With 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 in your bones.
This was not actually the closest of the Froome Tours: that was 2015, when Nairo Quintana had the form to win and might well have done so if Movistar had been more dynamic before unleashing him at L’Alpe d’Huez. However, the 2017 race was a Tour in which Froome never looked dominant. Not winning a stage is not a sign of a lack of charisma – winning bike races is hardly simple, as everyone knows – but it is usually an indication that a champion is not quite what he was.
Related: Chris Froome: ‘I’d like to be here for the next five years, trying to win’
Potentially, he could turn up in the Vendée in 2018 to face a dozen serious threats, many of them younger than him.
Related: Chris Froome wins fourth Tour de France after Champs Élysées procession
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