Chris Froome is the unexpected leader at the Vuelta a España after ten stages, but he certainly earned himself the red jersey. He did a tremendous race against the clock, where he finished second to Tony Martin. Froome beat noted time trialists like Fabian Cancellara and his Sky team's leader, Bradley Wiggins.
Taking the race lead was a surprise even for Froome, and it brings up the memory of the Tour de France and Thomas Voeckler's gutsy time in the maillot jaune. Except that Froome isn't Voeckler. "The difference to Voeckler is I didn't profit from any lucky breakaway", Froome says during the first rest day of the Vuelta, at the Parador of Monforte del Lemos. "I've been with the GC contenders every day."
He remains loyal to his captain, who sits in third place overall, just 20 seconds back. "My goal was to stay with Bradley in the high mountains. That kept me in contention for GC." In fact the Sky riders could have set themselves up for an even better situation, but the day one team time trial didn't go their way at all. The scoreboard in Benidorm showed a 42-second deficit after 13.5 kilometers - valuable time that Wiggins could have needed to get further ahead of his rivals.
Froome doesn't dwell on the experience. "Life in cycling would be boring if everything happened just as expected", he says. He gets a lot more attention now than at the start of the race. "My position and all the messages I got in the past 24 hours are overwhelming. This is definitely worth all the hard work I've done. With Bradley Wiggins in third place, we couldn't be happier." The goal is to get the jersey in Madrid and offense is the best defense. "We haven't really talked tactic yet but we're going to defend the lead."
For Froome, taking the lead was not only joy, but also an emotional moment in light of the death of team soigneur Txema [Gonzalez] during last year's Vuelta. "We want to honor the red jersey with Txema in mind. It would be fantastic if we could still lead the Vuelta in his home town of Vitoria in The Basque Country", said Froome.
Having the jersey in Vitoria would almost certainly mean the team would carry it into Madrid, which is the following and last day of the tour. The tragedy meant that Sky quit the 2010 race, but the situation looks much better now for the British squad.
Froome's situation is also better, as he was affected by Bilharzia, a disease caused by parasitic worms. He got it in November 2010 when visiting his native country, Kenya. "I've had to repeat the treatment after the Tour de Suisse and I hope it's over now," he says.
The parasite cost him a start at the Tour, which he first rode in 2008 for Barloworld. This was the year when he switched to British Nationality. At the U23 Worlds in Salzburg, Austria, he still rode for Kenya, less successfully. " I crashed into a marshall after 150 meters in the U23 individual time trial", he says with a smile.
In 2011, Froome is reaching for the stars. "My position at the Vuelta is a big milestone in my career", he says. He hasn't won a race yet since joining the ProTour, but he has had good results. "Now I'm able to express myself properly at the level I've always wanted to be. I don't want to set a date for passing the red jersey onto somebody else."
If the jersey goes, he wants it to go to Wiggins. But as long as there are other contenders around, he wants them off his back. "I want to keep [the jersey] as long as I can. With Bradley, we have two cards to play." He also has two more supporters in attendance now. His father Clive and his elder brother Jonathan flew to Spain to support him in his defense of the unexpected red jersey.