Sean Yates: Power in numbers keeps Froome in yellow

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CHAMONIX, France (VN) — The Tour de France has been converted into a race of attrition.

Fans and rivals alike are growing exasperated at Team Sky’s dominance in the climbing stages. With up to five teammates drilling everyone into the ground, yellow jersey holder Chris Froome has controlled the steepest mountains of this Tour with imperial domination.

Up until now in what’s been a climb-heavy Tour, almost no one has dared to attack Froome. And with the yellow jersey all but sewn up, Froome can race conservatively through the final two mountain stages to Paris to claim his third Tour win in four years.

So what’s going on? We spoke with Tinkoff sport director Sean Yates to get an insider’s view. A former pro and sport director who helped Bradley Wiggins win the 2012 Tour, few know the inner workings at Sky better than Yates.

Simply put, Yates says Sky’s dominance is a numbers game. With cycling’s biggest budget, Sky can buy riders who would be leaders on other teams, put them on the front of the peloton, and have them climb at their threshold power to protect Froome. And with Froome establishing himself as the strongest Tour rider of his generation, Yates said it’s virtually impossible for anyone to take on Froome directly on the climbs.

Here is Yates explaining why Froome’s grip on the yellow jersey could last another three or four years:

VeloNews: Can you explain Sky’s tactics on the climbs?Sean Yates: On the main climbs or the points where it’s crucial, Sky sits at the front and rides a very high tempo. They’re all riding at threshold, and when you’ve got very good guys riding at threshold, about 450w, or in VAM, they’re climbing 1600 or 1700, so to attack, you’ve got to go 1900 for a short period of time, which means you go over your threshold, which means you pay for it.

VN: So everyone is essentially going as fast as they can; what happens when you ‘pay for it?’SY: You can only go over your threshold for 30 seconds or 1 minute, and then you have a big dip in power. So consequently, by the time when you attack, and the time you recover from that attack, you’re going slower. And when you have such a strong team, setting such a high tempo, it’s virtually impossible to attack.

VN: Similar to what happened when a rider like Dan Martin tried to jump early on Finhaut-Emosson and later lost time?SY: That was a perfect example. Martin, he attacks, he goes into red, and he blows up. Valverde didn’t attack, but he tried to make the race hard, and went over his threshold for two minutes, or whatever it was, and obviously he couldn’t keep it up, and he drops back. That’s the story. There is nothing you can do about it, really.

VN: So when can a rider attack in these mountain stages?SY: Realistically, you can save your attack for the last kilometer, or the last 500m. If you feel you have …

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