Barguil delivers Bastille Day win to France; Aru still leads
FOIX, France — After the setback, the fightback.
The day after losing the Tour de France lead to Fabio Aru, Chris Froome and his Team Sky showed on Friday they still have cards up their sleeves. On the shortest stage of the 104th Tour, barring the two time-trials, Sky brought Mikel Landa into play — sending Froome’s Spanish teammate racing off ahead on a fast and furious Stage 13 that became part-chess, part a test of speed and endurance over a close-packed succession of three climbs in the Pyrenees.
End result: Sky has two riders — Froome and Landa — in the top five. From here to the July 23 finish in Paris, Aru will have to watch both like a hawk and not let either race off ahead of him in order to keep the famed yellow jersey.
“It’s perfect for us,” Froome said.