For three of the past four years, Movistar team manager Eusebio Unzue has overseen a successful assault by Nairo Quintana on the podium of the Tour de France – yet each time, he has seen Chris Froome (Team Sky) finish first, beating his protege. Could this July produce a different result? Unzué certainly hopes so.
In their last confrontation at a Grand Tour at the 2016 Vuelta a España, Quintana came out ahead of Froome with the Colombian placing first on the final podium in Madrid. Froome finished second, for a third time in his career. Although encouraging for Movistar’s star GC rider, Unzué preaches caution, too, about reading too much into that result. That is partly because one pivotal stage last September, to Formigal in the Pyrenees, had nothing to do with the Vuelta’s more predictable, set-piece battles in the mountains and against the clock. But it’s probably even more to do with the fact that since 2012, with the exception of his abandon due to a crash in 2014, Froome’s track record in the Tour de France could hardly be termed uneven.
“Beating Froome in a head-to-head struggle is very difficult for everybody,” Unzué emphasises to Cyclingnews. “He’s been the top name for Grand Tours in the last five to six years. It’s true that Nairo beat him in the Vuelta last year. But it was due in part to a day of racing which in theory was a transition stage [to Formigal – ed.] but which ended up being much more decisive. Nairo got in a break which worked well that day and where there were lots of different interests at stake. Thanks to it, the Vuelta could be won.
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“It’s also true that we opened up some important time gaps on Froome in the Lagos de Covadonga during the Vuelta. But overall Froome defended himself very well.”
What ways are there, then, to beat the Briton? According to Unzué, one powerful factor in Movistar’s favour is – quite simply – Old Father Time.
“Logically, at 27, Nairo is continuing to improve, and at 32, Froome will be focused on maintaining his already excellent level of performance. I hope that with time, we’re getting closer to closing the gap on Froome, or maybe even overhauling him,” Unzué reasons. “Froome has an impressively strong team, he knows what he takes to win the Tour, not once but three times, and it’s going to be very complicated to beat him. But his time will come to an end at some point and that’s what we’re fighting for. We’re working on that.”
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