Is this the end of Chris Froome?

After Chris Froome lost more time on stage 11 of the Giro, leaving him over 3 minutes down on the GC, it raises an important (if premature) question. Is this the end of GC dominance for the 5 time grand tour winner?

Team Sky have played down the importance of his current condition, saying the target was always the crucial final week, and only time will tell on that. But as things stand it would take minor miracle for him to take back the time he needs on Dumoulin and Yates.

There can be no doubt that the ambition to win a first Giro was always secondary to winning a fifth Tour, and a crash in the recon for the opening prologue has hindered him, but as we get to the halfway stage of the race those excuses are starting to wear thin.

Nobody can argue that Froome doesn’t know how intense the racing in the Giro can be, he was disqualified in 2010 for holding onto a police motorcycle.

If the injuries picked up in the crash are so serious surely a withdrawal should be considered, what’s more the fall that caused the injuries was almost two weeks before he lost 40 seconds on a short punchy climb at the end of Stage 11.

The two men that Froome has to overhaul are Yates and Dumoulin, the former looking like a coiled spring at the bottom of every climb, and the latter biding his time to blow the race apart in the time-trial. It’s a tough ask.

This attempt at two grand tours looks like a zero sum game for Froome, not only has the mask of invincibility been taken away, but with a monumentally risky first week in the tour, he could easily find himself out of that race in the early stages as he was in 2014.

Contenders like Yates, Bardet, Pinot and especially Dumoulin are continuing to improve every year. Even the boffins at Team Sky cannot stop the slow decay of time, Chris Froome must know that he doesn’t have any wiggle room if he wants to add to his legacy.