Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 74, September 2015 | Page 56

Mc

Best of British

Running on yellow
With three Tour de France victories in four years, and a host of
Olympic medals, anyone would swear that British cycling is
riding a crest of a wave of successes at the moment. Central to
that success is Chris Froome, a cyclist with deep African, and
South African, roots.

D

uring the 2012 Tour de France, he
helped Bradley Wiggins through a
couple of stages, ensuring that the
sideburn-adorned rider would
eventually keep the yellow jersey all
the way to Paris.

In 2013, Chris went out and won le Tour
outright.
Unfortunately for both the Kenyan-born
rider and Team Sky, he crashed out of the
2014 le Tour de France. This performance
was probably the icing on the cake for
Chris as the rest of the season was pretty
dismal.
But, like a true champion, Chris bounced
back. And what a victory his 2015 le Tour
de France was. In spite of cups of urine
thrown at him and, perhaps even worse,
a barrage of doping-related questions
hurled in his direction at every press
conference during the three-week event,
he won the event with 12 minutes to spare.
A former team mate on the UJ Cycling
Team describes Chris as “a walking cycling
text book”, that he had amazing attention
to detail and did what it took at all times,
including training and eating.
“He would do his trainer hours in the
evening because ‘they had to be done’
and would often encourage and help
other riders during training rides, which
helped a lot,” the former professional rider,
who doesn’t want to be identified, said.
After his victory in 2013, the University of
Johannesburg released a statement:

BCom Entrepreneural degree
at the Department of Business
Management in the Faculty of
Management and now serves
as a special inspiration for the UJ
squad,” said UJ cycling manager
Karel Mouton, who remembered Chris as
a very modest, mild-mannered and shy
student.

“He was also very determined and
followed advice and training suggestions
to the letter.”
“During his student years, there was
seldom an occasion when I found him
at home when I called. He spent a lot of
time on his bike in areas such as Hekpoort,
Randfontein, Hartbeespoort Dam or
Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve” said
Mouton.
Never one for “conventional”, Chris has
had an interesting life. His cycling career
seemed to gain momentum when his
parents decided that his educational
needs required a relocation, so he moved
to South Africa in 1999.
After 18 months as a boarder in St
Andrew’s in Bloemfontein, Chris was
sent north to the Highveld and the city
of Johannesburg, where he attended St
John’s College.
During his time at boarding school in South
Africa - and on holidays home to Kenya Chris continued to ride his bike, alone at
St Andrew’s and St John’s (often indoors
on a home-trainer), or with Kinjah’s club
back in Kenya during frequent trips to that
country at the time.

“In 2005, Froome enrolled at UJ for a

10

As leader of Team
Sky’s 2015 Tour de
France team, it
was important for
Chris Froome to
ride conservatively
during the first few
stages of the race.
Photograph by
Gruber Images.

ISSUE 12 SEPTEMBER 2015 / www.moderncyclist.co.za

Aged 17, Chris inherited his first road bike
from one of his brothers. He also had his
first encounter with the Tour de France,
watching the 2002 race on TV.
“It was on TV in the boarding house at St
John’s. I was 17 and I was transfixed by it. I
was in awe of the ambience of the crowd
and the mountains. I had that ‘Wow, I’d
love to do that one day’ feeling. That was
the pipe dream, but I never really, until
recently, thought it’d come true,” Chris
told a British newspaper soon after the
2013 Tour de France.
In 2005, he turned up for his first official
race as rider with the Hi-Q Super Cycling
Academy. In 20 starts in South African
races over the rest of that year, Chris
didn’t win a race until the Tour de
Maurice, a six-day race on the island of
Mauritius.
The following year, 2006, Chris represented
Kenya - alongside David Kinjah and four
others - at the Commonwealth Games
in Melbourne, where they raced on
their own bikes, the Kenyan federation’s
budget (or interest) not stretching to
providing their riders with kit.
Soon after that, Chris went to Switzerland
for a couple of stints in the UCI world
cycling centre (WCC) in Aigle, and
eventually found his way into Team Sky in
time for the 2012 Tour de France.

Chris Froome (in yellow) with other
riders from Team Sky participating in
the 2015 Tour de France. Photograph
by Gruber Images.