• Wednesday, October 16, 2024 at 1:45 PM
Video The monster contract that Chris Froome signed with Israel-Premier Tech in 2020 is about to enter its final year. The 39-year-old Froome has decided for himself that these days he mainly wants to pass on his experience and enjoy it, and that going for results is no longer an option. The four-time Tour winner said this in an interview with CyclingFlits.
In the Tour of Guangxi we see a relaxed Froomey at work. During the race he does his bit for the team, outside of it – although the experienced Brit is the only rider in the Chinese peloton to have taken his own pressman slash bodyguard to China – he is also generous with his time to the local fans . Froome is easily approachable, also because the teams in China do not have a team bus like in Europe, and does everything necessary to provide a photo or an autograph to everyone who wants it.
“I feel good, I’m looking forward to the rest of the week,” says our camera. “I think discovering new cultures like this has become a big part of professional cycling. You have the opportunity to travel around the world and discover places you would normally never visit.”
Froome had an atypical race schedule last season. Don’t look for any Tour de France or other top races in his provisional (only) 30 racing days. The Chinese round is only his second WorldTour race of the year, after the Critérium du Dauphiné. Froome says: “This season I have certainly been to places that I never expected, or at least places where I had never raced before. Think of Rwanda, Romania and now Guangxi.”
Froome with local fans in Guangxi – photo: Cor Vos
New role in the peloton
It therefore seems that Froome has now accepted that his role in the peloton has changed in 2024. In recent years, he has continued to express his ambitions in the Tour de France and other major races ad nauseam, while his crash in the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné has caused a serious fault line in his career. No matter how hard Froome tried, apart from a few flashes – think of his third place on Alpe d’Huez in the 2022 Tour – the goal of becoming the four-time Tour winner of old did not materialize.
“I don’t actually know if this is my new role,” says Froome. “I have always done my best to help my teammates. I want to help them win matches and I enjoy doing that. Fortunately, we have that talent in the team, in the person of Joseph Blackmore (the winner of the most recent Tour de l’Avenir, ed.). “If I have to look at the future of Great Britain in racing, I think Joe has a very good chance of developing into a very great rider in the future.”
“I feel the respect from those guys in the team. Of course, that’s not exactly what I’m looking for. But I certainly love working with those young riders and sharing with them all the experiences I have had throughout my career.”
An honest Froome clearly admits that his goals will lie elsewhere in the latter part of his career. “I don’t look at results anymore, no. At the moment I’m mainly trying to do what I can in sports. Realistically, I can’t compete for wins anymore. I am still very motivated to race,” counters the cycling legend. “And I still have a lot of fun on the bike. I like this sport a lot, I like to sit on my bike. That makes it much easier to keep doing this.”
Froome earlier this season in Tyrreno-Adriatico – photo: Cor Vos
On the other hand, he has had a multi-million contract with Israel-Premier Tech for years, for which Froome was not able to give much in return in terms of results. This had already brought him some criticism from Canadian team owner Sylvan Adams. Does Froome no longer set goals in his final year of contract? “Good question (laughs). We will sit down with the team at the end of the season and only then will we see what next year should look like for me. And then we’ll dive into that.”
Dominante Pogacar
There are of course plenty of explanations why Froome is no longer competing at the front. With all-time winner Tadej Pogacar in the lead, a whole new generation has emerged. “Cycling has changed a lot over the years. Especially in the last four to five years,” Froome realizes. “The new nutritional strategies have been a big part of that. The framing too. Things just evolve. That also happens naturally. It is super interesting to see where the sport is going during this period.”
For the Brit, this is anything but accompanied by negativity. Pogacar is regularly told that he is too dominant, but Froome does not think that is a good argument. “That negativity actually comes naturally when you become so dominant. On the other hand, I found my own dominance very different. I was particularly dominant in those big tours, but he does that in every race he goes to. Or so it seems. Whether in the spring classics, the Italian autumn races or grand tours. The season Pogacar has had has been absolutely incredible.”
So where would the British climber place himself in the history of the sport, with this new generation in mind? “I will only be fully ready to properly reflect on my own career once I have completely ended my professional career. But at the moment I am incredibly proud of what I have achieved in cycling. And I am also grateful that at this moment in my life I can still do what I love most.”
