Chris Froome: “The one guy who was pretty indisposable for us was Mike. It’s a big hit for our overall goal here,”

Having lost their main GC contender Michael Woods, Chris Froome and Israel Premier Tech are in a difficult position.

Woods was involved in a crash in the third stage of the tour, which forced him to abandon the race. “The one guy who was pretty indisposable for us was Mike. It’s a big hit for our overall goal here,” Froome said. The team was betting on him for a potential GC victory “He was in great shape, and the team had a lot of confidence in him.”

It is clear that the team cannot give up midway, so Froome must shoulder the responsibility, but he is also suffering the consequences of Covid-19. “To be honest, I am in not in the same shape as I was going into the Tour,” Froome said. He continues, “COVID hit me pretty hard in the weeks following. I struggled with my form, and it affected my preparation a lot.

Froome and his teammates have decided to change strategy for now,  “We re-evaluated and came up with some different strategy for us to target a few stages, and to try to get the most out of the race. I am going to take this first half of the Vuelta to get the racing in the legs, and hopefully one or two stages in the back end of the Vuelta,” concluded Froome. He currently holds 133rd position in GC, 16 minutes and 48 seconds behind overall leader Primoz Roglic.