The Tour de France went into full business mode today with the first real big climb of the tour. Kenyan/Brit Chris Froome romped home in the final climb up Ax 3 Domaines to take the yellow jersey for the first time this year and lead the race by 51 seconds from Australian team-mate Richie Porte.
The signs are ominous now and it might be quite hard for anyone else to take the yellow jersey from Froome on this form - not only do they have to overcome Froome but they have to get past his trusty lieutenant, Richie Porte.
In what will probably be the only cooperative between a Brit and Aussie this year, Porte will surely now negate the efforts of other challengers including Evans and Contador to ensure his leader is in yellow in Paris - meaning we could see a repeat of last year's race. The only thing that will stop Froome now will be injury or illness - even then such is his support from his team that Froome could break a leg and still win the Tour de France this year.
As for Jack Bauer, in what is undoubtedly the toughest climb of his road cycling career yet, Bauer finished 29 minutes and 12 seconds behind the leaders - a highly respectable time. He is classified 166th, 1 hour 21 minutes 59 seconds behind Chris Froome - not a bad effort.
The Tour has one more stage on Sunday before the rest day on Monday. Even if Froome's journey to the yellow jersey is certain now, don't switch off yet as Bauer is still very much there to follow!
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