Tour de France: Froome takes charge as TT tests the overall contenders

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Analysis of the fight for the yellow jersey and the podium places

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Chris Froome finished second behind Tom Dumoulin in the stage 13 time trial

For Ax 3 Domaines in 2013 and La Pierre Saint Martin in 2015, read La Caverne du Pont d'Arc in 2016? There is still more than a week of the Tour de France to go and a whole mountain range yet to be traversed, of course, but there was a distinct sense in the Ardèche on Friday evening that Chris Froome (Team Sky) may already have landed the decisive blow in the battle for final overall victory in this year’s race.

If Froome is still most fearful of Quintana it’s perhaps because finishing any lower than the top step of the podium would be considered a disappointment for the Colombian, whereas you suspect Yates and Mollema would take a podium gladly.

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Patrick Fletcher
Patrick Fletcher
Deputy Editor

Patrick is an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish) and a decade’s experience in digital sports media, largely within the world of cycling. He re-joined Cyclingnews as Deputy Editor in February 2026, having previously spent eight years on staff between 2015 and 2023. In between, he was Deputy Editor at GCN and spent 18 months working across the sports portfolio at Future before returning to the cycling press pack. Patrick works across Cyclingnews’ wide-ranging output, assisting the Editor in global content strategy, with a particular focus on shaping CN's news operation.