Greg Van Avermaet continued to be the yellow jersey wearer for a fourth day and extended his lead after winning three seconds at the bonus point. Days like these are referred to as “transfer” stages, for moving the Tour from one area to the next – from Brittany to north-central France in this case, as the race winds toward Sunday’s highly awaited cobblestoned leg to Roubaix near the Belgian border. Sky teammate Geraint Thomas is second over all, 43 seconds behind van Avermaet, meaning the team has two viable options to claim the yellow jersey over the second week of the three-week Tour. He said: “Does Dave B come in and do his usual and be quite divisive and get in each other’s ear and kind of keep them both motivated for the same goal and there be a natural selection?” Former teammate and 2012 victor Sir Bradley Wiggins says Team Sky would have a problem to deal with if the second-placed Thomas continued to be ahead of Froome. Laurent Pichon, another French rider with Fortuneo-Samsic, then also got away alone for a spell. “We all know how valuable Alexis is and how important he is to the team. But we’re honest with each other”. But Froome rejected any comparison between that race and this, saying: ‘It’s a totally different situation (to 2012)’. Thomas said: “Yeah, he’s keen for me to try”. “I have a big deficit already, and we haven’t been on the first climb yet”. It comes before… [Read full story]
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