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Team Sky's top mountain domestique, Chris Froome, has taken over the mantle of team leader in the Vuelta a España, closing the gap on the race leader, Juan José Cobo, by winning the most difficult finish of the final week with an audacious double attack in the finale on the Peña Cabarga climb above the port of Santander in northern Spain.

Meanwhile the rider who has been the Sky No1 since the start of the race, Bradley Wiggins, lost 39 seconds on both men, effectively ending his challenge for the overall title, although the Olympic champion remains in third overall. It was a reversal of fortunes that was not entirely surprising, given that Froome had been the stronger of the two Sky men on the race's toughest mountain-top finish at the Alto de L'Angliru on Sunday.

Froome finished only a single second ahead of Cobo on top of the short, brutal ascent but he earned a 20-second deduction in the overall standings thanks to a time bonus awarded to the stage winner. After putting Cobo under immense pressure in the final 1500m, the Sky rider looked to have failed when the Spaniard caught and passed him but he had the presence of mind and reserve of strength to take the inside line on the final corner, yards before the finish line on the top of the hill, catching the race leader by surprise. Cobo also gained a time bonus, 12 seconds for finishing just behind Froome, but with further bonuses available before Sunday's finish in Madrid, and more hills in the next three days in the Basque Country, the suspense is set to last to the end.

It was surprising that the Kenya-born Froome was able to think clearly, given the intensity of his initial attack on the steepest section of the climb, which rears up at one-in-five in the final part. It had taken him around 15 seconds to dislodge Cobo, who initially marked the Sky man's pace, before Froome opened a gap of about 15 bike lengths entering the final kilometre and briefly raised the prospect that he might deprive the Spaniard of the race lead in front of his home crowd.

But Cobo sensibly opted to ride at his own pace, gradually closing the gap and eventually looking as if he might be able to take the stage. Instead Froome rode to the finest win of a career that began in mountain biking in South Africa, where he was brought up, and then saw him turn to the road with the Barloworld team in 2008, when he took British nationality.

"That was indescribable," Froome said after the finish. "It was one of the hardest days on the bicycle of my life. It was the last mountain-top finish and both Bradley and myself came into the stage trying to do as much as we could. But as you could see, Cobo was so strong."

His performance on Wednesday is bound to prompt questions about Sky's decision to use him to set the pace on several occasions during Wiggins's tenure of the red leader's jersey, the more so as Froome had finished ahead of his leader in the race's only individual time trial, on stage 10. He finished second to the German Tony Martin, 23 seconds ahead of Wiggins, which was enough to put him in the race lead before he ceded the red jersey to Wiggins on a mountain-top finish 48 hours later.

The last Briton to contend for overall honours in the Vuelta, Robert Millar, said that he wondered about Sky's tactics. "They've stuck with Brad as team leader because he has the pedigree and the proven successes but there is the question Froome's performance raises of what if the tactics had been different. What if they had used him differently, for example the day Bradley took over the red jersey [stage 11] and Froome did a massive amount of work despite being race leader because that's been the only occasion where he lost any time to his team leader."

Tour of Spain Stage 17 (Faustino V – Pena Cabarga, 211 km) results

1. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 4:52:38"; 2. Juan-José Cobo (Sp/Geox) +1"; 3. Bauke Mollema (Neth/Rabobank) +21"; 4. Daniel Martin (Irel/Garmin) +24"; 5. Igor Anton (Sp/Euskaltel) +27"; 6. Mikel Nieve (Sp/Euskaltel); 7. Marzio Bruseghin (It/Movistar) +29"; 8. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel/Omega Pharma – Lotto) +31"; 9. Denis Menchov (Rus/Geox); 10. Benat Intxausti (Sp/Movistar) +35"

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Cadel Evans To Race In Colorado

Tour de France winner Cadel Evans will close out his season with one more criterium in Europe, followed by an appearance with the BMC Racing Team in the inaugural edition of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado.

Wrapping A 'Dream Season'
Evans will compete in a post-Tour criterium Tuesday in Amsterdam after appearances in criteriums in Belgium and Germany last week. His final race of the year will be the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, which runs Aug. 22-28 and includes 833 kilometers of racing through the Rocky Mountains. "I'm looking forward to competing in the U.S. in one more stage race before I close out what has been a dream season," Evans said. "I've heard good things about the race in Colorado and I know it won't be easy. But I'm up for one more challenge." Evans last raced in the United States in the 2006 edition of the Amgen Tour of California, finishing seventh overall.

Colorado Suits Him Well
In addition to winning the Tour de France, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de Romandie this year, Evans was also runner-up at the Critérium du Dauphiné and top 10 in the Volta a Catalunya. He is the No. 1 ranked rider on the UCI's WorldTour rankings. "With the worlds in Copenhagen this year being more for sprinters, Cadel wasn't expecting to go to the worlds," BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said. "Colorado has nice mountains, we are an American team, and it's a good opportunity for him to race in the U.S. He couldn't race in California in May due to his pre-Tour de France training camps."

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Canberra university student Nathan Haas virtually parcelled up the Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland today and is poised for the most important victory in his fast-developing professional cycling career.

