No one has won Tour de France and Vuelta in same year since it switched dates and Chris Froome is taking nothing for granted in race that he calls brutalIt is 22 years since the Vuelta a España was shifted from its late April slot in the calendar to its current position after the Tour de France with the world championships on the horizon. The notion then – propounded by the architect of the move, the late Hein Verbruggen – was that the race would be a post-Tour revenge match, where the riders who had slipped up in France could try to salvage their seasons.It has taken a while but that is now how the Vuelta looks, partly because Team...
Team Sky’s champion never looked dominant in the 2017 race despite a lack of seasoned contenders and, at 32, he cannot go on defying the yearsWith no disrespect to Chris Froome immediately after his fourth Tour de France win I do not believe the Team Sky leader will make it five and thus join the ranks of the immortals: Indurain, Merckx, Hinault and Anquetil – not next year and probably not the year after. I appreciate that accusations that I am indulging in anti-Team Sky, anti-Froome wishful thinking will flood in but I would like to think the judgment is based on logical analysis as well as emotion. That is not emotion in the tear‑your‑hair‑out sense but on the feeling you get...
Race management, team support and the lack of a serious rival were all significant factors on the three-week journey to ParisChris Froome, apart from his 200 metres of weakness at Peyragudes, managed this Tour brilliantly, fighting for every second, never ceding an inch, hanging on to the advantage he gained in the opening time trial, all the while believing firmly he would gain time in the final contre la montre. He also did enough in the mountains – on the Mur de Péguère, on the Izoard – to make his opponents believe that he could climb with the best. The best and perhaps most important example of his unremitting ability to keep concentrating day to day was the uphill finish at...
Chris Froome’s impending triumph cannot mask the unpopularity of a team tainted by the increasing bullishness of Dave Brailsford in the face of legitimate questionsWhen Team Sky changed their jerseys from black to white for this year’s Tour de France, it was a fairly transparent attempt to rebrand themselves as good guys. A line of eight or nine riders in pitch-black uniforms stretching out at the front of the peloton day after day, squeezing the life out of the competition, was never a sympathetic look.So now, as Chris Froome closes to within one 22.5km time trial around the sights of Marseille and one ceremonial parade into Paris of his fourth Tour win in five years, did it do the job?...
Even by the standards of modern public life continuing to be Team Sky chief takes some front and there is something mesmeric about his total lack of regretDoes Sir Dave Brailsford intentionally model the tone of his public utterances on Nigel Farage speeches to the European parliament? That is certainly the effect he achieves. The Team Sky principal has had what most would regard as an “awkward” year, yet does not appear to have moderated his public persona one iota. Rather, he seems to have amplified it. Perhaps Sir Dave applies his famous “marginal gains” philosophy even to the business of being bumptious. Perhaps he is simply never satisfied, always finding new ways to be just that little bit more...