OPINION | Is money for Chris Froome worth more than his reputation?

The palmarès of Chris Froome is astonishing. 4 Tour de France overall wins, 2 Vuelta a Espana overall wins, 1 Giro d’Italia overall win, 3 times Velo d’Or winner, 2 Olympic bronze medals many Grand Tour stages, among others... When you look at it, it is something unbelievable. But Chris Froome is now viewed more as a joke than a respected champion. Why is it that?

This opinion article has been written by Lukáš Ronald Lukács.

ENORMOUS SALARY

Chris Froome has a multi-million euro salary. There is no official data on how much is that, but according to my sources, it should be from 3 to 5.5 million euros. He signed a long-term contract for Israel Premier Tech in 2021 until 2025.

It can be argued that it is funny earning that much despite having no results. But also as GCN's Cillian Kelly wrote it is not funny for his teammates who must be looking at him thinking ‘I should be getting paid more money than him’.

It’s not funny for other teams whose riders may be looking at Chris Froome and thinking 'I should be getting paid more money than him', thereby driving up the salaries across the entire sport. It’s not funny for his team to have agreed to pay him so much money and are getting nothing in return, or even they get negative publicity because of that.

HIS STATEMENTS

'I still dream about winning the Tour de France.'

'Disc brakes limit me in a good performance.'

'Time trial bikes should be banned.'

'I am finally at 100% after my crash and I feel like before my crash.'

'I was ready to ride the Tour de France.'

'My performance was bad, because of the oversight in my bike position.'

I could continue for some time, but I think it is enough to imagine what was he talking about in the last few years. Always some excuses, unrealistic dreams, or just simply lies.

Because for example, somebody cannot be ready for the Tour de France when he finishes in the next mountain stage which was in the Czech Tour in 127th place in which as a climber he should excel.

Or on his most recent statement about his bad bike position. Does it sound logical that someone who won seven Grand Tours is claiming that his saddle position is centimeters off? Does that sound credible for a rider who’s getting dropped everywhere? I leave that for the fans to judge.

HIS CURRENT RESULTS

Simply say, his current results are not worthy of the former 4 time Tour de France champion. Finishing among the last at every race is not worthy of a rider of a ProTeam.

THE RACES HE ATTEND

Racing mainly small races Tour du Rwanda, Czech Tour or Tour of Hainan… is this really worthy of the rider with that past? I don’t think so.

HE DOESN’T KNOW WHEN TO END

Many fans have that confession, that these pro cyclists know what to do or when to end their careers, but that is not true and we can see it clearly on Chris Froome.

Bring to this debate Peter Sagan. He was only 33 years old when he decided to end his career. I am sure he could have secured some contract and ride also for the next years as retiring at 33 is generally early, but he decided, that his reputation is more than money. But it looks like for Froome it is not.

Somebody can ask me, what would I do if I had been at the Chris Froome place? Easy. It is okay to try to come back after that horrific crash, but I would just try one full season in Israel Start-Up Nation in 2021 and when I see it is not going in the right way, then I would just retire. And like Benji Naesen said: You either retire a hero, or you continue long enough to see yourself become the meme.

And my final words to that: At the end of the day, I believe we should give our children and also ourselves idols not based only on results, but also based on what example they give us. Do we want to be a hero who cannot face the truth and always makes excuses or rather somebody who can face problems like a man, who knows when to end it and who knows that money is not more than how we will stay in the memories of people? Choose wisely.