GIRO D’ITALIA TICKLED PINK

Froome overjoyed after completing cycling’s slam.. but he now faces an ever bigger battle

CHRIS FROOME completed the full set of Grand Tour winner’s jerseys – yellow, red and pink – but now comes the biggest fight of his career.

Froome became the first British rider to win the Giro when he rolled across the line, arms aloft like a conquering Roman emperor, in the Italian capital.

And he is only the third man, after Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault, to accomplish cycling’s ‘Tiger Slam’ by holding the iconic jerseys of all three blue-riband races – the Tour de France, Vuelta and Giro – simultaneously.

Almost five minutes down on long-time leader Simon Yates at one point, the catalyst for his remarkable triumph was his 50-mile breakaway solo on Friday.

But to the doubters, it only raised more questions about Froome, after his adverse analytical test result for excess asthma drug salbutamol in his system, on the way to Vuelta glory last September.

Froome, 33, rode the Giro with some of his rivals believing he should not be competing until his explanation for twice the permitted level is either accepted or rejected by world governing body UCI.

And it is still unclear whether he will be cleared to go for a fifth Tour de France title when the peloton reassembles on July 7.

The four-time Yellow Jersey winner insists he will be cleared of any wrongdoing, but during his monumental solo on Friday he had spectators chasing him with a giant inflatable inhaler, while one coward by the roadside spat in his face on Saturday.

But nothing could wipe the smile from his face after he finished 46 seconds ahead of defending champion Tom Dumoulin, and tootled past the Colosseum on a 71-mile procession through the settings in your holiday snaps from Rome.

He said: “It was great to be able to soak up the atmosphere – the monuments and the crowds – that didn’t disappoint.

“But it’s just incredible to have won three leaders’ jerseys on Grand Tours in the space of 12 months. I’m still pinching myself, I can’t believe it.

“For any cyclist, this is the dream.”

For its breathtaking audacity, which includes his 60mph descent of the mountain as well as his breakaway on the brutal climbs, what Froome did on the Colle delle Finestre on Friday, seizing the outright lead at a race which seemed beyond him, beggared belief.

Send in the doping police if you must, dig your dirt, cast your aspersions and round up another bunch of politicians to act as judge and jury on a parliamentary select committee.

Until or unless cast-iron evidence comes to light that he is a rascal, Froome is innocent until proven guilty.

JERSEY SURE! Froome added the Italian title to the French and Spanish crowns he already holds