Rivals ready to dash Froome’s dream
THE Vuelta a Espana is where everything started for Chris Froome and it could well be where he moves himself a step closer to the greatest Grand Tour riders as he attempts a unique double in the modern era.
Only Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil, in 1963, and Bernard Hinault, in 1973, have won the Vuelta and Tour de France in the same year.
For Froome to accomplish the feat would be all the more spectacular given the Spanish race was held in April and May when those two legends were riding. It is now the final Grand Tour of the season and Froome will have had only 25 days to rest since claiming his fourth Tour title before today’s Grand Depart in Nimes, south-east France.
“I’ve got the opportunity and I’m certainly going to go for it,” said Froome. “The Vuelta is a race I love – it’s vicious but it’s three weeks that I enjoy.”
Froome has had his share of disappointment in the Vuelta, losing by 13 seconds to Spain’s Juan Jose Cobo in 2011, the year he came to prominence, before settling again for second in 2014 and 2016.
Last year, the Team Sky rider effectively lost his chance after being trapped behind an unexpected downhill attack by Alberto Contador, who will make this year’s Vuelta his final race before retirement.
The Spaniard, who won the last of his seven Grand Tour titles at the 2015 Giro d’Italia, is not among the favourites after finishing ninth overall in the Tour this year. Froome will see some familiar faces in Nimes as Italian Fabio Aru, fellow Briton Simon Yates and Frenchman Romain Bardet – third overall in Paris – also embark on the three-week journey.
The race starts with a team time trial and there will only be one solo effort in the discipline in which Froome usually excels – a 42km flat individual time trial.
One of his rivals will be Italian Vincenzo Nibali, while Adam Yates – Simon’s twin – is the only top contender who has not taken part in the Tour de France and should arrive fresher.
“I will be in perfect shape for the Vuelta,” said Nibali, who with Contador is one of only six riders to have won all three Grand Tours.
Should it be a tight race, it might be decided on the penultimate day at the top of the Angliru mountain road, known as one of the hardest climbs in cycling.
Defending champion Nairo Quintana will not ride after his failed attempt at a Giro-Tour double.