Cycling: Chris Froome extends Vuelta lead

Cycling: Chris Froome extends Vuelta lead
The first week of racing in the Tour of Spain is over and so far one man has been dominating the pack: Britain's Chris Froome. Team Sky's leader made a strong push in the final uphill kilometer of Sunday's stage nine and managed grab his first stage win of this year's race and also put some more time between him and the other general classification contenders. Froome's attack came with only 500 meters left in the final climb and only Esteban Chaves was able to stay in his wheel. Now Froome has a 36-second lead on Chaves, 65 seconds on Nicholas Roche and 1 minute and 17 seconds on Vincenzo Nibali. Chris Froome looks set to pull off a historic achievement, becoming the first rider to complete the Tour de France - Vuelta a Espana double in 39 years. Only legendary French riders Jacques Anquetil in 1963 and Bernard Hinault in 1978 have managed to win both races in the same year. The riders have a rest day on Monday before taking on stage 10 on Tuesday. "I put everything I had into that last couple of hundred metres," Froome said after winning stage nine. "I was determined that they weren't going to catch me. I'm really, really happy to get the victory. The team did a brilliant job on that final climb and set such a good tempo. After a week we couldn't have asked to be in a better position. It's been a fantastic start to the Vuelta. The legs are feeling great. I've been to the Vuelta so many times, trying to target this race, and so far it feels like everything is going really well." Chris Froome is now 1/6 at Bet365 to win the 2017 Vuelta a Espana.
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