Chris Froome’s true form is still unknown after the Team Sky leader was dropped from the Sky-led bunch on the final climb of today’s stage in the Vuelta a Espana, only to race back to the front of the group and finish fifth.
Froome has moved up a place into fourth on the overall leaderboard but lost a little more time to Alberto Contador on the third of eight official summit finishes in the three-week race.
The British rider crossed the line today in the same time as Contador, who maintains the overall lead. Both men were six seconds behind Fabio Aru, the stage winner, but Contador picked up three bonus seconds on the day’s intermediate sprint.
The most telling moment of the stage, however, was the withdrawal of Nairo Quintana after a second crash in two stages. The Colombian was taken to hospital in an ambulance after an incident in the peloton at the 20-kilometre mark and will have surgery on a broken scapula tomorrow morning.
Aru, Astana’s Italian rider who started the stage eighth on the general classification, jumped clear of an elite group in the final kilometre of the climb to Santuario de San Miguel de Aralar. Froome had been dropped from the pack near the bottom of the final climb, while Sky were on pace-making duties. He managed to ride back on however and finished strongly, making it difficult to judge whether his earlier struggles were genuine or part of a bluffing tactic.
Advertisement
With all of the main general classification contenders in the day’s top ten and with two relatively flat days to come, the next shake-up of the leaderboard is likely to come on Saturday, when the riders tackle the first of three consecutive high mountain stages.
When they do so, it will be without Quintana, the pre-race favourite. The 24-year-old started stage 11 in eleventh place after a crash on yesterday’s time trial that saw him tumble from his position at the top of the standings. His withdrawal means that a grand tour showdown between himself, Froome and Contador will have to wait until next year.
Quintana, winner of this year’s Giro d’Italia, had taken the race lead after stage nine, the summit finish to Aramon Valdelinares, when he and Contador both put time into Froome. Although he restarted gingerly yesterday after his crash, by the end of the stage he appeared to be cycling at something like full capacity.
After coming down in the peloton today, however, Movistar tweeted: “Confirmation: @NairoQuinCo has suffered a displaced fracture in his right-hand scapula, will undergo surgery on Thursday (10am).”
Movistar entered the race with Quintana and Alejandro Valverde vying to be recognised as the team leader. The Spanish rider finished second today and is still second overall.
Advertisement
Thibaut Pinot, FDJ.fr’s French rider who finished third on the Tour de France, also withdrew from the race today, along with Steve Morabito of BMC and Maxime Bouet of Ag2r-La Mondiale.
• Mark Cavendish has been confirmed in the Omega Pharma-QuickStep team for the seven-day Tour of Britain, which starts on Saturday in Liverpool.