As the final countdown to the Tour de France start on Saturday commences, leading favourite Chris Froome has confirmed a major remodelling of both his tactics and preparation, the first in four years, to ensure that he is in top condition for this year's ultra-hard third week.
Up until now, the Kenyan-born Briton has essentially built his Tour strategy around capturing an almost unbeatable lead in the first major mountain challenge of the race then fending off his rivals.
Even in the 2012 Tour, taken by team-mate Bradley Wiggins, Froome won the Tour's opening summit finish in the Jura mountains.
Then in 2013 and 2015, he stomped his authority on the race with a mountain-top victory in the Tour's first week in the Pyrenees -both times en route to winning for himself.
Speaking in his team hotel deep in the Normandy countryside on Thursday, Froome pointed out in a press conference that he has built for the Tour very differently this year. Becoming a first-time father in the winter, the Tour's ultra-difficult final four Alpine mountain stages, Froome's relative difficulties in the third week of the 2015 Tour and his aim of battling for gold in the Olympic road race and time trial in August have all combined for a reworked strategy.
“My own personal goal is to be stronger in the last week of the Tour de France,” Froome said.
“For me there was a personal aspect [of becoming a first time father last year] so it was good for me to spend a little more time at home and ease into the racing more.”
As Froome pointed out, in other Tours he has been in top shape since even before the start of the race and then, having gained a big lead in the first mountain stage, “tried to hang on.”
Instead, he has the feeling of “only have got there [to top form] just now, starting to feel that level again, because we've delayed everything so I can keep going through to the second part of the season.”
Froome predicts that the Tour's very mountainous third week will be the point where his rivals will be most active, and that “People will be looking at it, seeing that it's so loaded and for anyone trying to make up lost time, that will be a great opportunity for them. The third week will be the hardest point for anyone in the lead to defend.”
Whilst the real test of Froome's form will likely therefore come when the Tour reaches the Alps on July 19th, he played down fears that there might be a repeat of last year's hostility amongst a tiny minority of fans who had, in one controversial case, thrown urine over the British rider during a stage and in others spat and jeered insults at Froome.
Instead Froome emphasised the overwhelmingly warm welcome from local fans in his last French race ,the Criterium du Dauphine. Equally, the 31-year-old emphasised that he was “focussed on racing” when questioned about the considerably strengthened security measures that are in place for this year's Tour de France.
On the road, Froome faces what he considers to be an exceptionally powerful field of rivals this year, saying that “they're greater in number and their level [of contention] is that much higher].
The level of competition is much higher.” But Sky's Tour line-up, across the board, has also gained in firepower, with arch-rival Alberto Contador saying “it's a team of leaders.”
Key amongst that support in a race which Froome says “the climbing outweighs other editions” will be Mikel Landa, third in the Giro d'Italia last year and winner of the toughest mountain stage of the Vuelta a España in 2015. Other hugely talented climbers include Colombia's Sergio Henao, Spain's Mikel Nieve and Dutchman Wout Poels, who acted as key support for Froome in last year's crunch stage on the mythical Alpe d'Huez stage.
Meanwhile, Wales' Geraint Thomas appeared to downplay long-standing plans for him to act as Sky's Plan B in the Tour de France, emphasising instead that initially the aim are that he would be working in a support role for Chris Froome.
In stark contrast to Froome's final pre-Tour warm-up race, winning the Criterium du Dauphine for a third time, Thomas had a very poor Tour de Suisse, in which he was second last June, but could only manage 17th this time round.
“This is all about doing my job for Froome,” Thomas, who was lying in the top five overall of the 2015 Tour until he was poleaxed by illness in third week, said on Thursday. “Hopefully when we start climbing I feel good and if I'm up there, anything extra would be a huge bonus but in the last two weeks I've got my head around being here for Froome.” – The Independent