Froome goes off-grid

Two-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome (Sky) seems hell-bent on creating a new personal racing narrative, and I like it.

Chris Froome made the splits to mix it with Peter Sagan on Stage 11. Source: Getty Images

Overnight, Froome increased his overall lead by 12 seconds on his nearest rivals, a defensive buffer that may come in handy as the race reaches its highest elevations. 

Froomey, Froomedog, whatever we like to call him has always been defined as ungainly and tied to his power meter in search of the latest marginal gains cooked up by the mad scientists in the Sky lair.

If the 2016 edition of the Tour has revealed one thing, it's that there is another Chris Froome lurking, the bike racer. 

Twice in this year's race Froome has seemingly switched off the power meter, kicked the lab coats off the bus and turned into a baller.  

First on Stage 8 when he attacked on the final descent of the Col de Peyresourde at the end of the 184km from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon. 

There he showed he can descend with the best – a technical specialty where he was thought to be lacking in skill relative to his peers.  

He was at it again overnight when he capitalised on the wind and splits on what was supposed to be a sprinters stage, and rode to the finish just behind Tinkoff's Peter Sagan. Wait! What? 

Not only is Froome now a great descender but he looks like a guy who is comfortable in the most difficult of classics style racing conditions. 

“I was asking myself in the last ten kilometres, 'Is it worth it?'" Froome said.

"At the moment, I try to get time on my adversaries anywhere, knowing that Nairo (Quintana) is usually very strong in the last week. So whenever I manage to take seconds on him, I will.

"For the time being, I'm just enjoying my racing. To be in the yellow jersey is a dream scenario. It's bike racing at its best. I attack downhill and on the flat just because I enjoy it, I'm not forced to it because of the pressure.

"As a team, we ride very well together. Today, the guys positioned me to perfection, that's how I could go after Sagan."

Yep. Froomey has gone off-grid, lighting his own fires, foraging for his own berries and not waiting for instructions from the village chief, Dave Brailsford.

He is a rider prepared to fend for himself and improve in order to stay one step ahead of his rivals. That's the mark of true champion. 

In doing so he's also thrown Sky's tactical predictability out the window and given his rivals something new to think about. That could prove tactically crucial later in this Tour.

He now leads Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) by 28 seconds, Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) by 31, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) by 35 seconds, while Australia's Richie Porte (BMC) is two minutes and 22 seconds behind. Perhaps they too need to throw the playbooks out the window and give us a new look. 

He still looks like an phasmid on wheels though, that will sadly never change.