 

With only one stage remaining in the 520km five-day event, Haas leads Bunbury teenager Bradley Linfield (Plan B) by 24secs, with a further 22secs to Queenslander Michael Cupitt (Budget Forklifts).

 

Haas, a former mountain biker who is studying for an Arts degree at Sydney University, is riding for the powerful Tasmanian-based Genesys Wealth Advisers team which has dominated the tour since it began in Wonthaggi last Wednesday.

 

Team-mates Patrick Shaw and Steele Von Hoff are leading the SP AusNet sprint championship and CreditCollect criterium titles respectively.

 

Haas has also clinched the Hotondo Homes king of the mountain championship. 

 

Haas rode conservatively today, finishing 16^th in the 33km criterium at Bairnsdale before a 14^th placing in the frenetic 69.3km eighth stage from Lakes Entrance to Metung.

 

He luckily escaped time loss on the Lakes Entrance-Metung journey when Canberra’s Benjamin Hill (Suzuki Trek) took a tumble on a hill climb and Haas momentarily ended up in a ditch. He also had a brush with a passing official race car.

 

“It was an awesome course into Metung but I had some scary moments out there,” Haas said after the stage.

 

“It could have been a disaster but my Genesys team-mates are doing a fantastic job for me and hopefully I’ve got this tour sewn up”. 

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Pinerolo, France

Tour de France, Stage 17: Closer To The Lead

BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans crept 27 seconds closer to the overall lead Wednesday at the Tour de France thanks to an epic pursuit and some wayward riding on a technical descent by some of the riders in front of him.

Cautious Approach

Evans remains second overall but moved to within 78 seconds of maillot jaune wearer Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar). The former world road champion did not concede any time on the top riders immediately behind him in the overall standings, despite a few harrowing moments on the fast run-in off the Col de Pramartino. "There were more corners, it was drier and all shadowy, which made it hard to see," Evans said, comparing the descent to that of Stage 16 where he also gained time. "I certainly didn't want to take any risks, but there was a little bit of leeway there at the bottom and we had the numbers. Voeckler ran off the road twice in front of me. It makes you take things a bit more cautiously."

How It Happened

As Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Pro Cycling) soloed to the win the 179-kilometer stage, Evans was doing his best on the descent to catch back to Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi). "They went right over the top and I got behind Andy (Schleck) and just couldn't get around him," Evans said. "Then Voeckler went off the road in front of him as well. It didn't make sense to cut underneath and take risks just to get across. You don't ever want to lose time to anyone and I've got a good advantage over Alberto now. But he's shown in years gone by what he can do when he's really at his top."

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Sixteen long days after a crash and a sprained ankle that were about to take him out of the race in the first stage of the Tour de France, Andrey Amador completed the most difficult stage of his recovery in the world's most demanding event. The Costa Rican rider from Movistar Team contested and made the break of the 17th stage in the Grande Boucle -the first mountain trek in the Alps, with 179 kilometers and four categorized climbs from Gap, in France, to Pinerolo, in the Italian Piedmont-, a ride where Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY) took his second victory in this year's race as the brave Center American rider, even able to get on front of the race during the climb to Pramartino (Cat. 2), eventually surrendered due to his injuries and finished into a valuable 11th place.

 

Andrey Amador: “I didn't expect after the days i had gone through. This has been a prize for me, even though i'd have liked to be in better condition to contest the stage, but I gave my best. We knew it was a day when the break was going to make it, and in that moment we were warned once again from the car that we had to be attentive. I jumped after five riders ahead of me and some more joined to make a 14-rider group, and it was clear from the beginning that we were going to reach the finish. From the start I knew I'd stand little chance, because there were so many talented riders and me being, not 100%, but barely a 70%, was making it way harder. The ankle is bearing the pain, at least it didn't go worse. Now there's a complicated 2-day run, crucial for me so as to see if I can make it to Paris. If I see I'm not into condition, I will keep myself calm because I'm convinced I gave my best there. Before coming to the Tour, I was feeling better than ever and was willing to make the break in stage like this, in the mid mountains suiting me so well, but this is what we have and we have to content ourselves with the fighting spirit we have shown throughout the Tour."

 

Pardilla and Konovalovas fine at Brixia Tour opener

While their teammates complete the final week of the Tour de France, a second Movistar Team unit started their participation in the 11th Brixia Tour in Italy today, the 5-day event ending on Sunday. Sergio Pardilla and Ignatas Konovalovas were the best riders from the squad directed by José Luis Jaimerena in a demanding stage 1, whose opening loop around Ponte di Legno broke the bunch into pieces right from the first lap, leaving 40 riders ahead. Italians Frapporti and Baliani profited from an error on the time gaps given by the organisers to reach the finish with a 2-minute advantage over the favourites' group, including Pardilla and Konovalovas. During the opening part, Fran Pérez suffered a crash that left pain in his left knee, even though the Spaniard could complete the stage. A double sector will be awaiting tomorrow in Brescia, with the ascent to the Cat. 1 Colle San Zeno in the morning ride and a 10k individual time trial in the evening.