Team Sky rider will be crowned champion in Paris on Sunday
Sunday 26 July 2015 18:57, UK
Chris Froome is set to be crowned winner of the 2015 Tour de France in Paris on Sunday after defending his race lead on stage 20’s summit finish on Alpe d’Huez.
The Team Sky rider finished 1min 20sec behind closest rival Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in fifth place on the day, which was enough to retain the yellow jersey by 1min 12sec.
He now only has to avoid crashing on stage 21’s largely processional flat finale in Paris to repeat his 2013 Tour triumph and become the first Briton to win the race twice.
Quintana started the day 2min 38sec down on Froome and launched no fewer than five attacks on a short but mountainous stage in a thrilling attempt to overhaul his deficit.
The Colombian finished second on the day, 18 seconds behind breakaway winner Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr), but despite a superb display of climbing and Froome being visibly exhausted, he had left himself with too much ground to make up.
Quintana will finish runner-up in the Tour for the second time in his career, having also been beaten by Froome in 2013, while Movistar team-mate Alejandro Valverde will finish third, 5min 25sec down, after crossing the line alongside the race leader in fourth on the day.
Froome's fifth-place finish on the stage also saw him clinch victory in the mountains classification and become only the second Briton to win the polka dot jersey, following in the footsteps of Robert Millar in 1984.
Froome, 30, said: "I knew I had 2min 38sec to play with, but at some moments it was hard to believe I would hang on. It's harder to say if this was harder than 2013, but every day was flat out. It was very hard.
"Next year I will come back and renew the rivalry with Nairo. He is a great prospect, has a bright future, a great talent who races correctly, making his race at the right moment."
Stage 20 was the second shortest road stage of the race, at just 110.5km, but with two hors-categorie climbs on the route, there was plenty of scope for fireworks and Quintana duly delivered.
He launched his first attack close to the summit of the day's first climb, the Col de la Croix de Fer, and although he briefly dropped Froome, he was reeled back on the descent down the other side.
That set up a shoot-out on Alpe d'Huez and the Colombian launched two back-to-back attacks inside the first 2km of the iconic 13.8km ascent, but on both occasions he was chased down.
He still wasn't deterred, though, and when he attacked for the fourth time on the day, with 10km left, this time Froome and his Team Sky team-mates could not follow.
After receiving help from Valverde and then Winner Anacona (Movistar), who had been waiting up the road, Quintana attacked again as he continued on alone, but despite his brilliant performance, he never truly came close to seizing Froome's race lead.
Froome's ascent of Alpe d'Huez and subsequent celebrations were marred slightly after he was once again spat at in yet another incident of physical abuse from spectators.
Pinot, meanwhile, formed an escape group on the descent off the Croix de Fer and started up Alpe d'Huez alongside Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin).
The Canadian appeared to be the stronger man, but then Pinot attacked with 6.5km remaining and hung on to become the third consecutive French winner on Alpe d'Huez, emulating Pierre Rolland in 2011 and Christophe Riblon in 2013.
The Tour concludes on Sunday with a sprint stage into Paris. Follow it with our live blog from 3pm BST and find out more about the route in our race guide.
Stage 20 result
1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr, 3:17:21
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +18secs
3 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garmin, +41
4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +1:38
5 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, same time
6 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar, +1:41
7 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky, +2:11
8 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar, +2:32
9 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, +2:50
10 Ruben Plaza (Esp) Lampre-Merida, st
General classification
1 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, 81:56:33
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +1:12
3 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +5:25
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +8:36
5 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo, +9:48
6 Roberto Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +10:47
7 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing, +15:14
8 Mathias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling, +15:39
9 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +16:00
10 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar, +17:30
Follow the final stage of the Tour de France with our live blog from 3pm BST on Sunday, available on our apps and www.skysports.com
