CULOZ, France -- Chris Froome has had a strong grip on the Tour de France since the three-week race began with him making key gains in areas of the race no one expected he would.The defending and two times Tour champion began by taking time on the decent of the Col de Peyresourde to the finish of stage eight at Bagnères de Luchon and did so again in the wind stricken flats of stage 11 to Montpellier before tightening the screws in one of his favoured domains -- the time trial -- in Fridays 13th stage from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont DArc.While all along, when it has come to prowess in climbing, Froome rode well in the Pyrénées and in the stage to Mont Ventoux where he looked set to extend his lead further until the final 1.2km. It was there where Froome, Australian Richie Porte (BMC) and Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) crashed into the back of a television motor bike blocked by crowds and a second motor bike following them ran over and broke his bike.But Froome even survived that relatively unscathed, barring the jokes from all and sundry -- from fans to his teammates -- in social media about how he ran without a bike for 50 seconds until he took a neutral service spare bike and then finally a Sky team issue one.But after the Tour left Provence and then headed north into the Jura mountains on Sunday, Froomes hope of a third Tour title appeared all but his barring disaster before Sundays finish in Paris. After the 160km 15th stage from Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz, Froome still leads the Tour by one minute 47 seconds over Mollema and two minutes 45 seconds over Briton Adam Yates (Orica-Bike Exchange). Second to 10th places are separated by 3:29, which should at least see a terrific battle for the podium in the Alps later this week.However, in a day that was flagged as potentially one of the toughest in the Tour to race, Froome was hardly ruffled in stage 15. Even he admitted to expecting more of a challenge.If I am honest, yes. I am quite surprised, Froome said after placing 14th and in a group of 15 riders three minutes and seven seconds behindo Colombian winner Jarlinson Pantano (IAM).Today was really a stage where I expected Movistar in particular with two strong guys in the [early 30-strong] breakaway. I thought they would be doing more in the final climb.[Alejandro] Valverde had a go, but just to go across to [Fabio] Aru when he made his move. Apart from that, Romain Bardet gave it a try. I just got the feeling that everyone was on the limit. No one really had the legs to make a big difference.Froomes expectancy of a move prompted him to feign an attack early on the Lacets du Grand Colombier to test their intent on a day that -- on paper, at least -- offered opportunity.He said: I just wanted to see exactly what the state of play was; to see what reaction I get ... who would be looking to follow me -- [it was] interesting to see Nairo [Quintana] was on my wheel quite quickly -- to give me an idea of who may be making a move over the top.Albeit there is still one week to race. But it appears that Froomes rivals -- from Quintana (Movistar), Valverde (Movistar), Aru (Astana) and Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) to Yates -- seemingly dont have the power to combat not just Froome, but the strength of his team.As Sunday showed, Froome has had numbers at all the the strike zones of this Tour. Such strength has allowed them to control the race. Even Froome empathised with those nearest him overall about what must be going through their minds against a team as strong as Sky.On Sunday, Froome lauded his teammates, repeating that this Sky team is possibly the strongest to ever race the Tour. He said that it had guys who would be leaders in other teams in their own right, but then he added: It must be quite demoralising for other people to have to think of attacking, knowing that this calibre of riders is going to be chasing and riding behind at a tempo that will neutralise their attacks.On that note, Froome then elaborated on what went through his mind on Mont Ventoux in which the image of him running through thousands of people went viral social media. Until Sunday, Froome had not spoken openly about the incident, especially in light of the terrorist attack that night in the southern French city of Nice in which 84 people were killed.On his decision to run in cycling shoes that had cleats attached, Froome said: They [his teammates] have been taking the mickey out of me a bit for it, but deservedly so. It was quite a chaotic moment up there. Obviously I got back on my bike after that straight away.I tried to pedal but realised that my rear stays were broken and that broke not going to be going anywhere. I knew I was just over a kilometre from the top and not having a spare bike -- obviously it was stuck [on a team car] behind the other riders who had been dropped -- I just figured the best thing to do was keep going forward, that when they catch up to me I can get a spare bike.That is why I took to running; and also to just move away from that moment, that bottle neck area where we were was packed. 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PORTO, Portugal -- Argentine defender Lisandro Lopez scored an equalizer two minutes into second-half injury time to give Benfica a 1-1 draw against rival FC Porto on Sunday.The point kept defending champion Benfica unbeaten and comfortably ahead in the Portuguese league.Lopezs header off a corner at the Estadio do Dragao allowed Benfica to maintain a five-point advantage over Porto, which has drawn three of its last six games.Diogo Jota had put the hosts ahead in the 50th minute with an angled shot that should have been saved by Benfica goalkeeper Ederson.dddddddddddd.We played better, Porto coach Nuno Espirito Santo said. This result will hurt. We need to recover as soon as possible.Sporting Lisbon joined Porto with 21 points from 10 matches by beating Arouca 3-0 with a pair of goals by Dutch striker Bas Dost.Sporting had only one win in its last five league games. ' ' '