PAU, France (AP) — The Latest from the first rest day of the Tour de France (all times local):
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2:30 p.m.
The Tour de France’s “Fab Four” have, with Tejay van Garderen, become five.
The rider for the BMC team wasn’t seen by many as a potential Tour winner when the race set off from Utrecht on July 4. But nine stages later, the American heads into the high mountains of the Pyrenees trailing race leader Chris Froome by just 12 seconds.
That means the American is now being mentioned in the same breath as 2013 winner Froome, 2007 and 2009 champion Alberto Contador, 2014 winner Vincenzo Nibali and 2013 runner-up Nairo Quintana.
Van Garderen sees the funny side of being left off that list of pre-race list of favorites, saying Monday on the first rest day of this 102nd Tour that it “seemed a little incomplete” without him and noting that “the Backstreet Boys have five guys.”
Van Garderen, who finished fifth at the 2012 and 2014 Tours, said he expects this year’s race will be decided next week on climbs in the Alps and not this week in three days of ascents in the Pyrenees, which start Tuesday.
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12:20 p.m.
Tour de France leader Chris Froome says it’s time for the race favorites to lay their cards on the table.
Speaking Monday on the first rest day, the Sky team leader says the high mountains that start Tuesday with an ascent into the Pyrenees will offer the first true gauge of his rivals’ fitness.
Froome described the mountains as “the heart of the race” and “where the real race for yellow truly starts” because “we are going to see who has done their homework, who has got what.”
When he won in 2013, Froome made an immediate impression on the first Pyrenean stage, with a swashbuckling ride that left rivals eating his dust. This time, he is not obliged to attack thanks to the already sizeable time advantage he built up in the first nine stages over some other main contenders.
That puts the onus on them to make up the lost minutes. Froome needs only to ensure that they don’t ride off ahead of him on the uphill roads.
Froome’s team manager Dave Brailsford noted that “if nobody attacks, we’ve won the race.” He says Sky wants to attack, “but we’re not going to be reckless.”
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