2008- 2018 FROOME’S TOUR DE FRANCE BUILD- UPS

2008

Five weeks before making his Tour debut, Froome’s mother Jane died after a battle with cancer. Froome, riding for the South African Barloworld squad, finishes in 81st place, 2:22:33 behind the winner.

2012

After a three-year absence Froome goes back to the Tour as support for Bradley Wiggins. He wins stage 7 and finishes second, but the race is dominated by his fraying relationship with Wiggins.

2013

Froome holds super form all spring. He wins nine races including Romandie and the Dauphiné. At the Tour, Froome wins on the first summit finish at Ax-3-Domaines and holds yellow all the way to Paris.

2014

A strong spring, but Froome has a setback with a Dauphiné crash. Pressure mounts when it emerges he used a corticosteroid at Romandie with a TUE. Froome crashes on stage 4 and abandons the next day.

2015

Sky are under pressure. The bad 2014 Tour is compounded by team-mate Porte’s Giro DNF. Froome is a DNS at Tirreno with illness. By June he is on track and wins the Dauphiné before a second Tour win.

2016

In December 2015, Froome undergoes physiological testing in a bid to quash doping rumours. He retains his Dauphiné title and heads to the Tour as a strong favourite to retain his title. He does so.

2017

For the first time since 2012, there’s no race win in the build-up. Sky is also the subject of a UKAD inquiry about the 2011 Dauphiné. Froome wins the Tour by the slimmest margin yet, with no stage win.

2018

Froome takes on an ambitious GiroTour double. He wins the Giro and just days before the Tour, WADA’s salbutamol case against him is dropped. Froome goes on to finish the Tour in third place.