Chris Froome determined to keep yellow jersey after conquering 2017 Tour de France's first summit finish

The 32-year-old Sky rider wants to defend the maillot jaune all the way to Paris

History is on Froome’s side when it comes to wearing yellow at La Planche des Belles Filles (Getty)

Defending Tour de France champion Chris Froome swept into yellow once more on the race’s first summit finish on Wednesday, but the Sky rider has warned that he still faces “the hardest fought battle I’ve ever had for the Tour.”

Third at the summit of the lung-burstingly steep six-kilometre Planches des Belles Filles ascent behind Italy’s Fabio Aru, Froome now heads the Tour by 12 seconds over team-mate and former leader Geraint Thomas.

But although the 32-year-old Sky rider said he wants to defend the maillot jaune all the way to Paris, the three times winner also warned that “it’s going to be a big battle, the time differences still are very small.”

“The organisers wanted a more open race and that’s what we’re going to get for sure.”

Froome’s Team Sky certainly turned on the power in force at the foot of the Planche des Belles Filles, with team-mates Michal Kwiatkowski scooping up the earlier breakaways on the lower slopes and then Mikel Nieve taking over. The likelihood of Froome repeating his 2012 stage win, which kickstarted his still-continuing run of success in the Tour de France, seemed higher than ever.

Aru charged ahead and took the stage (Getty)

However, an explosive charge away by 2015 Vuelta a España winner Fabio Aru initially brought a muted response from Sky’s line of climbers. It was only when Froome himself decided to counter-attack, some two kilometres from the summit, that all bar three contenders fell behind - Ireland’s Dan Martin, Romain Bardet, who finished second last year, and Australian arch-rival Richie Porte.

But, crucially, when none of the three decided to collaborate with Froome in his pursuit of Aru, the life went out of the counter-attack, and Froome failed to launch any more moves.

Chasing down a last-minute blast away by Dan Martin netted the Briton third place, but it was too late to stop Aru from taking the stage, winning solo in the Italian National Champion’s jersey, just as compatriot Vincenzo Nibali did on the same climb in 2014.

Apart from the satisfaction of taking the Tour’s lead so early in the race, history is definitely on Froome’s side when it comes to wearing the yellow jersey at La Planche des Belles Filles. Both in 2014 and in 2012, the Tour’s previous two ascents of the deeply wooded climb in the Vosges mountains, the leader at the summit - Nibali in 2014, Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2012 - has gone on to win the Tour outright.

Froome failed to repeat his 2012 stage win (Getty)

On the downside is Froome’s failure to repeat his 2012 stage win and that, more importantly, whilst key rivals like Nairo Quintana, the triple Tour podium finisher, appeared to be struggling, other climbers like Aru have quickly filled any power vacuum.

“I’m going to do everything to keep the yellow,” Froome insisted, “but it’s a long way to the finish.”

“I haven’t raced much this season, I’m fresher than other years, and I hope in the third part of the Tour I’ll get even better.”

Britain’s Simon Yates fell behind when Froome attacked, but the rider from Bury combined forces with Spain’s Alberto Contador and courageously clawed back time to place sixth on the stage and move into sixth overall. Yates now heads the Best Young Rider’s competition, a year after his twin brother and Orica-Scott team-mate Adam was atop of the same classification.

“ Of course there's a lot of strong guys still not really that far behind me in the white jersey classification, but I'll give it my best shot,” Yates said afterwards. For Froome almost exactly the same sentiment applies - but in his case, for the yellow