Why is Froome leaving Ineos?
David Millar says it will have been a difficult decision for boss Brailsford,
“I’d be interested in being involved in the planned British team,” Chris Froome wrote in the pages of Cycling Weekly in 2008. “I haven’t spoken to Dave Brailsford but I’d love to sit down with him and hear his plans and tell him my goals for my career.”
That conversation spawned the Froome era, as he and the forces of Team Sky, now Ineos, dominated Grand Tours, winning seven together, including four Tours de France, between 2012 and 2018.
The sun had started to set on that era in May this year when reports emerged that Froome, unhappy with the erosion of his leadership status within a squad that now contained two other Tour winners, was entertaining offers from other teams. Last week it was announced that he’d leave Ineos at the end of the year for Israel Start-up Nation, a set-up that’s yet to race a single Tour de France.
Thirty-five-year-old Froome was never offered a new contract by Ineos, something of a contrast to 23-year-old team-mate Egan Bernal, who is on a five-year deal that runs until the end of 2023. CW understands Froome, on the comeback trail from injury, was keen to get such an offer before the Tour. The reports he might leave had many of the hallmarks of having come from the Froome camp – he is managed by his wife Michelle. That helped to sour the relationship between team and rider further.
Ineos team principal Dave Brailsford has made a pragmatic decision that the team’s future is best served by backing riders like Bernal and reigning Giro champion Richard Carapaz (27) rather than Froome, echoing his 2013 decision to leave reigning Tour champion Bradley Wiggins out of the Tour squad in favour of an upcoming and ambitious Froome. Announcing the departure, Brailsford said: “Given his achievements in the sport, Chris is understandably keen to have sole team leadership in the next chapter of his career, which is not something we are able to guarantee him at this point. A move away from Team Ineos can give him that certainty. At the same time, it will give other members
“Froome was not offered a new contract by Ineos”
of our team the leadership opportunities they too have earned and are rightly seeking.”
Froome’s new boss at Israel Start-up Nation, Sylvan Adams, described Froome as “on the scale of a Michael Jordan or a Lionel Messi”.
Such a split is, according to former pro
David Millar, one of the near inevitable steps in a professional sporting career. “I’ve done exactly the same thing where I’ve negotiated my perceived worth according to what I’ve done, rather than what I will do, and I think Chris is having one of those moments,” he told CW.
“The team is playing an infinite game, the riders come and go, but the team’s primary objective is to win the Tour de France and be the best team in the world. Whereas the riders are playing a finite game. They just