Sky the limit for Froome’s Tour winning potential but he won’t set any targets
● Briton just two short of record ● Olympics next on the agenda
0 Chris Froome, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates his third Tour de France win flanked by the rest of his Sky team-mates on the Champs-elysees. Chris Froome refused to set limits on his Tour de France ambitions yesterday as he reflected on a surreal victory and the moment he ran up Mont Ventoux and left his team-mates laughing all the way to Paris.
The 31-year-old Team Sky rider won his third Tour title in three years – 2014 the only blot on the record when he crashed out – on Sunday.
Only four riders in 103 Tours have more yellow jerseys, but Froome is taking nothing for granted when the 2017 route is announced in October.
“We need to chill our boots a little bit. Three is incredible,” the Briton said.
“It gets a bit dangerous when you start putting a number: five, or six, or seven.
“I’ll definitely take it one at a time and if I can win the Tour again that would be unreal.
“I am looking forward to finding out what next year’s edition will hold for us, what challenges we’re going to have to train for and be ready for. I’d love to come back next year and fight for it again.”
Froome moved to within two overall wins of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, who each won five Tours, while the disgraced Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven for doping.
The defining image of the 2016 race will be of Froome striding out on Mont Ventoux on July 14.
The Bastille Day stage to the “Giant of Provence” was designed to be the highlight of this Tour, but gale-force winds at the summit compelled organisers to move the finish line midway down the mountain to Chalet Reynard at short notice.
With little time to move the barriers and hundreds of thousands of fans compacted onto a shorter stretch of road, it was pandemonium on the mountain as the riders approached.
Froome was trying to attack along with Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema when Porte struck a motorbike which had been forced to stop by the crowds and the others piled into him.
Another motorbike smashed into Froome from behind, breaking his bike and temporarily seeing him striding up the mountain in his cleats.
He also rode an under-sized neutral service bike before finally receiving his spare from the team car.
The chaos might have cost him his third Tour title, until the race jury intervened.
Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford, known for his attention to detail, said: “We do a lot of scenario planning and we try to think of everything. Chris running up the Ventoux in the yellow jersey, without a bike, wasn’t something we had in mind.
“Most athletes would’ve stayed by the side of the road, thrown their bike away and got angry.
“It defines Chris – the only thing he was thinking about was crossing the finish line. It was instinctive. That’s what’s inside him, is that winning instinct.”
Speaking alongside Brailsford and team-mate Geraint Thomas, Froome said: “I’ve had to put up with these two laughing at me for the last two weeks.
“It’s nice we can laugh about it now, but at the time it was pretty chaotic and pretty stressful. That was a day I’ll certainly never forget.”
Froome rides in the Olympic Games road race and time-trial, on 6 and 10 August respectively, and has realistic chances of gold in both events in Rio.
Sir Bradley Wiggins was knighted in 2012 after becoming the first rider to win the Tour and Olympic gold in the same year and Froome could emulate his former team-mate.
Froome, who won London 2012 bronze behind Wiggins in the time-trial, said: “It was a huge, huge honour this year to receive my OBE. I’m chuffed to bits with that.
“If I get any further recognition in the future, obviously I’d welcome it.” The NFL has declared it has found “no credible evidence” that twotime Super Bowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning used human growth hormone following allegations made during a TV documentary.
The league launched an investigation earlier this year after a report on Al-jazeera America linked Manning with using the banned substance in 2011, when he was recovering from a neck surgery while with the Indianapolis Colts.
Manning, who retired after winning his second Super Bowl ring in February, vehemently denied the accusations, labelling them “completely fabricated, complete trash, garbage” and, seven months on, the NFL has decreed that there is no evidence to support the documentary’s claims against one of the game’s most decorated players.
A statement released by the league read: “Following a comprehensive sevenmonth investigation into allegations made in a documentary by Al-jazeera America, the NFL found no credible evidence that Peyton Manning was provided with or used HGH or other substances prohibited by the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, it was announced today.
“The Mannings were fully cooperative with the investigation and provided both interviews and access to all records sought by the investigators.
“Initiated in January, the investigation was led by the NFL’S security and legal teams with support from expert consultants and other professionals. The investigation involved witness interviews, a review of relevant records and other materials, online research, and laboratory analysis and review.”
The NFL added that it would continue its probe into other players who were named in the documentary, including defensive stars Julius Peppers, James Harrison and Clay Matthews.
The allegations first surfaced during the NFL’S 2015 post-season.