Monday 15 June 2015 13:43, UK
Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford says Chris Froome is in great shape for the Tour de France after winning the Criterium du Dauphine.
Froome claimed victory on Sunday thanks to a second successive stage win in a thrilling race finale, and Brailsford is confident the victory will stand the Team Sky leader in good stead.
The 2013 Tour de France champion first won the Dauphine as part of his preparation for that success, and he looked in fine form with blistering attacks in the final two stages of the week-long race, which he eventually won by 10 seconds from American Tejay van Garderen,
Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ, Brailsford said: "He came into this race and we had some really fantastic days, after we had a tough start that wasn't great and wasn't our best performance.
"But then he had a great couple of days and finished it off in fantastic style winning the last two mountain stages, so it all looks good and we couldn't be in a better place heading into the Tour.
"The race didn't really go to plan, there was a team time-trial to start with, so there was going to be some time differences between all the teams, and we didn't do a great a job and get it right.
"We started off with a 30 second deficit and then on the first mountain stage we rode well and clawed a bit of time back, but then there was a real wet bizarre day when they started racing right from the go and it was a hard day and there were some time gaps again.
"But we went back into the mountains and the lads really stepped it up, and Chris showed his true form winning the two big mountain top finishes on his own, clinching the final victory yesterday by ten seconds so a really, really good performance but we had to fight for it which is not a bad thing."
Brailsford says this year's Tour de France course will be tough but the plan is to get the team into the final week in a strong enough position to win the race for the third time in four years.
"Normally when Bradley (Wiggins) won it, and Chris (Froome) won it, there has always been a long individual time trial and in those long individual time trials there are always quite large significant time differences.
"Of course Bradley and Chris are terrific time triallers so they gained time there and then in the mountains they also climb well.
"This time around there is a very difficult first week, we have to go over cobblestones and there is a very open crosswind section, so the first week is very, very difficult. Then we have a team time-trial rather than individual time- trial, so we are going to have to ride well as a team there, and then it's on into the mountains and it finishes with a terrifically difficult final week.
"So it's going to be a question of getting through the first week, doing a good team time-trial and coming into form, growing into the race and being strongest in the final week. That's the plan but as soon as you turn the first pedal around it can go out the window."
Brailsford is more than happy with the form and shape of his team but says he will wait until after the Tour of Switzerland before making a final decision on who will be his final nine riders.
He said: "It's been a real challenge to pick the final squad with a lot of the guys stepping up, there is another big race going on in Switzerland at the moment - the Tour of Switzerland - Geraint Thomas is sitting in second place after a couple of stages and he is looking fantastic at the minute.
"We have a nine man team and way more than nine riders who are knocking on the door, so I am going to have to sit down and scratch my head.
"I'll get the emotion out of the way and sit down calmly and see what we need, what kind of riders do we need for this race. I'll wait until the Tour of Switzerland finishes, look at who is in form, and then try and marry up the demands and the in-form riders and go with them."
