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Welshman Geraint Thomas is only 116 kilometers away from winning the Tour de France after the time trial won in Espelette on Saturday by Dutchman Tom Dumoulin
The Briton Chris Froome, second in stage in the Basque Country, resumed the podium, in third place, behind Dumoulin.
Froome, quadruple winner of the Tour, was beaten … by a second by Dumoulin at the arrival of the 31 kilometers separating Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle d'Espelette
Thomas, leading the two intermediate scores, fell in the last third. He was third in the stage, 14 seconds behind the winner.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic is the main loser of the day. In the wake of his stage success at Laruns, he dropped from third place to fourth in the standings, after dropping Froome for 1 min 14 seconds.
The "chrono" (individual), the only one of this edition , turned in favor of two riders who fought in May on the roads of Giro they finished in the first two places.
Dumoulin, world champion in the time trial, was preceded each time by a rider of the Sky team, subject to clbadification unchanged in Paris.
– The smile of Froome –
At 27 years old, the Dutchman of the Sunweb team took his third stage success in the Tour, two years after his victories in a mountain stage (Arcalis) then in the time trial of Vallon-Pont d'Arc
Before the "chrono" of Espelette, Dumoulin had to overcome a technical incident: "It was really stressful, I could not find my jersey As a world champion, my sponsor had to redo me another, it was a morning of madness, I do not know where this combination went. "
" To be second overall and win today, 'is wonderful,' added the winner of the day. "I'm 27 years old, so I'm still hoping to get a little stronger, especially in the mountains, to be able to win the Tour de France someday."
In the provisional general clbadification, Thomas is now ahead of Dumoulin by 1 min 51 sec and Froome 2 min 24 sec before the last step.
"Arriving on the podium with Geraint Thomas is the dream," responded Froome, who has not stopped smiling, although he has come very close to the stage victory. "It's unbelievable, after a very difficult day yesterday (Friday) I thought it was not possible, I'm very happy."
The Frenchman Romain Bardet, for his part, went back a step in the standings after this time, nearly two minutes behind Dumoulin. He overtook Spaniard Mikel Landa to reach sixth place, but nearly 7 minutes from Thomas.
"It's not bad," said the best Frenchman in the overall standings on his result of the day. "The more years go by, the higher the standards, and the more you expect from me."
The last stage, Sunday, 116 kilometers long between Houilles and Paris, is a parade to the final circuit of the Champs -Elysees and a predictable sprint
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