SAINT-AMOND-MONTROND, France, (Reuters) – Alberto Contador made up lost time with a tactical masterstroke in Friday’s 13th stage of the Tour de France, showing he would not let an opportunity slip to topple overall leader Chris Froome.
During a hectic 173-km ride from Tours that ended with Britain’s Mark Cavendish crossing the line first, Contador’s Saxo-Tinkoff team split the peloton with a brutal acceleration 30 kilometres from the finish that left Froome trapped behind.
By the time Froome reached the finish line, one minute nine seconds had been sliced off his lead, leaving him 2:28 ahead of Dutchman Bauke Mollema and 2:45 clear of Spain’s Contador.
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, who started the day second, trailed in behind the bunch and lost 9:54 after suffering a mechanical problem that cost him a realistic chance of a podium finish in Paris.
“Saxo saw their opportunity today and hats off to them. They were rewarded with over a minute,” Froome told a news conference.
Contador, the 2007 and 2009 champion, told reporters: “We saw that some guys were dead so we decided to give it a try.”
The peloton had thinned out after 56km when Cavendish’s team, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, used the crosswind and a sudden acceleration to power away in a bid to eliminate some sprint specialists.
German Marcel Kittel, who has won three stages in this year’s Tour, was trapped behind and never made it back.
Valverde said he suffered a problem with his wheel with 85 kilometres remaining.
He could not rejoin the peloton despite being helped by his team mates as Mollema’s Belkin team joined forces with OPQS to keep the Spaniard at bay.
“It’s an unlucky day. We were very careful (near the front) but we really got no luck,” said Valverde.
Cavendish was hardly challenged in the home straight, easily outsprinting Slovakian Peter Sagan to take his 25th Tour de France stage win after being beaten by Kittel on Thursday.
“The guys were tactically brilliant yesterday and for them to come back today and ride even harder, even sooner shows what a special group of team mates I have,” the Isle of Man rider told a news conference.
