Froome clears another hurdle as Pantano takes stage win

“What reaction I would get, who would be looming to follow me?”

Race leader Chris Froome finished slightly more than three minutes behind in a group including the other main contenders and kept the yellow jersey. Colombian climber Nairo Quintana lags 2:59 behind.

“They set a hard tempo on the last climb”. I came to the Tour de France for that but I didn’t believe it could happen.

“It must be quite demoralising for other people to have to think of attacking knowing this calibre of riders will be chasing them down”.

Quintana and Mollema have four Alpine stages next week to make up for the lost ground.

“I really am in such a privileged position to have such a strong team around me”, Froome said. “We’re going to try to do our best in the coming week”.

“I was expecting a lot more attacks. We will fight in the coming stages”.

Colombian Pantano (IAM Cycling) outsprinted Poland’s Rafal Majka to claim his maiden Grand Tour stage win.

The pair played cat and mouse in the final kilometre of 160 at the end of the mountainous stage from Bourg en Bresse to Culoz. But Majka made a mistake on the descent and allowed his rival to rejoin him.

But the Pole nearly lost it on a narrow bend on the descent allowing Pantano to bridge over, and it was the Colombian who had the legs when the two sprinted to the line. They were nearly caught by Frenchman Alexis Vuillermoz, who finished third, six seconds back.

“I dreamt of this all my life, I’m so happy”, said Pantano. “I knew that if I was catching him in the descent I’d have a good chance to win”.

With Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ) and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale) fast approaching from the chasing groups, the two leaders had to be wary of a late attack. The Frenchman escaped unscathed and was back in the race with a spare bike. The sudden change in pace left Froome unfazed while Yates was seen struggling at the back.

The only change amongst the top 10 saw American Tejay Van Garderen lose nearly a minute and a half and fall from sixth to eighth.

Monday’s Stage 16 of the Tour features a 209 km run from Moirans en-Montagne in France to Berne, Switzerland.