Tour de France: Froome closer to Tour success

The Team Sky rider retained his overall lead on the dangerous mountain stage to Le Grand-Bornand and now only one significant hurdle - Saturday's 125km stage and its final hors categorie climb to Annecy-Semnoz - stands between him and a victory parade in Paris on Sunday night.

"There's still 125km to go tomorrow but it's going to be very hard for someone to make up more than five minutes on the general classification," said Froome.

"Having said that, this is a day where the whole team has to stay alert, control that last stage with one final big effort, and then we can start relaxing on the ride into Paris."

With time running out for his rivals Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana to claw back some of their deficit, attacks were expected over Friday's five categorised climbs, a stage many riders considered the toughest on a Tour which has already featured Mont Ventoux and a double ascent of the Alpe d'Huez.

But instead Froome comfortably covered the few feints thrown his way in increasingly wet weather and had a relatively drama-free day following yesterday's sugar crash and time penalty on the Alpe d'Huez.

"I was happy to be able to follow those attacks," Froome said.

"The team did a really good job. Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard did the lion's share of the work there, and it gives me a lot of pride to finish off the stage like that, and to be in this position going into the penultimate day.

"I certainly feel a big sigh of relief. I was quite nervous about it so I'm glad to put today behind us."

Froome cut short his press conference, apologising but saying he was "pretty nailed" and needed to recover before tomorrow.

Worse might be said of his rivals. They did not seem to have the energy to put him under pressure today with this brutal mountainous finish to the Tour - add on tomorrow's stage and riders will have spent 170km going uphill in the final four days - taking a toll on the peloton.

"I am at a bit of a loss to explain it," Sky team principal Sir Dave Brailsford said of the lack of attacks.

"Yesterday everyone was on their knees. Today was all or nothing if someone wanted to risk it."

But as comfortable as Froome looks tonight, Brailsford warned his man nothing was won yet.

"It's like being 2-0 up in football and thinking you've got it sewn up," he said.

"It's the worse score to have. You are lulled into a sense of confidence."

There was no repeat of Thursday's drama for Froome, even if he was reminded of it this morning by fans shouting "Don't forget your lunch, Chris!" at the start in Bourg-D'Oisans.

Ryder Hesjedal, who has been eyeing the stage he dubbed 'The Redonkathon' before the Tour began, started the day with an audacious early attack before being reigned in by Pierre Rolland, while the two hors categorie climbs that greeted the riders in the first 85km claimed a few victims, including two which could be significant come the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday.

Tom Veelers and Marcel Sieberg both abandoned, key lead-out men for Mark Cavendish's sprint rivals Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel respectively.

While Froome was covering his rivals, Rui Costa raced clear to victory, his second stage win this week after stage 16 to Gap on Tuesday.

The Portuguese took over on the front on the final climb of the day and won from Andreas Kloden by 49 seconds, and more than eight and a half minutes ahead of Froome.

Costa had overtaken Rolland on the final climb, the Col de la Croix as the weather closed in.

Rolland had led the way over the previous three categorised climbs to get back to within a single point of Froome in the King of the Mountains classification, although he will once again wear the polka-dots on Saturday with Froome decked out in yellow.

"I aimed only for the stage win, and then there was the opportunity to take points for the polka-dot jersey, but it was not the goal," the Europcar rider said.

"It was the big stage in the Alps, and I've ridden it in its entirety in training. I gave everything I had, and when I take my shower, I will have no regrets.

"Tomorrow I will see if there are opportunities to take points for the polka-dot jersey, but because of the effort I have given today I cannot see myself taking too many."

For Froome, becoming the first Briton since Robert Millar in 1984 to win the King of the Mountains classification would be a "great bonus" but nothing more - his eyes fixed firmly on a yellow jersey which increasingly looks his to keep.

Leading positions after Stage 19 (Bourg d'Oisans - Le Grand Bornand, 204.5km): 1 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 5hrs 59mins 01sec, 2 Andreas Kloden (Ger) RadioShack Leopard at 0.48, 3 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack Leopard at 1min 44secs, 4 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr at 1:52, 5 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits at 1:55, 6 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol at 1:58, 7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team at 2:03, 8 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling at 2:05, 9 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 2:16, 10 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Movistar Team at 2:44, 11 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff at 2:46, 12 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 2:48, 13 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano at 3:56, 14 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano at 4:52, 15 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team at 6:41, 16 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar at same time, 17 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida at 8:15, 18 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team at 8:40, 19 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 20 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team at same time

Selected others: 25 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Sky Procycling at 8:40, 87 Ian Stannard (Gbr) Sky Procycling 0:27:19, 98 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Sky Procycling at same time, 115 Peter Kennaugh (Gbr) Sky Procycling 0:27:32, 135 David Millar (Gbr) Garmin-Sharp 0:31:34, 147 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:35:24

General classificatioin after Stage 19: 1 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Sky Procycling 77hrs 10mins 00sec, 2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff at 5mins 11secs, 3 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team at 5:32, 4 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff at 5:44, 5 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha at 5:58, 6 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team at 8:58, 7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team at 9:33, 8 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits at 12:33, 9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team at 14:56, 10 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step at 16:08, 11 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team at 16:09, 12 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp at 16:24, 13 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 17:49, 14 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff at 19:04, 15 Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack Leopard at 20:00, 16 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 24:53, 17 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha at 30:22, 18 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack Leopard at 33:12, 19 Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team at 37:11, 20 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling at 37:53

Selected others: 79 Peter Kennaugh (Gbr) Sky Procycling 2hrs 15mins 40secs, 107 David Millar (Gbr) Garmin-Sharp 2:46:06, 136 Ian Stannard (Gbr) Sky Procycling 3:20:43, 148 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Sky Procycling 3:25:28, 149 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 3:26:58