Froome looking to seal 4th Tour title in Marseille

Published Jul. 22, 2017 6:28 a.m. ET

MARSEILLE, France (AP) Defending champion Chris Froome looks to seal his fourth Tour de France title in a time trial in Marseille, the penultimate stage of this year's race.

The Team Sky leader has a 23-second lead over Romain Bardet and is better than his French rival in the race against the clock.

A good time trialist, Rigoberto Uran is six seconds further back in third place and could overtake Bardet in the general classification ahead of Sunday's parade to the Champs Elysees.

Marseille's Stade Velodrome will stage the start and finish of the 22.5-kilometer (14-mile) time trial. The challenging route with more than two dozen bends will take riders on mainly flat urban roads. The main difficulty comes with a short but steep climb to Notre-Dame de la Garde cathedral, the most famous landmark in France's second-largest city.