“That negativity actually comes naturally when you become so dominant" - Chris Froome empathises with Tadej Pogacar after recent criticism

Tadej Pogacar has been all-conquering in 2024, putting in one of the greatest individual seasons of all time and winning the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, the World Championship road race, and a pair of monuments at Il Lombardia and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Ultimately though, this domination has led to criticism from some quarters.

Sensing public opinion begin to turn as the wins become more and more expected, is something that seven-time Grand Tour winner Chris Froome knows all too well. During the height of his Tour de France dominance in the mid-2010s, Froome was almost a 'public enemy number one' type figure in France at times as fans on the roadside targeted the Team Sky leader with urine and hurled abuse at him. Whilst discontent with Pogacar's dominance hasn't gone nearly as far as that, Froome can empathise with the situation the UAE Team Emirates leader now finds himself.

“That negativity actually comes naturally when you become so dominant," the now 39-year-old of Israel - Premier Tech tells WielerFlits from the Tour of Guangxi. "On the other hand, I found my own dominance very different. I was mainly dominant in those grand tours, but he does that in every race he goes to. Or so it seems. Whether it is in the spring classics, the Italian autumn races or grand tours. The season that Pogacar has had is absolutely incredible.”

As Froome himself found out too, when you start winning everything in cycling, doping questions quickly rear their head not that Froome thinks Pogacar is doing so. “Cycling has changed a lot over the years. Especially in the last four or five years,” he assesses. “The new nutritional strategies have been a big part of that. The support too. Things just evolve. That also happens naturally. It is super interesting to see where the sport is going in this period.”

Now nearing the final year of his Israel - Premier Tech contact though, Froome might not be seeing the development from within the peloton for much longer. “I won’t be fully ready to reflect on my own career until I’ve finished my professional career, but I am incredibly proud of what I have achieved in cycling at this point in my life. And I am also grateful that I still get to do what I love most at this time in my life,” he concludes.