Once again, Chris Froome reached the first rest day of the Tour de France in yellow, but this year, his advantage is much thinner and his main rival Nairo Quintana is keeping his cards close to his chest.
 The Briton, who hammered the opposition in the first summit finish of the Tour in 2013 and 2015, leads fourth-placed Quintana, the runner-up in those two years, by 23 seconds.
 In 2013 and 2015, the Team Sky rider was leading Quintana by about 2 minutes going into the first rest day.
 Froome, who took the overall lead with a stunning attack in the final descent of the eighth stage, was however unable to drop Movistar’s Quintana in the final ascent to Arcalis the next day and the Colombian never looked in trouble even if he failed to attack.
 Froome, however, is confident he is well equipped to add a third Tour title to his trophy cabinet, especially because he feels he has the best team support.
 “It really is a good place to be at the moment and I’m really happy to have the yellow jersey on my shoulders, tactically and obviously for the morale for the team,” the 31-year-old told a news conference yesterday. “Tactically, it just puts the shoe on the other foot. It’s up to other teams now to have to go out there and try and gain back time that they’ve lost already. It means with the team that I’ve got, they’ve shown themselves over the last few days just in terms of numbers in the final that we do have the strongest team here.”
 Others disagreed on the Team Sky riders’ form. Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2r-La Mondiale), who is sixth overall, 44 seconds off the pace, said he was expecting more from the British outfit. “Sky are very powerful but I expected them to be much stronger yesterday. In the final climb, Froome was a bit alone,” he said.
 Froome may be wondering if he has what it takes to drop Quintana like he used to and he remains in the Colombian’s range of fire. “If Froome unbeatable at the moment? I feel Nairo is, too,” said Quintana’s teammate Alejandro Valverde.
 “There’s still a long way to go in this Tour — you must attack when it’s your real time. You never know when it comes,” he warned.
 Quintana and Froome now look set for a mouthwatering duel in the 12th stage on Thursday between Montpellier and the intimidating Mont Ventoux, where the Briton had beaten his rival by 29 seconds in 2013.

Using bike motor ‘stupid’, says Froome manager
Froome’s team manager said yesterday it would be “stupid” to try to use a motorised bike in the Tour de France and the reigning champion and race leader is being tested more than anyone else.
 Froome came under intense scrutiny last year after a scintillating attack on the first mountain stage of the Tour gave him a decisive advantage over his rivals. He went on to claim his second title in three years.
 The debate around the use of tiny electronic motors in bikes raged since and authorities are now using a thermal camera and magnetic resonance testing to check for motors.
 Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford said the testing should close the debate as it would be foolhardy to even try to cheat in such a way.
“To find an engine in a bike is a pretty simple thing to do in this day and age,” said the Sky manager. “The technology that you (journalists) have got to beam these pictures up to a satellite and back is way more complex and difficult — that you use on a day to day basis — than finding a motor in a bike. It’s not a difficult task. You just need the right technology to find it — you’ve either got an engine in your bike or you haven’t.”
 Brailsford insisted Froome’s equipment had come in for more scrutiny than anyone else’s on the Tour. “His bike’s been tested more than anyone else’s, we’re getting tested every day. We actually got an e-mail from the UCI the other day saying ‘thank you’ for being the most co-operative team out of everybody in the bike checks and all the mechanical checking.
 “So if someone was stupid enough to have the idea of coming here with a bike (motor) for sure they’d get caught. The whole discussion about bikes and motors, given the level of testing, is something that we need to reconsider.”
 Froome has not managed to stamp his authority on the Tour this year as he did in his previous two successful yellow jersey tilts. Although he is the race leader, he has only a 16 second gap on young British countryman Adam Yates.
 “It’s going to be a tight race. It’s what I thought before and I’ve seen nothing yet to change my opinion,” added Brailsford. Behind 23-year-old Yates is Ireland’s Dan Martin at 19 seconds.
 Yates’ previous best Tour performance was 33rd in 2013, although a year later the British-born 29-year-old finished seventh in the Vuelta a Espana. Yates, whose twin brother Simon is also a professional cyclist, was 50th at the Tour last year.
 Only nine of the 21 Tour stages have been completed but Froome believes both rivals are capable of maintaining a push for the yellow jersey.
 “I think they already have shown themselves as contenders. If they can do what they’ve done in the first half again, then they will be on the podium come Paris,” said the 31-year-old Froome. “There’s no reason they shouldn’t be up there, but three weeks is a long time. It is different between riding a week-long race and a Grand Tour. But so far they’ve shown no weaknesses in that respect.”