Froome plays down attack drama on Tour

Chris Froome insists he did not disobey team orders on the 'Queen' Alpine stage of the Tour de France that, once more, highlighted his apparent race-winning capabilities. The mountainous 11th stage from Albertville to La Toussuire ultimately saw Sky team leader Bradley Wiggins tighten his grip on the yellow jersey after he finished 1min 26sec ahead of Australia's defending champion Cadel Evans. But while the result, which left Evans fourth over all at 3:19, has boosted Wiggins' victory hopes significantly, some late and unexpected drama put Froome firmly in the spotlight. An attack by Froome inside the last 4 km, after he had paced Wiggins up most of the 18 km-long final climb, briefly isolated Wiggins and left him open to attacks from rivals. Moments later, Froome realised the effect of his brutal acceleration and soon slowed to allow Wiggins to catch up."They asked me to slow down," Froome said at the finish, referring to Team Sky sports director sportif Sean Yates After pacing a tiring Wiggins up to the finish, Froome then raced ahead to cross the line 2sec ahead of Wiggins, moving into second overall at 2:05 behind his fellow Briton. The drama did not go unnoticed, especially as it evoked memories of the 2011 Tour of Spain when Froome went off in a successful pursuit of the leader's red jersey as Wiggins struggled on a tough mountain stage. Froome would later come runner-up to Juan Jose Cobo in the Spanish Grand Tour, with Wiggins in third. Less than a week after his maiden race victory ahead of Evans and Wiggins on the first hilltop finish, another strong climbing display did little to abate the feeling that Froome, if he wanted to, could win the race too. But Froome insists he is sticking to team orders. "Our plan is to look after Bradley and I'm here to do that," said Froome, denying he was frustrated at not being allowed to continue his attack. "No, I follow orders at all costs. I'm part of the team and I have to do what the team asks me to do.... Bradley is just as strong as me and stronger than me in the time-trials." Wiggins later said it had been Sky's plan to allow Froome some freedom. "This morning we were planning on Cadel still being there and Chris maybe making the 21 seconds up to move to second on GC because Chris wasn't 100% confident he'd get the better of Cadel in the last time-trial," he said. "As long as I stayed with Vincenzo (Nibali) and those guys, that was the plan." Asked to comments on claims that he could win the race, Froome replied: "Maybe one day. Thanks for the compliment, but I think Bradley's in a better position."