Froome insists build-up was spot on despite finishing third
So the wait for that first GB cycling gold of these Olympics goes on. No pressure on the track riders, who get their Games under way today.
Chris Froome insisted he had “no regrets” after finishing in the bronze medal position in yesterday’s time trial, his second bronze medal in as many Games. The three-time Tour de France champion said he was “absolutely dead” by the finish line and had given everything he had.
In truth, though, he would not be human if he did not feel just a little bit disappointed inside. Not with his performance, perhaps, which was typically committed, but with the result.
Froome became the favourite for gold here when Holland’s Tom Dumoulin, the only man to beat him in the long time trial at last month’s Tour, suffered a fractured wrist. Froome’s Team Sky coach, Tim Kerrison, had flown out to try to help him prepare and get his pacing just right.
In the event, a superhuman performance from the grand old master of time trialling, Fabian Cancellara, of Switzerland, blew everyone else out of the water. The 35-year-old classics specialist, in his final season as a professional, rolled back the years to repeat his gold medal -winning effort at Beijing 2008, finishing 47 seconds up on Dumoulin, with Froome a further 15 seconds behind.
“Maybe if I’d come in five or 10 seconds behind him I’d have been questioning if I could have gone any faster, but he was a minute clear of me; by far the strongest guy out there,” Froome admitted.
It was a day for golden oldies. With Cancellara winning the men’s TT and American Kristin Armstrong, who turns 43 today, winning the women’s, it was a surprise set of results. Froome was one of the few who saw it coming. After Saturday’s road race, he had said to watch out for Cancellara. British Cycling was certainly hoping for more. Although president Bob Howden hailed Froome’s achievement – and a bronze medal is absolutely not to be sniffed at, especially two weeks after winning the Tour – the ruling body is feeling the pressure following the Shane Sutton debacle, Lizzie Armitstead’s missed drug tests and tensions between two of their star athletes, in Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish.
British riders have taken one medal from four events, with Emma Pooley finishing 14th in the women’s time trial. A gold from Froome would have provided welcome relief. Andy Harrison, British Cycling’s interim head of performance, nevertheless said he was “pleased to get off the mark”, adding that he was expecting great things from the track riders.
“The numbers look very positive over the last few weeks,” Harrison said. “I’m confident we’ll look back at Rio in a few weeks and be pleased with the outcome, so let’s see what happens over the next few weeks.”
Harrison did add that Froome had had “a bit of a tight chest” over the past few days, but the rider him-
self denied that, refusing to resort to any excuses. He admitted that the conditions – with the rain coming down in stair-rods and the wind gusting hard at the start of the day – were “tough”, but said it was the same for everyone.
One thing he might have done differently was to go lighter in the road race to conserve more energy. Both Cancellara and Dumoulin pulled out of the Tour early to focus on this TT, with Dumoulin not even riding on Saturday. But Froome said it was “not in his nature” to do such a thing. “I have no regrets,” he said
A distraught Pooley, meanwhile, said she would have to consider her future in sport after her comeback ended in the disappointing 14th.
Pooley, 33, who was tempted out of retirement – or out of competing in professional Ironman and duath- lons – to have a crack at Rio’s hilly circuit, said she would have to “look at her budget” and work out where to go from here. “It might be back to a normal job,” the Cambridge University graduate said. “I am entered in a few triathlons, but I don’t know if I’ll do them or not. I need to see about competitive cycling and make a living as well.”
Pooley completed the 29.9km course 2 min 5 sec down on Armstrong. “With my physiology, it’s a bit tougher when there’s a strong, blustery wind like that,” she said through tears. “It makes it a bit harder to control the bike. I prepared as well as I could, rode as hard as I could. But I’m disappointed with the result, not just a bit disappointed. If I’d ridden differently on Sunday [in the road race], and saved a bit more …”