Steadily, inexorably, Chris Froome is building the foundations for a third Tour de France victory.
His place in the record books alongside Louison Bobet, Philippe Thys and Greg LeMond is far from in the bag, but after extending his lead over all his rivals, and in particular ahead of Nairo Quintana after the time-trial here, the Kenyan-born Briton could hardly have hoped to be in a better position with eight days’ serious racing to come.
Froome did not win the stage. That honour went to the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who is likely to prove the Team Sky leader's most threatening rival for the gold medal in the Olympic time-trial in Rio. Dumoulin was well ahead, 1min 3sec clear of Froome, but the race leader – like his immediate rivals – had endured two extremely hard stages on Wednesday and Thursday and had fallen over a motorbike and then had to run for several hundred metres on Mont Ventoux the previous afternoon.
Both Froome and Dumoulin spoke afterwards of the difficulty of competing on another day of utter grief and shock for France.
Dumoulin said that he had initially wondered whether the race should go ahead, adding, “I’m happy with the win, but it’s overshadowed of course. It’s a strange day, with very mixed feelings. I’m happy with the win, but cannot be happy.”
Froome took one question at his post-race press conference. With the curious mix of dignity and defiance that is uniquely his, he was not prepared to discuss the race, which seemed entirely appropriate in the circumstances.
With the exception of Bauke Mollema and possibly Adam Yates, Froome's rivals could take scant encouragement from this afternoon spent fighting the wind over the plateau running westwards into the Ardèche.
Mollema had showed well on the Ventoux, appearing to suffer the least in the incident with the motorbike, and had been unhappy with the commissaire’s verdict.
Here, the lanky Dutchman was the only rider to finish within a minute of Froome; as a result, he emerged second at 1min 47sec, and has a chance of improving on his sixth place overall in 2013.
For a rider who says he cannot time-trial well, Yates rode strongly, finishing ahead of Quintana and Richie Porte, who clearly started too quickly and struggled late on.
The young Bury rider does not look like a time triallist either, with the movement in his torso and hips making him look uncomfortable on his bike compared to Froome or Dumoulin.
“I did OK. I’m never going to pull time out of the GC guys as time trialling is one of my weakest suits. I felt I had power on the climbs, but struggled in the crosswind sections. I hope when we get to the Alps I can pull some time back and then fight all the way to Paris.”
Behind Yates, only Quintana, Alejandro Valverde and Tejay van Garderen are within 4min of Froome, while Romain Bardet limited his losses and lies seventh at 4min 4sec.
But Quintana struggled horribly, never looking competitive and following his ineffectual attacks on Mont Ventoux the previous day the Colombian looks worn out.
In past Tours - 2013, 2015 - he has revived in the final week, but like the rest he faces an uphill struggle.
This was a brutal test of strength and not without its dangers. Dumoulin came close to crashing, as did both Bardet and Quintana, who misjudged the same left-hand corner.
The initial hill reared straight up from the start, and was followed by a relatively sheltered section through trees along a plateau before a technical series of twists and turns down into the Ardèche gorge, where both Dumoulin and Froome were clocked at 110kph, before climbing again to the finish.
The hills were one factor, but the main issue was the same strong northerly which had ripped the race to shreds on Wednesday and Thursday.
At times producing gusts which made it hard to stand steadily, the stiff breeze blew against the riders on the first and final hills, across their trajectory for much of the middle section before moving slightly behind.
That made the choice of equipment a gamble: whether to opt for solid disc wheels at the rear in the knowledge that they would be faster, but that they might well act as a sail in the crosswinds and cause the bike to feel unstable; or to use slightly slower but more secure spoked wheels.
There were casualties even beforehand, with Thibaut Pinot retiring though illness and Simon Gerrans unable to continue after breaking his collarbone en route to the Ventoux.
Froome and company will pedal northwards on Saturday – at quite what speed is in the lap of the wind gods as this breeze will be in their faces – for what should be a sprint stage where Mark Cavendish, Dan McLay and company will do battle before the next major test, Sunday’s brutally hilly stage through the Alpine foothills, with the super-category climb of the Grand Colombier.
After that, the Alps beckon, and the Tour is now Froome’s to lose. Guardian Service
