Chris Froome: The five races that changed my life 🖐️
'Regardless of where I’m at now, I’m super happy with the decision I made to come back and I’m still doing what I love' says four-time Tour winner
Hi subscribers,
When we first proposed this feature idea to Chris Froome’s wife, Michelle, the response was overwhelmingly positive.
‘Hi! Cool, he’ll be happy not having to do the same old shit 🤣’ came the response.
The next day, we caught up with the Israel-Premier Tech rider to talk about the five races that changed his life.
On his list were some notable and well-known highlights, including the Vuelta a España in 2011 and the tense Tour de France a year later, in which Froome’s relationship with teammate Bradley Wiggins was put under the microscope throughout a stressful three weeks.
The Giro dello Regioni was also on Froome’s list, along with the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné, where he suffered horrific career-changing injuries, and of course, the jaw-dropping performance at the Giro d’Italia in 2018.
The feature is in Chris’ words, and we hope you enjoy his personal and in-depth view of the races that changed his life.
Dan
Giro delle Regioni 2007 🇮🇹
If we’re going chronologically, then I’d have to start with the Giro delle Regioni in 2007. This was my first ever stage race in Europe, having come over from Africa, and thanks to that race, I got a contract with Barloworld for the following season. I did the race with the UCI’s World Cycling Centre (WCC) team as Kenyan, and two stages stand out in my memory.
The first was stage 2, a big mountain-top finish to Sant'Angelo, and I rode away with Grega Bole. We came into the last kilometre together, and Bole was asking me to just hold the pace so that he could sit on, and that he wouldn’t try and go for the sprint. He was just about hanging on over the final slopes, but I followed the motorbike into the deviation and ended up going the wrong way, leaving Bole to carry on and take the win. I had to do a U-turn but managed to still take second.