“I will keep coming back for the next five or six years and give it my best shot”.
Advertisement
He added: “I’m still learning so much about the sport, and I think tactically I’ve shown this year that I have matured, I have learnt a lot, that’s probably why I’ve been able to race way I have this year”.
Froome sipped champagne and drank from a bottle of beer before the sprinters got their moment.
A week after the 2015 Tour ended, he stunned the likes of Alejandro Valverde, Joaquim Rodriguez and Dan Martin to claim his first UCI WorldTour win, at the Clasica San Sebastian one-day race, after a solo attack on the final climb.
As it was, Sky’s and Froome’s superiority was total, the Briton’s winning margin of 4?min 05?sec over Romain Bardet (AG2R) barely telling the story of a team performance which was so dominant Sky finished with five riders in the top 35, with accusations that they had bought their success.
The defending champion makes his move on Stage 8 with a surprise attack on the descent into the finish at Bagneres de Luchon.
The battles for the minor jerseys were no less predictable than the yellow one.
The most freakish sight of the whole Tour – Froome jogging towards the finish line on Stage 12 after Richie Porte crashed into a motorbike and brought Froome and Bauke Mollema down with him.
By the time he is back in the saddle, he is well down on his rivals but the times are amended to take into account the crash and the yellow jersey remains with him.
The rain comes down on Friday and Froome is not the only rider to fall in treacherous conditions. Widely proclaimed the best climber in the world, he was not even second best to Froome at this Tour.
Meanwhile, Froome has vowed to try for more victories on the Tour, having joined Belgian Philippe Thys, American Greg LeMond and France’s Louison Bobet as triple winners.
Its Sky Ride events, for example, which launched in 2009, are credited with inspiring more than 1 million people in the U.K.to take up regular cycling, and for the past three years, the team has supported young people in the Los Angeles area during its participation in the Amgen Tour of California.
“It’s a course that suits me well”. He next flies to Rio with a chance to better Wiggins’ haul as he competes in the men’s road race and time trial. He will finally go home to Monaco for a few days’ rest before flying back to London for Sunday’s RideLondon Surrey Classic.
“Now a bit of recovery after this race”.
The 23-year-old had not initially targeted the general classification in the Tour, but as time went on, he proved day after day that he was one of the strongest riders in the race.
Advertisement
Froome’s victory was arguably the easiest of his three so far, after the riders who had been expected to push him the hardest all fell out of contention early as a result of either injury, illness, poor form or bad luck. At the end of today’s stage Thomas said: “If [Sky] paid me to entertain, I’d entertain but they don’t, they pay me to win [for the team]”. “It’s going to be an extremely tough event”, Froome said.
