb up the Alto de Arrate before finishing in a group just over 11 minutes down.
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