The 2016 Tour de France was the turning point. When Chris Froome took all the criticisms that he and Team Sky had sucked the fun out of the Tour, that they rode like robots and had made the Tour predictable, and raced in a way we had never seen from him before. He attacked over a mountain descent; he attacked in the finale of a flat stage in crosswinds to pick up a handful more seconds. He actually ran up Mont Ventoux while wearing the yellow jersey. “There’s no way anyone can say the racing style is boring and predictable as they have in the past,” Froome said.
Image: Ian Walton.
But are the criticisms levelled at Froome, from fans and the media, that his Tour wins have been largely boring and unexciting, that he neutralises a race by sitting behind his team-mates’ train before gaining time on a mountain finish, entirely fair in the first place? Froome’s biggest strengths are obviously his climbing and time trialling, which have been where he’s gained so much of the advantages and secured his titles, and he’s had the strength of the best team in the peloton to call upon, but his victories were far from without drama and intrigue.