Kirby: Chris Froome like a choirboy with a killer instinct supported by clinical Team Sky assassins

Updated 20/07/2016 at 09:14 GMT

Eurosport's voice of cycling Carlton Kirby tells Desmond Kane why Chris Froome and Team Sky have been so dominant at the Tour de France, and sympathises with France, who are facing ending their event without a stage win for the first time in 17 years.

Yellow jersey leader Team Sky rider Chris Froome of Britain poses for photographers after a media conference during a rest day.

Image credit: Eurosport

Froome has remarkably improved from Tour wins in 2013 and 2015

Chris Froome has said privately that he feels that the other teams must surely be demoralised because Team Sky are so dominant.

He is absolutely right because there are other riders who are basically saying I wish I could ride for Team Sky. They are quite open about it because they are just at a completely different level.

Tour de France

Tony Martin scared everybody with his breakaway, says Etixx chief

00:02:41

18/07/2016 at 19:35

When you look at the riders who are trying to challenge, there is nothing there.

Nairo Quintana is the likeliest party pooper, but Nairo doesn’t have the same back-up or capabilities with Movistar as Froome has at Sky. What Chris has done here is astonishing.

There was a moment during the second week on stage 12 from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux with 2.6km to go when Quintana was on screen in a pressure moment. It was a telling piece of behaviour because he had clearly been asked to attack Froome, and he just shook his head.

Quintana left shaking his head

There were no team-mates around him. To me, it was the most poignant moment of week two. That moment when Quintana shook his head was the moment that Froome became the overwhelming favourite for a third Tour success.

Froome is actually heading for victory having imposed himself in areas where you wouldn’t have expected him to.

Chris Froome is ready for final push.

Image credit: Eurosport

He won a stage on a descent on stage eight, but then gets himself involved in a sprint with Peter Sagan on stage 11 to Montpellier.

Froome showed his sheer bravery and determination, even to look for a few seconds.

I think he took only six seconds from that stage with Sagan, but when you look at a fast day and you see Sagan and then you see the next name is Froome and he is ahead of guys like Edvald Boasson Hagen, Alexander Kristoff and Andre Greipel. It is quite remarkable.

It shows his killer instinct is very much intact despite his choirboy looks. This is man who is not going to give anybody any gifts.

Team Sky are aggressive, hunt in packs and provide perfect foil for Froome to flourish

People are wondering if Froome is going to go on the defensive during the final week, but that is a dangerous thing to do because you change the entire rhythm of a squad.

And Team Sky are a very aggressive team. They sit on the front and protect Froome, but the best form of defence is attack. They attack because they know they are best placed to attack.

When other people roll aggressively against them and shoot up the road, they turn up the heat. They know the numbers of just about everybody they are facing.

They can kind of work out on an incline just how much somebody has got in the bank, and how much they can possibly invest in a climb.

They know if they can increase their tempo as a team by a certain amount, they can all stay together as a team and that person will run out of steam.

A lot of people say that is not an attractive way of racing because it is not attacking, but Chris Froome himself has taken up that role of attacking and he did brilliantly when he and Sagan fought it out.

I wished somebody would have asked Froome after he finished within touching distance of Sagan: "Well, you messed up that sprint a bit didn’t you?" With tongue firmly in cheek, of course.

Final moments of Chris Froome's break on stage 8

You look at Froome, 31 and at his peak, and wonder where can this guy can fail? He is worked so hard to become an all-rounder which is remarkable.

The incident when he ended up running the road after crashing near the end of stage 12 summed him up. He can ride, he can run. We wonder here whether he was swimming on the rest day. He is almost like a triathlete.

Everybody is on the backfoot, and they are trying to unpick this puzzle that is Team Sky.

It appears to be all locked down, but so many things can happen and there are so many exciting days ahead.

Megève can be magical for Froome, Yates a future Tour de France contender

The 17km of mountain time trial to Megève for stage 18 on Thursday could decide this all for Chris.

We go into the Alps afterwards, but Megève will be a very good indicator of where we stand before the last two big mountain days.

I think if Froome produces an outstanding performance in Megève, it is a done deal. The last two climbing days could see him increase his advantage.

I think Adam Yates can hold on for the white jersey. He has been absolutely outstanding. He is so far ahead in the youth riders classification that people are already talking about him being the next British Tour de France winner after Chris Froome.

That is not just idle talk, a lot of people are saying it. Sagan is solid in green, he just needs to finish to win it.

Adam Yates

Image credit: AFP

Rafal Majka could claim the King of Mountains for Tinkoff which would be amazing for them.

But even that pales beside the achievements of Dimension Data. Mark Cavendish has flew home to prepare for the Olympic Games, but is clearly back to his best with four stage wins, and Steve Cummings winning a stage has been wonderful.

Highlights: Stephen Cummings solos to stage seven win

They’ve won five stages, a team that is supposed to be new boys on the block and quite frankly a collection of great names that everybody worried wouldn’t meld together.

[Carlton Kirby: Mark Cavendish the greatest sprinter of all time, Marcel Kittel in mental turmoil]

Even Serge Pauwels finished second to Thomas De Gendt on Mont Ventoux for Dimension Data. Tinkoff will be singing from the rafters if they make off with a couple of the jerseys, but Dimension Data have got every reason to be celebrating wildly at the end of this.

France facing worst performance at Tour since 1999 amid British glory

The French don’t know what they’ve got to do to win a stage. Julian Alaphilippe has been trying everything, and finished fifth on a stage he should have won to Culoz.

The last time France failed to win a stage on the Tour de France was 1999. They time for panic is over, they are suddenly beginning to shrug.

They are bereft that all the interviews at the finishing line are being done in English on their own patch even by the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who speaks brilliant English.

They asked Peter Sagan if he can speak in French, but he said he would do it in Italian. It is a wound that France is taking from the old enemy. They are actually calling it the English Tour at the moment.

I think it will probably will be the best British tour in history, but every tour I’ve ever been on is great for various reasons in retrospect.

When you are at the centre of the crucible, you almost don’t appreciate the implications. It is almost like: "Oh, another stage win for the Brits, how lovely is that?"

We are going to need to sit back and quantify it. It is a great tour to be Brit, but I do commiserate with the French.

I think we will all soon appreciate how special this year’s event has been.

Anyone who thinks differently is probably someone who can’t find a way through Team Sky, or a French cycling fan.

From Carlton Kirby in Berne on Twitter @carltonkirby

Tour de France