NO MORE ROOM FOR FROOME?

Not too long ago, it seemed impossible to imagine Chris Froome lining up at the Tour de France in anything other than Ineos kit. Ineos as we know it might not exist without Chris Froome, and Chris Froome would likely not be the four-times Tour champion without Ineos. But in June signs pointed to the four-time Tour winner being on his way out of the team that brought him all of his grand tour successes. Reports linked him with a move to WorldTour debutants Israel Start- Up Nation. Multiple outlets said he had been offered a three-year deal that could even be completed before August for him to race the Tour.

A lot has changed since Froome won his last grand tour at the 2018 Giro. Back then he was unstoppable - the defending champion in all three races. But then Geraint Thomas won the yellow jersey. And then Egan Bernal did. He’s missed a year due to his Dauphiné crash, and in the time his career was on pause, Froome’s mantle as number one evaporated. Froome may say he’s back to full fitness, but if he were to win the Tour again - he is also now 35 - his would surely be one of sport’s greatest ever comeback stories.

Underneath Froome’s polite, friendly demeanour is a ruthless champion. You don’t get to the top without being one. Sharing leadership with two teammates is not what a rider like he, with his palmarès, is used to. He desperately wants to win a fifth Tour, regardless of how much he says publicly that the most important thing is that the team wins, but fighting his team-mates before even facing his rivals is uncharted territory. In the years Froome won his Tours he never had to share. I can’t think of many athletes of Froome’s stature across all sport who would take well to that concept, when they feel they can still win.

But can Froome win the Tour without Ineos? By the time this issue hits shops, Froome’s future may be decided. The only thing that seems certain is that the Froome era as we know it, seems over.