Of course, comparing climb times is problematic because the same climb may appear in different years but at a different point in a stage or indeed in the race. There may be different tactics at play and differing priorities. Certainly in this Giro, even with his Stage 19 attack, Froome's cycling is not as out there as in the past. There are plausible explanations for his ability to gap Dumoulin. What is unusual is his resurrection from the dead as highlighted by Phillipa York.
Resurrection from the dead?
I would agree he was down and many thought he was out in terms of podium, but he was definitely not out of the race as he was still riding. Stages show how he benefitted from terrain that suited him while Yates completely imploded and Dumoulin got the tactics wrong.
Stage 14. Froome wins on Zoncolan with Yates only 6s behind and Dumoulin 37s behind. Froome in 5th position 3m10s off lead of Yates and Dumoulin 1m24s behind Yates. So although a good win for Froome, still significant time differences between podium spots.
Stage 15. Bad day for Froome as Yates surges to win and finishes 1m32s ahead of Froome who also finishes 51s behind Dumoulin and other GC contenders. Overall, Froome’s deficit increases to 4m52s on Yates and 2m41s on Dumoulin. Fortunately for Froome a rest day awaits.
Stage 16. TT day. Froome loses 13s to Dumoulin and Yates does enough to stay in pink while losing time to both. Race appears to be between Yates and Dumoulin as Froome 3m50s behind Yates and 2m54s behind Dumoulin.
Stage 17/18. Sprint stages with Froome and others managing to stay upright and free from any mechanicals so no time changes.
Stage 19. Boom! Yates completely implodes. Froome attacks from way off the finish in a never been seen before tactic by him. Dumoulin gets his tactics completely wrong and allows Froome to escape, particularly on the descents, and Froome finishes 40s ahead of Dumoulin with the help of 10s win bonus and 3s intermediate sprint bonus. In reality he turned a 2m54s deficit into a 27s lead that was increased to 40s by time bonuses. Very large chunk of that time was gained on descents while Dumoulin was descending with someone he described as descending “like an old lady”. The official time gap reported between Froome and Dumoulin was 3m10s excluding time bonuses and hardly a ‘Landis’ performance.
Stage 20. Dumoulin failed to break Froome who even managed to gain another 6s on him with a late surge by which time Dumoulin had no interest in racing him and conceded.
This is hardly resurrection from the dead stuff, more a comeback based on a good performance in a TT, which is no surprise as we all know he can TT, and a scintillating performance on a mountain day when the leader completely imploded and the next hopeful got the tactics wrong and allowed Froome to stay away. Most definitely a remarkable comeback after being written off, but reversal in fortunes can be explained without any reference to PEDs, cheating, unethical behaviour etc. Froome did change his saddle as he was suffering from saddle sores and instead of the Fizik that Sky use he swapped it for a Specialized saddle with the name covered. Eagle eyed reporters did notice that. Not the first time such things have happened in cycling and will not be the last. He also had very good support from the non-riding team in terms of replenishment that must have been pre-planned.
Pippa York has previously criticised Froome so no surprise there regarding current comments. Can’t wait for the book about all the cheating that was involved in generating that palmarés for York. Still under consideration apparently.