"I felt five years younger" - Chris Froome ends 2023 motivated towards another Tour de France pursuit
Cycling
Chris Froome was not taken to the Tour de France and then entered a bit of a stalemate. He travelled to Asia to end his season and reports on a new spirit on the bike.
“I left the Tour of Hainan 2023 with very high morale. Despite some health problems at the beginning, the days went by I felt better and better and I can say I felt five years younger," Froome told SpazioCiclismo. "I wanted to go on the run, I felt brilliant and completely regenerated. This gave me further motivation to think about 2024 and how to approach next season. I have no expectations, but at the same time I would like to be in the top positions again in the final stages of the race."
The Briton rode to 14th at the Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes and that looked to be giving him a sign the Tour presence was certain, as he topped climber teammates. At La Route d'Occitanie however he didn't have the same legs, and ultimately was not selected to his main goal of the year. “I've had a lot of back problems this year and it turns out they happen because of the position I was in on the bike. I went to a riding specialist and with him we tried to get closer to the position I had in my time with Team Sky."
"Indeed, there was a lot of difference between what I did then and how I felt in the saddle recently. So, we made some big changes and now I feel much better, so much so that the back pain is gone," he reports. After shedding the knee pain from his injury of many years ago at the Critérium du Dauphiné, Froome continues to leave behind small health issues.
At the Tour of Hainan and Japan Cup he wasn't in contention for a result but was motivated and says he felt young - in what was a very different racing environment. "So now I want to be able to bring out the best in me and know, once I retire, that I will have nothing to regret."
"Whether this means winning or helping my teammates do it, it will be fine anyway. I can only control my level of performance and preparation that I can sustain to be in a position to be chosen for the next Tour. So, from this point of view, I'll do everything I can," he concludes.
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- The race where he overnight suddenly turned nuclear after being packfodder at best for several years. His Sky days after that Vuelta and Pogačar’s last season shall remain the darkest post Lance stuff cycling has witnessed. Good riddance Froome.
UltimateOpportunist20-12-2024 - Finishing the Vuelta seems to be a reasonably attainable goal. Getting on the team to do that will be the more difficult challenge.
santiagobenites20-12-2024 - To be fair, he has now stated his fuel regime had been corrected and the results concur.Mistermaumau20-12-2024
- You can look at things mathematically sometimes to get a better understanding of performance distribution. To be an elite cyclist you may need a number of qualities, say 8 some of which are quite obvious (engine), some more debatable (body type). If you look at distribution you’ll get a whole bunch with 6 or 7 very elevated values but 1-2 not so perfect and occasionally someone will pop up with all 8 really well developed. However, statistically, for that to be a given the chances drop by about an order of magnitude each time so in general for each 2 at the top you’ll have 20 at the next level, 200 at tge 3rd, 2000, etc. I don’t see the actual distribution as so weird, we have a few too many right at the very top level but statistically it’s just because for the past 15-20 years there wasn’t really anyone clearly standing out, level 1 was bunched with level two.Mistermaumau20-12-2024
- Froome is still riding? I thought he just dressed out and appeared at team photoshoots.Sweep20-12-2024
- Well, I’d say that like is more likely to attract line when it comes to certain interests and cycling is probably one of them. The rowdy alcohol swaying type as an example, that features occasionally but EACh time there is an incident is obviously an exception amongst cycling fans. We are not very vocal about our passion which is understandable considering the little interest an average person has so it often takes special circumstances for us to discover our peers :-)Mistermaumau20-12-2024
- Mas... Challenge Pogi!!! Ha Ha Haabstractengineer20-12-2024
- They (USA Cycling) raised their permit fee from from $95 to $125 and the minimum insurance charge went from $300 to $400.JoeyB20-12-2024
- Exactly who, Joey, is "they"? Flimsy, illogical conspiracy theories aside, it is in no one's interest (financial or otherwise) to "drive away small local events." Major cultural and macroeconomic factors are reducing ridership, but there is no "they" in this context.verve82520-12-2024
- And our virtual platforms allow us to "ride" famous place that we can't get to in person, which is a pretty fabulous aspect of this weird weird sport.RidesHills19-12-2024