Alps last major obstacle for Chris Froome on Tour de France

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 Thursday, 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 Thursday’s 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.

The 121-mile trek to the Plateau de Beille took the Tour up four increasingly high ascents, 33 miles in total.

Rodriguez made his move halfway up the final 10-mile uphill grind, wheeling around world champion Michal Kwiatkowski in a switchback, and riding alone to the finish. The handful of riders who are podium threats, Froome and his team watch like hawks. Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali, his biggest rivals before Froome crushed them on the first day in the Pyrenees, tried testing him on the final ascent, taking turns with bursts of acceleration. But Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas, Froome’s guardians when the roads veer sharply uphill, and the race leader himself reeled in the challenges.

Froome’s lead of 2:52 over Van Garderen and 3:09 over Quintana could comfortably carry him to victory in Paris if his rivals can’t find ways to claw back time on the four Alpine stages, the last two particularly daunting.