Froome wins big to extend lead

Chris Froome powered to an emphatic victory on stage 10 at the Tour de France to extend his grip on the yellow jersey.

Chris Froome powered to an emphatic victory on stage 10 at the Tour de France to extend his grip on the yellow jersey.

The fireworks began early on Bastille Day as Team Sky took it up on the climb of La Pierre-Saint-Martin, setting a searing tempo before Froome launched a long-range move with six kilometres to go.

Quickly putting time into his rivals, Froome forged on up the hors-categorie ascent, eventually taking the stage win by 59 seconds over team-mate Richie Porte.

After stellar work from the team it was Porte’s acceleration which blew apart an already reduced front group, with only Froome and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) able to hold his wheel.

Froome didn’t wait much longer, launching a decisive attack to quickly gap the Colombian, putting 1:04 into him at the finish.

By that time a host of overall contenders had already slipped back, with Froome putting 2:30 into Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), 2:51 into Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and 4:25 on Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). That all translated to an overall lead of 2:52 over nearest rival van Garderen.

Geraint Thomas also hung on for sixth on the stage after shutting down accelerations from Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). That performance elevated the Welshman up to fifth place on the GC, 4:03 back on team-mate Froome.

Dream day

Taking maximum points on the first mountain-top finish of the race, Froome also moved into the polka dot jersey. With second on the stage and also the standings, Porte will campaign the jersey on stage 11. Team Sky also powered into the lead of the team classification by just over six minutes.

After the stage a delighted Froome talked about the gameplan on the race's opening mountain, explaining: "I just thought instead of riding a defensive race, ‘come on guys let’s push on here. Some guys are in trouble let’s take advantage of that.’ I asked the guys to push on a bit. The legs felt good so I think it worked out just to plan.

"Now we’re just going to have to take it on a daily basis. I’m in such a great position now and with such team around me. Guys like Richie Porte coming second, G just a few places back in fifth – it just shows the calibre of riders I’ve got supporting me. Hopefully now we can just ride a defensive race. Let’s see – there’s still a very long way to go to Paris but of course I’m ecstatic about how it went today.

"When I heard [the time gaps] on the radio it was like music to the ears, especially this early in the race. There are some really big time gaps today which I’m quite surprised about, seeing as we only had the one climb on the final. The one thing that comes to mind for me is that maybe some of the guys didn’t look after themselves quite that well through the rest day yesterday, or maybe came out of the rest day feeling quite heavy. My guys were great. It was a dream day for us."

Early in the 167km test Team Sky set the initial tempo with Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard before Movistar added men to the front, upping the pace in the process.

The Spanish team continued that push onto the final climb, and after Pete Kennaugh had helped manoeuvre Froome into position, the team held back initially as the group began to thin out.

Wout Poels was the first to hit the front as Team Sky began to turn the screw, with both Nibali and Rigoberto Uran (Etixx – Quick-Step) losing contact with 10.6km to go. Next up Thomas set an impressive pace, barely allowing Valverde a bike-length when the Spaniard attacked.

After Porte and then Froome had blown the group to pieces, Quintana looked to limit his losses to the maillot jaune in the final kilometres. Porte finished well and clawed his way back up to the Colombian, eventually pushing on to seal a spectacular 1-2 on the stage.

After crossing the line Porte looked to put the performance into perspective with 11 stages still remaining in the race.

"It’s one day in the Tour. We can’t get too carried away," he told Eurosport. "We’ve seen in 2013 the first and second on the stage and then the disaster there. So we’re not getting too far in front of ourselves, but it’s still a fantastic feeling.

"I sort of felt a little bit bad picking [Quintana’s] pocket but it’s a race. Chris was absolutely fantastic today. I take my hat off to Geraint Thomas as well. He was still on GC and he could have sat behind me. He didn’t, he put in and did a great pull softening them up."