Chris Froome is taking it easy on the first rest day of the 2015 Tour de France, but the race leader is confident and ready for the first mountain stages of the Tour.
The British rider safely kept the yellow jersey after his Team SKY finished one second behind American rider Tejay van Garderen’s BMC in Sunday’s team time trial, the ninth stage of a crash-marred race.
Van Garderen is 12 seconds behind Froome in second place, putting him ahead of Nairo Quintana of Colombia, the 2013 Tour runner-up and the Giro d’Italia winner in 2014, as well as two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador of Spain and defending Tour champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy.
The 26-year-old van Garderen has never finished higher than fifth at the Tour, but is so far riding like a contender.
”Those guys have that tag of ‘Fab Four’ which is getting a bit irritating,” van Garderen said. ”All those guys in the top four have won Grand Tours … It doesn’t mean I’m intimidated by them … I’m not afraid to beat them.”
Following Monday’s rest day, Tuesday’s 10th stage snakes up the Pyrenees mountains.
There is only one significant climb, right at the end. But it is a notable one – 15.3 kilometers (9.5 miles) up La Pierre-Saint-Martin, a mountain resort hosting a stage for the first time. The ascent is classed as Hors Categorie (Beyond Classification) – the rating given to the toughest climbs.
Wednesday’s 11th stage features a climb up the Category 1 Col d’Aspin and then an HC trek up Col du Tourmalet, a famed Tour climb.
A few riders might crack on Thursday’s 12th stage: featuring two Cat. 1 climbs and an HC up Plateau de Beille to top things off.
Froome has identified van Garderen, second behind him at last month’s Criterium du Dauphine race, as his main Tour rival.
“(The Pyrenees) will be the test who is fit enough to win the Tour and the Alps will (show) who has enough stamina to get to the end,” van Garderen said. “With the way I was climbing at the Dauphine, compared to Froome, I think I’m pretty close.”
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