05/12/2023

"A win in the Tour for me now would just be super special" - Chris Froome dreaming of fairy-tale career finale at the Tour de France

Now in the autumn of his legendary career, Chris Froome has already planned out what he wants to do once he retires. First though, the 38-year-old has some unfinished business with the Tour de France.

"Basically [we're] looking at starting a Chris Froome Cycling Academy out in Kenya at the base of Mount Kenya, up at altitude of 2,000m. It has always been at the back of my mind wanting to do it, and I think now as I get towards the end of my career, it's the perfect time to start setting things up," says Froome whilst a guest on the latest episode of the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club Podcast.

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Froome is keen to give back to the sport that has brought him so much success over the years, and he has a lot of belief in the somewhat untapped cycling gold mine that is East Africa. "I used to run cross-country back there and any time we did inter-school cross-country or anything, I'd just get killed by the Kenyans. They are obviously the best long-distance runners in the world. There was always a part of me all those years I was winning the Tour that kind of made me feel a little bit ridiculous, inadequate knowing that there are much better athletes - in the true sense of an endurance athlete - much better athletes than me back in East Africa," he explains. "But they just haven't had access to bikes, cycling doesn't really exist there. They have no equipment, no training, no structure at all."

"I genuinely think that within a 10-15 year time frame, we could see similar to how Colombians have burst onto the scene in the last decade," Froome theorises. "I truly believe we're going to get a load of East Africans bursting through."

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Before he starts that process though, the four-time Maillot Jaune winner is keen for a Tour de France swansong. "It would just be magic to be able to win a stage somewhere or find myself in a break that goes to the finish. Like last year coming third on Alpe d'Huez that was pretty magic, it would have been better if Tom Pidcock wasn't there," laughs the Israel - Premier Tech rider. "But just experiences like that."

"A win in the Tour for me now would just be super special, or even being closer, sort of with the GC guys, that would be a pretty special way for me to finish off."