Froome’s relishing ‘brutal’ Tour route
CYCLING: Chris Froome will target victory in next year’s Tour de France after watching organisers announce one of the toughest routes in recent history.
The four-time Tour winner was on hand in Paris yesterday as ASO unveiled a route which visits all five mountain ranges in France, with the serious climbing starting as early as stage two and spread throughout in a move designed to encourage attacking racing.
There are only 36 kilometres of time trialling in the 3,470km total distance, all on the penultimate stage as the battle for yellow is set to be decided against the clock on the climb to La Planche des Belles Filles.
Froome was quick to note the lack of time trialling in a route which may well be more suited to his Ineos team-mate and defending champion Egan Bernal, but said it was a challenge he would relish.
“I think it’s a brutal Tour - probably the hardest I’ve seen in the last five or six years at least,” he said.
“It’s great - there’s loads of opportunities for the general classification to play out and the main rivals to go head to head.
“That’s what everyone wants to see. It should be an exciting race,” he added. GOLF: Masters champion Tiger Woods says he will tell the “definitive story” of his life after signing a deal to write a memoir. “I’ve been in the spotlight for a long time and, because of that, there have been books and articles and TV shows about me, most filled with errors, speculative and wrong,” the 15-time major winner said in a statement released by publishers HarperCollins. “This book is my definitive story. It’s in my words and expresses my thoughts. It describes how I feel and what’s happened in my life. “I’ve been working at it steadily and I’m looking forward to continuing the process.”