If Froome was free in his role after the ITT he would have won the Vuelta, simple as that.More Strides than Rides said:Tactics only get you so far. The race is ultimately a test of who is faster (If sky were stronger there would be more of them in the group, they would TTT faster, ect.). I think everyone can live with the fact that Froome just is not strong enough to overtake Cobo. No need to over complicate things
also incidentally, in pure time, without bonus seconds, Froome did better than Cobo even as helper for Wiggins half the Vuelta