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Chris Froome: Nairo Quintana not among biggest rivals at Tour de FranceChris Froome celebrates winning the 2013 Tour de France (picture copyright Simon Wilkinson:SWpix.com)

Chris Froome: Nairo Quintana not among biggest rivals at Tour de France

Team Sky man believs Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro
by Simon_MacMichael
Thu, Jun 01, 2017 13:37
14

Team Sky’s Chris Froome, who a month today begins the defence of his Tour de France title in Düsseldorf, believes that Nairo Quintana may not be among his closest rivals in this year’s race, where he is seeking a fourth yellow jersey in five years.

Eurosport reports that Froome believes the Movistar rider, runner-up to Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin at the Giro d’Italia which finished on Sunday, may have taken on too much in targeting both the Italian and French Grand Tours.

He said: "My biggest threats come from guys who did not do the Giro – Richie Porte, Alberto Contador and Romain Bardet.

"I think it is going to be tough for Nairo to do the Giro and the Tour."

Quintana was second to Froome when the Briton won the Tour de France in 2013 and 2015, and last year finished third behind the Team Sky man, with AG2R's Bardet second.

The Colombian won one stage during the Giro and took the maglia rosa from Dumoulin in the closing days of the race, but his lead was not enough to prevent the Dutch rider from overhauling him on the closing day’s time trial.

But Froome suggested that Quintana may not gone all-out at the Giro, saying: "He may then be doing better on the Tour because he is a rider who is better in the second than the first Grand Tour."

Froome has not raced since the Tour de Romandie in April and most recently has been on a training camp on Tenerife, but will be back in action at the Criterium du Dauphiné, which starts on Sunday.

It was after the end of the final stage of that race in 2011 that the infamous Jiffy Bag was delivered to former Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman and containing medicine for Sir Bradley Wiggins.

The episode is being investigated both as part of a wider Parliamentary inquiry into doping in sports, and by UK Anti-Doping.

Froome, whose own performances at the Tour de France have been viewed with suspicion by some fans as well as media figures including former pro Laurent Jalabert, said: "It does not really affect much of us on the road.

"It is different for Bradley and others who are no longer on the team, but for us it's really not a big deal, none of us have been involved in this."

Speaking about his preparations for this year’s Tour de France, he said: "I think it has been a build-up similar to what I had last year.

“I think it worked well and I was able to do the Tour and the Vuelta."

Froome has three times been runner-up in the Spanish race, and while he could not confirm he would be riding it this year, he added: "After the Tour, if everything goes well, I'd love to do the Vuelta."

Joining him in France will be Geraint Thomas, who abandoned the Giro d’Italia halfway through due to injuries sustained on the crash caused by a parked police motorbike at the foot of the final climb on Stage 9.

"On the one hand, it was a huge setback for Geraint that he was not able to finish the Giro,” said Froome.

“But,” he added, “for the Tour, it will be only a good thing for the team because he will be fresher and have more time to prepare." 

Chris Froome
Nairo Quintana
Tour de France 2017
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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14 comments

Avatar
J90 | 7 years ago
0 likes

The parcours doesn't suit him, Porte is Froome's only real challenger. Especially after seeing what he's been putting out in his training.

Avatar
Grahamd | 7 years ago
1 like

I think non race people could make more of an impact, such as whether the French motorcycle police will be following the pattern set by the Italian police, taking out half of the Sky team and so provide an opportunity for Quintana and co to attack.

Avatar
Jackson | 7 years ago
0 likes

Predicting the usual Skytrain snoozefest but would love to be proven wrong (pref by Bardet, Porte or Contador in that order). Roll on the Vuelta.

Avatar
CXR94Di2 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Froome has a better chance and Quintana less so.  From what I can tell it has less mountains 

Avatar
DaSy replied to CXR94Di2 | 7 years ago
3 likes

CXR94Di2 wrote:

Froome has a better chance and Quintana less so.  From what I can tell it has less mountains 

 

In the spirit of the previous grammar pedantry, it should be fewer mountains, not less.

Avatar
Cooks | 7 years ago
4 likes

We're not here to talk about cycling, we're here to fight!

 

Avatar
atlaz | 7 years ago
3 likes

The headline would more accurately say "Froome says chances are that the Giro tired Quintana too much for him to be a challenge but he could be wrong about that". But I imagine that's a bit dull. 

Avatar
DaveE128 | 7 years ago
1 like

That could come back to bite him!

Avatar
joules1975 | 7 years ago
2 likes

Team Sky man believs Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

Surely that should either;

Team Sky man believes Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

or

It is the Team Sky man's belief that Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

I'm crap at english, so here's a tip that I very often follow. Write all your article text in something like MS Word or similar, and make use of the excellent spelling and grammer checking facilities, and then copy said text into appropriate places in your CMS. At the very least you'll instantly eliminate the poor spelling often blighting this website.

Avatar
Welsh boy replied to joules1975 | 7 years ago
1 like

joules1975 wrote:

Team Sky man believs Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

Surely that should either;

Team Sky man believes Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

or

It is the Team Sky man's belief that Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

I'm crap at english, so here's a tip that I very often follow. Write all your article text in something like MS Word or similar, and make use of the excellent spelling and grammer checking facilities, and then copy said text into appropriate places in your CMS. At the very least you'll instantly eliminate the poor spelling often blighting this website.

Obviously your technique doesn't highlight where you need a capital letter for proper nouns does it!

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to joules1975 | 7 years ago
1 like

joules1975 wrote:

Team Sky man believs Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

Surely that should either;

Team Sky man believes Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

or

It is the Team Sky man's belief that Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

I'm crap at english, so here's a tip that I very often follow. Write all your article text in something like MS Word or similar, and make use of the excellent spelling and grammer checking facilities, and then copy said text into appropriate places in your CMS. At the very least you'll instantly eliminate the poor spelling often blighting this website.

Road.cc, use Grammarly, it's free and it's WAYYYYY better than MS Word spell check.

https://www.grammarly.com/

 

On a cycling related note, I'm curious how this years tour will pan out!

Avatar
kevvjj replied to joules1975 | 7 years ago
4 likes

joules1975 wrote:

Team Sky man believs Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

Surely that should either;

Team Sky man believes Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

or

It is the Team Sky man's belief that Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

I'm crap at english, so here's a tip that I very often follow. Write all your article text in something like MS Word or similar, and make use of the excellent spelling and grammer checking facilities, and then copy said text into appropriate places in your CMS. At the very least you'll instantly eliminate the poor spelling often blighting this website.

It's a pity you don't follow your own advice... grammar NOT grammer.

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to kevvjj | 7 years ago
0 likes

kevvjj wrote:

joules1975 wrote:

Team Sky man believs Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

Surely that should either;

Team Sky man believes Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

or

It is the Team Sky man's belief that Movistar rider may have taken on too much in targeting Tour and Giro.

I'm crap at english, so here's a tip that I very often follow. Write all your article text in something like MS Word or similar, and make use of the excellent spelling and grammer checking facilities, and then copy said text into appropriate places in your CMS. At the very least you'll instantly eliminate the poor spelling often blighting this website.

It's a pity you don't follow your own advice... grammar NOT grammer.

Grammarly would have picked that up 3

No, I don't work for Grammarly; yes, I'm just taking the piddle.

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 7 years ago
0 likes

Quintana seems to be lacking something like the ability to really play to his strengths. I don't think he'll get the better of a full strength Sky.  He definitely could win the TDF but whether he will is another matter.

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