Having celebrated his second Tour de France win in three years with a glass of champagne on the road to Paris, followed by a long overdue bacon sandwich on Monday morning, Chris Froome refused to rule out a tilt at this year’s Vuelta a España.
The Tour of Spain begins in Puerto Banus on 22 August, which means Froome will need to make a decision regarding his participation in the coming days. Having endured no end of brickbats and insinuation en route to his gruelling victory in France the cyclist could be forgiven for deciding to enjoy a break from cycling. But he is clearly tempted by the prospect of becoming only the third rider after Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault to pull off the Tour and Vuelta double.
“I would say it’s a bit early to say 100% but I think that could potentially be on the cards, certainly,” said Froome upon his return to London. “I know it would be a massive challenge to back it up with another grand tour now, especially to go there with the aim of going for the general classification again. But yeah, that’s at the back of the mind and maybe that could be on the cards.”
A runner-up in Spain last year and in 2011, as well as the fourth-placed finisher in 2012, Froome jokingly requested that the race organiser, Javier Guillén, include a long, flat individual time-trial stage in this year’s race and the Vuelta director duly obliged. Stage 17 of the 21 to be contested by the riders is a 39km, pancake-flat “race of truth” in Burgos, the northern capital of Castile and home town of the Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata.
“Having Froome would be great, but that does not mean that we will make a Vuelta to suit him,” said Guillén late last year, even if the subsequent route he unveiled was almost certainly better tailored to the Sky rider’s strengths than that of the Grand Boucle he has just won.
On Sunday in Paris, Froome became the first Briton to win the Tour de France twice, following up on his success of 2013, and he spent his first day as a double champion relaxing and doing a publicity turn with his sponsors.
“It’s not the Tour itself, it’s the whole buildup, months and months of doing every little thing right, every little detail,” he told Sky Sports News.
“It’s going to be great to switch off for a few days. I had a bacon butty this morning. It was fantastic, something I haven’t had in months.”
Having admitted that he is already plotting his team’s assault on next year’s Tour de France the Sky chief, Sir Dave Brailsford, urged Froome, who is expecting a son with his wife, Michelle, to enjoy some downtime before making any definitive decision on whether or not to line up on the Costa del Sol next month.
“The reality is you never know how the guys are going to come out of three weeks of racing,” Brailsford said. “You need to have a couple of days to calibrate and see where you are.
“They need to just relax, take time and feel good about what they’ve just done. He’s the first British guy ever to win two Tours, it’s incredible what he’s done, and I don’t think we should be encouraging him to look ahead at the minute.”
