British four time Tour de France winner admits he will continue to fight for his Giro d’Italia success until the finish line which will happen next Sunday in Rome in order to make up for all the lost time.
Chris Froome started this season’s Giro hoping to become the third rider in the cycling history to have ever won three consecutive Grand Tours after taking last year’s Giro and Vuelta, however a series of misfortune events made him lose valuable time.
? @tom_dumoulin (@TeamSunweb): “If it’s a tailwind, I doubt Simon will lose the Maglia Rosa. If the wind change, the gap will be bigger” | “Se ci sarà vento a favore dubito che Simon perderà la Rosa. Se il vento cambia i distacchi saranno più rilavanti”.#Giro101 pic.twitter.com/RoyyJWJYcy
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 21, 2018
Struggling to protect his name
It seems this year, things may not go as planned for the British champion who is also struggling to regain the lost trust after the adverse analytical results when his urine indicated twice the allowed amount of an asthma drug during last season’s Vuleta a Espana.
“It’s been a brutal race, but it’s also been a beautiful race,” said Froome. “This is bike racing at its best and it’s what people want to see. Real edge-of-the-seat stuff and unpredictable racing too.”
Froome admitted that today’s stage challenge will be to beat the defending Giro Champion Tom Dumoulin.
“If I gain anything on Tom Dumoulin I’ll be very happy. He’s the world champion time-triallist, I don’t expect to gain anything on him tomorrow, but let’s see,” Froome claimed yesterday.
“The gap is big, especially the way Simon has been riding; he hasn’t shown one moment of weakness so far and only seems to be getting stronger. I’m not going to give up.”
Mood of the day! #Giro101 #Giro pic.twitter.com/Dv0rE22KCb
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 22, 2018
