Top class: Chris Froome near unbeatable at Tour de France after time trial performance

MONT-SAINT-MICHEL, France – Going down a row of television cameras, answering one question after another, the wearer of the Tour de France’s yellow jersey never veered off message. Yes, said Chris Froome, he was delighted to have increased his race lead with a super-fast ride in the time trial. But, no, he added, the Tour isn’t over yet because the road to Paris is still long.

Froome is right about the long part — Paris is still 1,032 miles away. But if Froome really believes there is any doubt that he will be standing on top of the podium on the Champs-Elysees on July 21, then he is part of a quickly shrinking minority. After Wednesday’s time trial race against the clock to the medieval abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel — among the most beautiful backdrops ever visited by the 110-year-old Tour — the Briton has a lead that now appears unassailable.

Looking like spacemen in their aerodynamic teardrop-shaped helmets and riding special go-fast bikes to better slice through the air, the 182 riders set off one after another from the Normandy town of Avranches, which the forces of U.S. Gen. George S. Patton liberated in World War II.

Froome, as race leader, set out last. He puffed out his cheeks and licked his lips. The race starter held up five fingers and counted down. When the fingers were folded away, Froome raced off, powering past crowds several rows deep.

But with each push on his pedals, Froome’s lead over his rivals grew.

By the end, with Mont-Saint-Michel rising majestically in front of him from an islet off the Brittany coast, Froome wasn’t far from catching Alejandro Valverde, even though the Spaniard set off three minutes earlier than him from Avranches.

As Valverde was crossing the line in front of the abbey called the “Wonder of the West,” the crowds could already be heard cheering for Froome, who zoomed in just one minute later.

Although Valverde is still Froome’s closest rival, it’s really no longer close. Froome’s lead over the Spaniard more than doubled to 3 minutes, 25 seconds. At the Tour, that might as well be light years. Froome would have to crash, suffer some other mishap or get sick and melt down on the towering Mont Ventoux and in the Alps next week for his rivals to catch him.

“Once we get into the Alps, there’s a run of a few days, back to back, which are going to be very hard,” he said. “I’m sure other teams are really going to test us.”

For the moment, two-time champion Alberto Contador still isn’t ready to surrender to Froome – even though he’s essentially racing for second place. The time trials at this 100th Tour were shortened from those last year to try to maintain suspense in the outcome. But Contador still lost more than two minutes to Froome on the 20-mile course. He is now 3:54 behind Froome in fourth place.