Aru says Froome as strong as ever

Bergerac : Chris Froome is as strong as ever, according to his principal Tour de France rival Fabio Aru.

Questions have been asked of Froome’s form this year as for the first time since he started dominating the world’s greatest bike race, he came into the Tour without a stage race victory all season.

And although he holds the race leader’s yellow jersey after nine stages, his lead over Aru is a slender 18 seconds and he has yet to win a stage or strike a decisive blow to his rivals -- unlike previous years.

But Aru denied the 2016 Froome is any weaker than before.

“Certainly he’s shown himself to be as strong as before, he has the yellow jersey -- that’s the answer.”

But Aru suggested he and Astana team-mate Jakob Fuglsang would still be looking to attack Froome.

“As always we’ve got maximum respect (for Froome) but we’ll stick to our tactic as always,” he added.

Astana have been the only team to really attack Froome so far, with Aru riding away to win the fifth stage at La Planche des Belles Filles last Wednesday, while Fuglsang got clear on Sunday’s final climb, the Mont du Chat, before being pegged back just before the summit.

But their strong showing has left them second and fifth on the standings, and they’re the only team with two riders fighting for overall victory.

That was something they used to great affect during last month’s week-long Criterium du Dauphine, which Fuglsang won as Froome finished fourth and Aru fifth.

“We hope we can use it as an advantage, it’s been our idea from the beginning,” said Fuglsang, who is 1min 37sec back from Froome.

“Also from what we saw in the Dauphine, it was an advantage.”

At La Planche de Belles Filles, Froome had chosen not to follow Aru’s attack but said afterwards he would have to watch the Italian more closely from then on. He did that on Sunday but then let Fuglsang, who struggled on the Planche des Belles Filles where he’d lost more than a minute to the favourites, get away.