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Journalism of Courage
Halfway through the Tour de France,Chris Froome appears unstoppable after pulverizing his main rivals in Wednesdays time trial.
Although Froome missed out on his second stage win of the centenary Tour by 12 seconds to winner Tony Martin of Germany,second place on stage 11 still felt like a big victory for the British rider since all of his challengers were at least two minutes slower than him. My biggest race today was with the other GC riders, Froome said. Ive extended my lead so Im very happy with that.
Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde is still in second place overall but 3 minutes,25 seconds adrift of Froome,while Alberto Contador improved to fourth but is 3:54 behind.
Meanwhile,the 2010 Tour champ Andy Schleck and 2011 winner Cadel Evans lost massive time and may not want to look at the results. Im happy with my shape, Froome said. I think Ive shown in the mountains that I can hold my own,and time trial also.
As the two-time world time trial champion,Martin did not disappoint over the 33-kilometer 20.5-mile route in Normandy from Avranches to the breathtaking island citadel of Mont-Saint-Michel.
Hats off to Tony Martin, Froome said. It just goes to show what class he has. Froome was quicker over the first two time splits but slowed down in the last section and Martin won in just over 36 minutes. Im not sad at all with that, said Froome,who also finished second behind countryman Bradley Wiggins on last years longer time trial. I gave that time trial everything I had.
He was the only rider to get within a minute of Martin,with Belgian Thomas De Gendt 1:01 behind in third.
Martins win was even more special considering that he lost consciousness on his team bus after his heavy crash on stage 1. The accident was so bad that his left lung was bruised and layers of skin were shredded off his back.
