Tour de France champion Chris Froome confirms he will race at Vuelta
Tour de France champion Chris Froome has confirmed he will take on a “vicious” Vuelta a Espana next month aiming to complete one of cycling’s toughest doubles.
Only two riders -- Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault - have won the Tour de France and Vuelta in the same year, although they achieved it in 1963 and 1978 when the Spanish race was held in April.
Team Sky‘s Froome, who won a fourth Tour de France last weekend, will face tough competition as he tries to win the race for the first time having finished second on three occasions, most recently last year when beaten by Nairo Quintana.
Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Italy’s Fabio Aru (Astana) and Spain’s Alberto Contador (TrekSegafredo) are also expected to be on the start line for the opening time trial being held in the French city of Nimes on Aug. 19.
“I’ve got the opportunity and I’m certainly going to go for it,” Froome said in a statement on Team Sky’s website.
No rider has won the Tour and Vuelta in the same year since the latter was moved to August and September from April in 1995.
Team principal Dave Brailsford said Froome has enough time to recover from the Tour to challenge for victory in Spain.
“There’s no reason why (he can’t win it),” said Brailsford. “We’ve got four weeks to the start of the Vuelta. We’ve got a couple of races in between, but we’ll dust ourselves down a little bit and go and do it all over again!”
On paper, this year’s Vuelta looks tougher than the Tour de France with nine summit finishes including, on the penultimate stage, the formidable Alto de l’Angliru -- a 12.2km climb averaging 10.2 percent and going up to 23.5 in places.
The 2017 Vuelta begins on August 19 in France’s Nimes and finishes on September 10 in Madrid.