Soon after grabbing yesterday’s Giro d’Italia cup, Chris Froome admitted the victory to be by far his “biggest battle of my career”.
Team Sky’s man has now become the third rider in the cycling history to have ever won three consecutive Grand Tours after taking last year’s Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.
Where beauty meets history.
In the immortal city Chris Froome becomes legend.
This is #Giro101 Stage 21. pic.twitter.com/Ii0UUniJED— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 27, 2018
Even though the Giro didn’t quite started as Froome would have wanted after a heavy crash at the beginning in Jerusalem during the opening time-trial, making everyone think that it may not be his year after all, Froome was able to slowly collect enough time and surpass then-current leader Yates with some impressive performances during the last three stages.
“I had a tough start to the race, I had a couple of crashes earlier on, was in a lot of pain and struggling to feel myself after the crashes. I kept a little bit of hope in me that I would come right in the final part of the race, which was so brutal but so crucial to the overall standings of the event,” Froome told Sky Sports News.
“The race got turned completely on its head in the last couple of days and I’m so grateful I had the support of such an amazing team to help me when the chips were down.”
A battle to Clear His Name
What a weekend @chrisfroome! #Giro101 #MondayMotivation
? @therussellellis pic.twitter.com/U326Fsqvlm
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) May 28, 2018
Froome admitted to having an absolute clear conscience.
“I know I have done nothing wrong and I had every right to be here and race. I’ve been completely focused on the job in hand,” he added.
Now, with the Giro d’Italia’s victory, Froome has left everyone speechless, especially the ones who have doubted his pureness after the adverse analytical finding for the known asthma drug called salbutamol during last September’s Vuelta a Espana.
Despite being still under investigation, Froome has always denied his guilt and it seems his fight seems to be all he needs to prove his innocence, especially after grabbing yesterday’s major victory.
“This has been by far the biggest battle of my career. In none of my other Grand Tour victories have I had to make up the kind of deficits I have had to in this Giro,” Froome told Sky.
“This is one of the hardest I have won. One of the reasons I have not won it until now is because it is such an unpredictable race. It is like the classics version of the Grand Tour.
Pinching myself! There were times over the last 3 weeks when I thought this wouldn’t be possible. This is a dream come true.
Thank you to my amazing teammates & everyone at @teamsky for believing in me ? #Giro101 @giroditalia #Giro2018 pic.twitter.com/zqRzvTpqpH— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) May 27, 2018
Jumping into Conclusions
When asked about the feedback he has received by people regarding his adverse analytical find, Froome said: “I find it interesting people are very quick to jump to conclusions, when actually if you break down what that ride looks like, I made up more time on the descent than on the climbs or the flats,” he said.
“The chase group was actually closing on me on the climbs. How can people say that I was going too fast on the climbs? It is actually uneducated, isn’t it? They have just gone on emotion.”
GALLERY: Soak up the atmosphere from an incredible final day in Rome. @therussellellis was there as @chrisfroome won #Giro101
? > https://t.co/RUFGOjG7IM pic.twitter.com/Z3eh9rcrzI
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) May 28, 2018
