LAURENS TEN DAM
Laurens warns his rivals and the rest of us: never underestimate Chris Froome
In the Netherlands it is a tradition that we do kermesses after the the Tour de France for two weeks, day in and day out. We literally race the day after Paris. As the paycheck is good, those races are not only for the Dutch riders. The bigger events have enough money to pull the foreign stars out of their Tour de France hangover and to lure them to race in their local event. A Tour stage winner is paid very well, the green and polka dot jersey winners are paid royally and rumour has it a yellow jersey winner gets paid €50,000 for one day of racing.
Somehow the big names always end on the podium. The local organisers are happy, the public is happy and the next day in another town it starts all over again. In the old days it was necessary for riders to take part in those races to get by, though in the modern era the salaries in the World-Tour are good enough not to participate. But most of the riders like the tradition too much and will appear anyway.
I was on the start line of one of those races with Chris Froome. It must have been 2012 because I complimented him on his second place behind his team leader Bradley Wiggins. I must admit I was more surprised by Chris’s result than by Wiggo’s win. So a sincere congratulations was appropriate in my opinion. Chris nodded at me, we had some small talk and then he stated out of the blue about Alberto Contador’s absence that year and how much more interesting he thought his presence would have made the race for him.
I was surprised. I knew there had been some controversy in the Sky team between Froome and Wiggo. Froome didn’t wait for Wiggins in a big Pyrenean stage, and there was the famous fight on Twitter between their wives Michelle Froome and Cath Wiggins. But in my opinion it was clear that Chris was the domestique in 2012. Wiggo showed his strength in the time trials and Chris was there to help him in the mountains.
But Chris was not so sure. He would have liked Alberto in the race to spice things up in the mountains. So that he could have a shot at his first Tour de France victory in 2012.
This shows his character. He would kill for a victory. The best example in my opinion is the race-winning raid he did on the Finestre in the 2018 Giro. I still regret not having distanced him more in the first two weeks of the Giro, when I rode for Dumoulin. Chris looked overweight and sluggish. He was not prepared like a Giro winner in my opinion. I made a mistake in underestimating him.
All odds are against him again now. His last victory was that Giro of 2018. Two team-mates of his have won the Tour already since then and last but not least he had a lifethreatening accident last year in the Critérium du Dauphiné. A 12-month revalidation period has just finished.
If I was Dave Brailsford, his team manager, I wouldn’t bet on Chris winning the Tour. Chances are he will be in the same position in September in France as he was back in 2012. A helper for a potential Tour winner. And he doesn’t like that. It is a fact he wants to maximize his chances of winning his fifth Tour de France.
So I am not surprised hearing the mid-season transfer rumours. But whereas back then I didn’t like his unfaithful behaviour towards Wiggo, I would totally support this move now. It would make the Tour way more interesting. The two strong blocks of Jumbo and Ineos would still fight each other. But there would be an extra element in the fight. I learned my lesson in 2018. Never underestimate Chris Froome.
“Chris Froome would kill for a victory. The best example is the race- winning raid he did on the Finestre in the 2018 Giro. I still regret not distancing him more in the first two weeks”