Stage victory unexpected bonus for Froome

Chris Froome enjoyed an unexpected bonus with victory in yesterday’s individual time trial to Chorges strengthening his lead in the 100th Tour de France.

The 28-year-old claimed he had not targeted a win and was even prepared to lose time on his rivals in order to save himself for three tough mountain stages ahead, but instead he beat Alberto Contador by nine seconds to earn his third stage win of the Tour.

The victory saw him increase his overall advantage over Contador – who moved up to second in the general classification – to four minutes and 34 seconds. “I was really happy to get the stage today,” Froome said. “When I woke up this morning I was prepared to lose a bit of time because I was thinking about the three stages coming up.