I don’t care who wins SPOTY – as long it’s Froome
The cyclist’s feats this year have been extraordinary. But Tom Cary fears that won’t cut any dry ice
o one cares about the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. That’s a given, of course. Every year the SPOTY shortlist is published, and every year everyone makes a point of saying how much they do not care about it.
Then, everyone gives the lie to that claim by going into great detail, in furious exchanges on social media, exactly why it is they do not care.
Why it is an absolute farce that so-and-so was overlooked, whereas so-and-so made the list. Which is doubly ridiculous, as he does not even play a sport. More of a pub game, really.
And where are all the women? And how could he be considered for SPOTY, anyway, when he has the charisma of a block of cheese?
And anyway, it is all confected schmaltz – what with the in-house BBC orchestra playing Elbow’s Olympic theme tune for the zillionth time, and all those red carpet “interviews” blowing sunshine up the athletes’ behinds. And the unbearable smugness. And the backslapping.
Aargh. And what are we rewarding anyway? I mean, can we please just clear this up once and for all? Is it for sporting achievement or is it for personality?
So no, I do not care who wins. Just as long as it is Chris Froome. I mean, it does not much matter to me. But if it is for sporting achievement, well, he is a shoo-in. Or should be.
Froome’s Tour de France-la Vuelta double was quite clearly the outstanding individual sporting achievement of the year by a Briton.
Only two other riders in the history of cycling have won those two races in the same season, and they were both legends of the sport, Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.
And they both did it when the Vuelta was a spring race; a tune-up for the bigger races later in the summer.
No rider of any nationality had managed it this way around since the Vuelta switched to late summer in the mid-1990s. Heck, it was only a few years ago that no Briton had even won one grand tour, let alone two, back to back.
Froome’s consistency this summer was unprecedented.
From the start of this year’s Tour on July 1 to the culmination of the Vuelta on Sept 10, there were 72 days.
Froome raced on 42 of them and wore the leader’s jersey at either the Tour or the Vuelta on 34 of those 42 days. Extraordinary.
Of the other contenders, only Adam Peaty can really challenge Froome’s dominance of his sport on the global stage at the moment. He will not win it, of course. Anthony Joshua will. Because boxing is a more popular sport than cycling and Joshua was involved in what was – admittedly – a heck of a good heavyweight fight, albeit against someone in his early 40s.
That, and the fact that Froome is just not very popular. He grew up in Kenya, was schooled in South Africa and lives in Monaco. And he rides for a team who were not that popular even before Jiffy bags, Therapeutic Use Exemptions and stolen laptops saw the sky cave in on them.
Oh, and apparently he is dull. Never mind the fact that he grew up being chased by hippos, was game enough to pose naked on his bike for a national newspaper this year, or that he appears to be prepared to risk next year’s Tour de France to ride the Giro d’italia as well, in an attempt to win a “Tiger Slam” of cycling.
We should be celebrating his spirit, but instead he will come in behind someone who won a two-horse race. Not that I care, of course.