“I’ve focused on the Tour up until now but being the world champion, that’s probably the second biggest prize in cycling”
He’s already achieved his first goal of winning the Tour de France but now Chris Froome is setting his sights higher: he wants to become the first rider since Greg LeMond in 1989 to win both the Tour de France and the world road race championships in the same season.
The task has become more difficult since LeMond pulled it off 24 years ago; the worlds was moved to a point much later in the season, thus making it difficult for Tour winners to retain or rebuild their form for the new September slot.
In addition to that, the worlds is normally not regarded as suiting the strongest general classification riders in the sport, with the dearth of a truly selective route discriminating against those who thrive in the high mountains.
However this year’s course in Florence is accepted as the toughest in many, many years, and Froome believes that it could suit him.
“The World Championships is an event that doesn’t often favour climbers like the way it does this year, so it’d be a great opportunity to go for that,” he said. “I’d like to make the Worlds the focus for the second part of my season and use that as motivation to keep my form up in the races that come before it.”
While many Tour de France winners wind down for the year after taking yellow to Paris, the Briton wants to keep moving and to make the most of his form.
“I want to try and see the season through, not just switch off completely,” he explained. “Winning the yellow and rainbow jerseys would be an incredible double. I’ve focused on the Tour up until now but being the world champion, that’s probably the second biggest prize in cycling.”
Froome finished second to Sky team-mate Bradley Wiggins in last year’s Tour and then went on to net third in the Olympic time trial and fourth in the Vuelta a España. He was visibly fatiguing in the latter but this time round, despite being in winning form since February’s Tour of Oman and also clocking up victories in the Critérium International, the Tour de Romandie and the Critérium du Dauphiné, he believes it’s possible to keep winning.
“I’ll relax and let my hair down a bit during these next few weeks of criteriums, and have a bit of a mental break,” he said, talking about his immediate schedule. “But after that I’d like to get back on it and start focusing on the Worlds.”
Chasing more jerseys:
Longer term, winning more Tours is his big priority. He has made clear that he wants to target it for many years to come, and that he believes he could continue to do well.
“Every year things are going to change with the parcours, but I’d like to think I’m a well-balanced rider,” he said. “I can time trial reasonably, I can climb pretty well, and I can’t really see what else they’re going to put in the Tour that I would struggle with. So I’d like to think I could come back every year and focus on the Tour.”
That said, he knows that while he finished over four minutes clear this year, that there is a chance that his rivals will become stronger and will pose a bigger threat.
The most immediate of those is the Colombian Nairo Quintana, who finished a staggering second overall in his debut this year. He’s only 23 years of age but taking a stage, the runner up slot, the white jersey as best young rider and the polka dot jersey as best climber outline him as a very real threat.
“Guys like Quintana are going to be around for a long time and he is one of the guys who I’m going to have to battle it out with for the next few years,” said Froome, acknowledging the danger. “All the time there are younger guys coming up through the ranks, guys who are going to keep me on my toes.
“Aside from Quintana, there’s other guys like Michal Kwiatkowski and Andrew Talansky who stand out. They might not have turned too many head in this year’s Tour but they’re heading in the right direction and I definitely won’t have it easy in the future.”
Still, he believes that he too will continue to improve until his early thirties; if that’s the case, then more yellow jerseys could well lie ahead.
He also maintains that the one he took yesterday evening in Paris is secure.
“This is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time,” he said, referring to the questions he has faced about his dominance, but so too his insistence that his win was a clean one.