Froome chases Vuelta win amid safety fears
TWO-TIME Tour de France champion Chris Froome today begins his bid for a first Vuelta a Espana title on the Costa del Sol .
The 30-year-old Team Sky leader, who won his second Tour yellow jersey on 26 July, has twice finished runner-up in the Tour of Spain.
Whether Froome can challenge for the leader’s red jersey at the third and final Grand Tour of the year remains to be seen as the Tour was a particularly gruelling one and he had to dig deep to win.
The Vuelta field is strong, too, with many of those who finished behind Froome in France taking part, including Tour runner-up Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and 2014 Tour champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).
Alberto Contador, who beat Froome to the 2014 Vuelta title, is not defending his title after winning May’s Giro d’italia but falling off the pace in the Tour.
It is unlikely Froome would be riding if he did not think he could win but, even if he falls short of a third Grand Tour victory, the race could provide ideal conditioning for 2016. Froome responded from crashing out of the 2014 Tour by finishing runner-up in the Vuelta and carried the momentum into 2015.
Colombian climber Quintana is a favourite for the race, which ends in Madrid on 13 September.
Froome was among those to question the route of today’s opening team time-trial, posting pictures on Twitter of a boardwalk and a sand-covered section of the 7.4 kilometre test from Porto Banus to Marbella.
The significance of the opening stage – described as “very technical” on the Vuelta’s official website – is slight as part of the 3,357.1-km total route, which includes 13 hilly and mountain stages, with nine summit finishes. But the riders’ concerns are based on safety.
Race organisers later announced that the times would not contribute to the individual classification.
A statement read: “The race jury has decided that the stage will take place on the planned route. The recorded times will be counted for the team classification and not for the individual general classification.”