The defending Tour champion on his team’s strength, his Dauphiné disappointment, and why he’s always looking at his stem. By James Startt
Photo: Froome outkicked Contador for to win Stage 2 of the Dauphiné. (James Startt)
Bicycling : After winning the first two Dauphiné stages, you crashed hard on Stage 6 and faded to 12th overall. What can you take away from the race?
Chris Froome: Now that the race is over I can say that I’ve felt completely blocked up through my front of quads since the crash and I’ve not been able to engage the same muscles I used in the earlier stages. While it’s frustrating, we can take a lot of things away from this race. We’ve had three stage wins, taken the points jersey, and produced a dominant team performance. Tinkoff-Saxo only held the jersey for one day but we defended it for six stages until Alberto took over. He’s shown he’s in great form ahead of the Tour though, and we’re definitely going to have a battle on our hands in July.
Some people prefer the Dauphiné while others prefer the Tour of Switzerland as the final warm-up race to the Tour de France. You obviously prefer the Dauphiné, why?
I think it is more to do with timing, given that we have a bit more time off after the Dauphiné, where as the Tour of Swiss starts later and leaves you a relatively short time if you do need to do any training in between there. In terms of general preparation, the Dauphiné is a much better race to do. You can come to the Dauphiné, test yourself and your team on the mountaintop finishes and see exactly where you are at. And if there is any work that needs to be done in specific areas, there is still that little window of time before the Tour.
What are your impressions of Contador this year?
At this point he is shaping up to be my biggest rival for the Tour. He had a more successful first part of the season than he had last year. I know that Alberto is a guy that likes to attack and take the race on.
How has the 2014 season been different now that you are the current Tour de France champion?
I’ve definitely had a more relaxed approach to the season this year. I didn’t necessarily feel the same kind of pressure that I had last year to perform before the Tour de France. This year has come with different pressures, different expectations. But I think in general I’ve been able to take away a lot of confidence from last year, knowing that if I follow the right training, the right kind of nutrition plan, the same kind of build-up to the Tour that I had last year it would be okay. Basically, I know what works for me.
What are some of the new challenges?
It’s different coming in as the Tour champion. As a result, expectations are naturally higher. Life generally just gets busier and I think it is harder to stay focused on the things that you did in the first place to get you into that position. It does have different challenges. But for me, I still love riding my bike. That is not going to change, so it is not hard to keep doing what I love doing.
From a team point of view, it wasn’t about trying to build the confidence in the team any more. The guys have the confidence in me after the season that I had last year.
In general I’ve just been more relaxed. I’ve had a few setbacks with my back injury and a chest infection, but I think it’s been a pretty good build-up and I wouldn’t change too much about what I’ve done.
What did winning the Tour de France teach you?
I think mostly it gave me confidence, confidence to ride at the front, and knowing we can do it for three weeks on end.
You wait for the mountains and time trials to make your mark. But what do you do in those countless hours when you are just riding along in the pack?
It does get hard. The thing is, 80 percent of the time you are not pushing yourself to the absolute limits. You are thinking about how to conserve as best you can. You are thinking about eating, drinking, making sure it is regular. And once you cross the line you are thinking about how to get the most out of recovery for the next day coming up. You are looking at spending as little time on your legs as possible, most times with your feet up. How do I get through the press conference and everything else as fast as possible, so I can get back and start recovering. There is just as much going on, especially within the Tour. You definitely don’t have time to get bored.
You ride with your head down most of the time. What are you doing? Are you looking at your SRM, or is it something else?
Ah, it’s not necessarily that I am looking at anything. It’s just that I am more comfortable. I think I am a little bit hunched in my upper back. I find it quite tiring to keep my neck up all of the time. I find it seems to be a lot more comfortable for me when I can look down, but still just see a few metres in front of me.
Bernard Hinault said recently that, while he finds that you are really strong, he still questions the strength and depth of the Sky team. What do you think?
I’ve watched my teammates all around me progressing through the altitude training and the various races that we’ve been doing. So I’ve got a lot of confidence in them. And one of the reasons we are at the Dauphiné is to put all of the training into practice, to learn. We may make some mistakes, but it’s a learning process.
What is your plan between now and the start of the Tour de France?
We’re going to train in the Alps or we may do a little bit of recon in the Pyrenees. I’ve still got a bit of weight to lose before the Tour, maybe a kilo.
Froome says effects of a hard crash slowed him on the final Dauphiné stages, but he’s confident ahead of the Tour de France start. (James Startt)
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