Alps are Froome’s last major obstacle

PLATEAU DE BEILLE, France — One mountain range completed, one more to go.

Only the Alps loom as the last major obstacle between Chris Froome and a second Tour de France victory in Paris.

His rivals tried and failed to make the British rider and his super-strong Sky team wilt on the toughest — and last — day of climbing in the Pyrenees on July 16, on Stage 12 won by Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain, who gritted his teeth in driving rain on the final climb for his second stage win.

With those mountains that straddle France and Spain behind them, the opportunities for podium contenders to eat into Froome’s comfortable race lead are starting to run out. That might make them only more dangerous. They could take bigger risks, like speeding hell for leather on downhill roads, in hopes that Froome might crash, or gang up on him, as they sought to on the July 16 steep final ascent.

“There are only a certain amount of opportunities before we get to Paris,” Froome said. “We’ve just got to expect everything to be thrown at us.”

But to get to the 2013 champion, Froome’s rivals must first get past his teammates. And that is a problem.

The big budget of his Sky team has bought the best help money can buy, riders so strong they could lead other teams if they weren’t working for Froome.

They ride hard at the front, controlling the race. They allow only those riders with no hope of victory in Paris — like Rodriguez — to escape up the road, because they’re chasing stage victories and other rewards, while Sky fixates on the big prize: Keeping Froome in the yellow jersey to the July 26 finish on the Champs-Elysees.

Rodriguez was part of a group of 22 riders — none of them podium contenders — that broke away shortly after the start in Lannemezan, a Pyrenees town of 6,500 inhabitants, whose signature dishes include black Bigorre pork and an almond cake named after bandits.

The 195-kilometer (121mile) trek to the Plateau de Beille, which draws crosscountry skiers when it snows, took the Tour up four increasingly high ascents, 53 kilometers (33 miles) in total.

Rodriguez made his move halfway up the final 16-kilometer (10-mile) uphill grind, wheeling around world champion Michal Kwiatkowski in a switchback, and riding alone to the finish. He celebrated by waving a pointed finger like John Travolta dancing in “Saturday Night Fever,” and thrust both arms in the air.

Froome