Team Sky rider expects Pyrenean stages to be decisive
Saturday 4 July 2015 08:09, UK
Chris Froome has described this year's Tour de France as "very open" and believes more riders than just the so-called "Big Four" will be challenging for victory.
Froome is the bookmakers' favourite to win a second Tour but is likely to face stiff competition from Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana and 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali.
All four are former grand tour winners and the Tour, which starts in the Dutch city of Utrecht on Saturday, is consequently expected to be one of the most fiercely contested in years.
Froome acknowledges his three closest rivals will be tough to beat but fears the likes of Tejay van Garderen, Joaquim Rodriguez and French pair Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet could also challenge him for the yellow jersey.
He told Sky Sports News HQ: "Everyone has had a different build-up getting here, but even outside of those four, I would say there are another three or four names who could be there or thereabouts.
"It's a very open race and it’s certainly shaping up to be an extremely competitive race this year."
This year's Tour contains two short time trials and a series of one-day classics-style stages in the first week - one of which includes cobbled roads - before heading to the Pyrenees in the second week and then the Alps in the third week.
The Pyrenean leg looks particularly challenging, with consecutive summit finishes at La Pierre-Saint-Martin, Cauterets and Plateau de Beille on stages 10, 11 and 12 promising to sort the strongest climbers from the weak.
Froome added: "There are three back-to-back days in the Pyrenees, stages 10, 11 and 12, which I think are going to be decisive stages, so I have quietly got my eye on those stages and I’m looking forward to getting there."
Froome was forced to abandon last year’s Tour on stage five following a spree of three crashes in 24 hours.
More crashes could be in the offing in the treacherous first week of this year’s race and Froome acknowledges that staying safe and remaining in contention must be his first priority.
He said: "As we saw last year, things can go south very quickly in a race like the Tour de France, so at this stage I'm just going to take things one day at a time and, of course, in the back of my mind I'm hoping I can win again."
The Tour starts with a 13.8km individual time trial around Utrecht and although the short distance means the favourites for overall victory will not be separated by much, Froome is not underestimating its importance.
He added: "It is a short individual time trial, less than 14km, but it's a time trial so it’s going to be a race among the GC [general classification] riders, so we can expect there to be at least significant time gaps - 10, 20 seconds maybe between the GC guys.
"It's a day where, even though it’s so short, we are just going to give it absolutely everything. It's going to be quite a nice opener for the legs."
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