2023-07-14 08:43:00
In sport in general, there is often no room for feelings. Only performance counts. And what does it matter if you have won four Tour de France in your career. Or that you had to run on Mont Ventoux seven years ago.
A Tour in history > It happened on July 14… 2016: the Froome race on the Ventoux
Not selected for the Tour de France, Chris Froome had a hard time accepting this news. He did not hide it in a video posted on Youtube. “I had worked so hard to get here. It was a very big disappointment not to be retained in the team. I really felt like I was back on track. I felt that physically I was ready.”
Belgian supporters are present at the Grand Colombier: the magnificent work of art to encourage cyclists on the Tour de France (PHOTO)
Obviously, this point of view is not at all shared by Sylvan Adams. The owner of Israel – Premier Tech training reacted quickly. And he did not take gloves to discuss the situation of the Briton. “Which guy here on this team should we have left at home to give Chris a spot he didn’t earn?” cyclingweekly.com. “These guys have earned their place and I feel good with the team I brought here. Chris, I know, was disappointed but he understood the decision. But of course he was sad because in his heart he believed he could possibly come here on the Tour de France.”
A huge salary… for poor results
According to several sources, Froome earns nearly five million a year from the side of the Israeli team. Far too high fees according to Adams. “How could we say we got what we paid for? We signed Chris to be our team leader in the Tour de France and he’s not even there so it can’t be considered good value for money.
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Arrived in 2021, a year and a half after suffering a serious injury at Dauphiné, he is struggling to regain his best level. “We were very innovative in bringing him back and helping him out,” Adams continues. “I don’t think he’s using his injury as an excuse. But his current performances have nothing to do with that from what I understand,” he explained, evasively.
Between the lines, we therefore guess that the problem would be more of a mental order. Arrived in 2021, Froome was seen as a bet by the owner of the formation. According to him, it is clear that he is a failure. “We took a risk,” he admits. “We had hired the best rider of his generation. As a small team, I wanted to take the risk of betting on him to play a role in the Tour. Chris is not a billboard or part of a public relations strategy. He was to be our leader in the Tour. But that didn’t happen.”
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Aged 38, the Briton is inevitably closer to the end than the beginning of his career. At the end of the contract, the question of what to do next arises. “I’m very respectful to Chris. He is a four-time Tour winner. I respect his past accomplishments, but if you want to be on this year’s Tour team or next year’s Tour team, we don’t care what you did seven years ago, we we care about what you have done this year and you have to earn your place,” concluded the Israeli-Canadian billionaire.
What push him out? Nothing is less certain. Froome has already explained that he wants to run until he is 40.
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