Chris Froome's 26th place in the 2.1km Herald Sun Tour prologue, seven seconds behind his teammate Danny Van Poppel, wasn't the best showing against the clock from the Olympic Games time trial bronze medallist. However, the defending Tour de France champion is better placed on general classification than the majority of his rivals for the general classification and looks forward to what the remainder of the race holds.
"It's a great start for the team, with Danny winning - that's giving us a lot of confidence going into the week ahead,” he said of his teammate’s win to open Sky’s account for 2017. "He did a great ride."
Luke Rowe and Sebastian Henao were squeezed in between Van Poppel and Froome on the results sheet for Team Sky but the 31-year-old can take solace in the fact that while the fast course was not suited to his characteristics he goes into the Queen stage up Falls Creek well placed in the fight for yellow.
ADVERTISEMENT
Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) was four seconds slower in the prologue with Janier Acevedo six seconds in arrears, while a handful of challengers are similarly behind ahead of the important climbing test that also offers a 10-second time bonus for the stage winner.
"It's definitely a bit of a lung buster - you just have two minutes to get everything out," Froome said of the effort which was quicker than his 2016 result on the same course. "It's not really my kind of course, but it's great to kick the week off."
Having come close at the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Australia Day criterium, Van Poppel made it two wins in a row for Sky at the race, following on from Froome's final day in 2016 on his way to the overall title.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2jYhIFn
No comments:
Post a Comment