Chris Froome (Team Sky) has taken over the maglia rosa at the Giro d’Italia with just two stages remaining. The Briton attacked with 80 kilometres left and despite a concerted chase by Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), Thibaut Pinot and Sebastien Reichenbach (Groupama – FDJ) with Richard Carapaz (Movistar Team) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) also in tow, they were unable to catch him.
Froome had started the day in fourth place overall, 3’22” down on previous race leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and 2’54” behind Dumoulin. Froome now leads the race by 40 seconds from Dumoulin and Pinot has moved into third overall at 4’17” behind Froome. Yates came in over 38 minutes behind Froome after getting dropped on the Colle delle Finestre and has now slipped to 18th place overall.
Team Sky set the pace on the lower slopes of the Finestre and reeled in a nine-rider break which had gone clear earlier on. Yates was soon in trouble and a few kilometres into the climb, slipped towards the back of the group before getting dropped. Team Sky continued to set a fast pace and third placed Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain Merida) was the next rider in trouble.
A few kilometres from the top, Froome attacked and distanced the remains of the lead group with Dumoulin, Pinot, Reichenbach, Carapaz and Lopez the next riders on the road.
Despite being outnumbered, Froome’s lead grew on the descent of the Finestre, along the next valley and over Sestrière. As he started the final climb of the Jafferau, Froome was virtual race leader and despite his lead dropping by a few seconds, he rallied and went on to take victory. Carapaz took second on the stage with Pinot in third.
There are just two stages remaining of the race with tomorrow’s 214-kilometre stage from Susa to Cervinia, which includes three categorised climbs, being the last chance for Dumoulin to dislodge Froome from the maglia rosa.
