Chris Froome: "I won't be bluffing in the next Tour de France"
He has repeated it on several occasions recently, but in his latest statements, Chris Froome reaffirms himself: he won't be bluffing in the next Tour de France. The British cyclist, at the age of 35 and after overcoming the terrible accident suffered at the Dauphine in 2019, maintains the intact enthusiasm to conquer his fifth crown in the Grande Boucle, which would put him alongside some of the illustrious names of this sport: Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain. He would do it in style, being the second oldest rider in history to win the Tour de France, only behind Firmin Lambot who triumphed at the age of 36 in 1922.
His performance, judging by the discreet results of the previous season, raises many doubts about the possibility of achieving such a feat, but his enthusiasm and motivation remain intact. "Age is a state of mind. I still feel relatively young in cycling years because I entered the sport a bit later. I'm seeing a rider like Alejandro Valverde, who is already 40 years old, still competing in major races with the best in the world, so it's still possible and I would like to prove it too," confessed Froomey in the last press conference of the Israel Start-Up Nation.
Furthermore, looking ahead, the Kenyan-born cyclist admitted that he still has things to give to cycling and does not contemplate an early retirement as he did not do it previously at the time of the accident, when it would have been easy for him: "A great motivation was knowing that staying at four Tour de France titles didn't feel like my career was over. I would like to reach the number five and keep competing until I'm ready to retire. The mere prospect of being knocked out by an accident didn't sit well with me, so as soon as I found out that I could fully recover and there was nothing physically stopping me, it was a simple decision for me. As for how realistic it is to aim for the Tour de France this year, my number one goal is still to get back to 100% level again and obviously everything depends on that." (D)