Chris Froome
DOB: 20/05/1985 (29 Years Old)
Nationality: British
Race History:
TdF - 1st (2013), 2nd (2012)
Vuelta - 2nd (2011)
18
Background:
Having won the Tour last time round, there is little reason to believe that Froome hasn’t got what it takes to go for yellow again. In fact, such is the strength in Team Sky’s armoury and with Froome being the right side of 30, there is potential for Kenyan born rider to go on and cement his name in the history books alongside the likes of Miguel Indurain and Eddy Merckx.
However, before even thinking of claiming a 3rd, 4th or 5th title, the Briton will need to produce the goods and claim his 2nd and as we all know, winning a Tour de France is rarely straightforward.
We regularly hear stories of the 1st week being a nervous one for the general classification riders as the rest of the peleton are twitchy and looking to take a few stages off the big men or perhaps even a day or two in yellow. To make matters more testing this year, the organisers have included a few cobbled sections inside the 1st week, ensuring that Froome and his fellow contenders need to stay on their guard if they are to avoid trouble and challenge during the latter stages of the Tour.
Recent comments from camp Froome, regarding his cagey relationship with the ‘kid from Kilburn’, Brad Wiggins, may not have endured Team Sky’s leading man to the British public, but nonetheless, its ultimately his bike riding ability that makes Chris Froome stand out from the crowd. There are few riders who can sit upon a saddle and become something of the monster that Froome does, chewing up and spitting out any of the opponents that get in his way on his pursuit to glory.
Strengths:
An easy answer to this would be to say that Froome’s strengths lie pretty much in every aspect of bike riding. He’s strong on the climbs, can time trial with the best of them, has the tactical knowledge to stay out of trouble on the flatter stages and has one of the strongest teams ever, in Team Sky supporting him.
However, his strongest weapon has to be his climbing ability. All be it that he is not a natural climber, like Quintana who we saw deliver some breath taking efforts in the Giro not so long ago, Chris is capable of produces remarkable power going up hill and is equally at home on the shorter, punchier sections of climbs.