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As a young boy growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, apparently Chris Froome could not even afford a bike. But after a chance meeting with Kenyan cyclist David Kinjah, Froome was given a bike and simply did not stop riding.
Despite a clear determination to succeed from a young age, who would have guessed that a poor boy from Kenya would make it to the Tour de France, let alone win cycling’s most prestigious race in the fashion he has?
After finishing third in last night’s penultimate stage, 29 seconds behind stage winner Nairo Quintana, the Sky leader holds a 5:03 lead over the second placed Columbian, with only the traditional stroll into Paris to come.
Traditionally no general classification contenders attack on the final stage, meaning Froome has all but won the Tour, with just the formalities remaining.
But let’s reflect on Froome’s journey throughout the Tour, leading to him dominating sport’s toughest event.
After a quiet first week, with no meaningful time gaps in the general classification, Froome tore the race apart up the final climb to Ax 3 Domaines in stage eight, gaining a remarkable 1:45 on the likes of Alberto Contador and Quintana in an astounding performance that set a precedence for the next two weeks.
Despite being isolated through bullish tactics by Saxo-Tinkoff and Movistar the next day, Froome showed all he was boss in stage 11’s individual time trial, going at a phenomenal pace to defeat every contender for the general classification by two minutes or more.
For the next three days the flat roads ensured the sprinters were in the spotlight, but in stage 15 Froome ensured the focus was once again on him after a dominant ride up the famous Mont Ventoux.
After ascending arguably the Tour’s most feared ‘berg, Froome took the stage win and claimed considerable time on all his rivals for the yellow jersey.
Although Froome enjoyed a relatively quiet day next few days by his high standards, last year’s runner up still consolidated his lead over second placed Contador from 4:25 (after stage 15) to 5:11 heading into last night’s stage, with the Tour all but wrapped up.
And wrap it up he did last night, finishing 29 and 12 seconds behind Quintana and Joaquim Rodriguez respectively, with Contador a further two minutes back.
This means Quintana has taken the runners up position, with Rodriguez third in this year’s Tour. But just how does Froome’s win rate?
He simply never faltered, and when it mattered most he brought the hammer down on his rivals, such as in stage 11’s individual time trial, and stage 15’s climb up the torturous Mont Ventoux; days that set up his historic win.
But what makes Froome’s victory even more impressive is the enormous margin he won the Tour by.
Very rarely are the last two mountain stages of the Tour billed as ‘the battle for second place’, but that was the case this year, with Froome holding a 5:11 advantage over Contador after the double ascent of the iconic Alp d’Huez in stage 18.
To put it simply, Froome smashed his rivals. The Briton’s 5:03 victory over 23 year old Colombian Quintana is the largest win in Le Tour de France since Jan Ulrich won by over nine minutes to second placed Richard Virenque of France in the 1997 Tour – a victory now severely cloud after Ulrich admitted to doping during his career in an interview just a month ago.
This demonstrates the destructive nature of Froome’s all-round performance, clearly one of the best in the history of this great race.
His rivals threw all they could at him, but Froome caught everything that went his way, and powered back missiles that would not stop firing.
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