Tour de France route suits Chris Froome, says Sir Dave Brailsford
Wednesday 21 October 2015 08:29, UK
Sir Dave Brailsford believes Chris Froome should be “rubbing his hands together” following the unveiling of next year’s Tour de France route.
A well-balanced course containing four summit finishes and two individual time trials was presented by organisers Amaury Sports Organisation in Paris on Tuesday.
It appears tailor-made for Froome given he is one of the best time-triallists in the world and that one of the summit finishes is on Mont Ventoux, scene of his iconic stage win in 2013.
Asked if Froome could win next year's Tour, Brailsford told Sky Sports News HQ: "I can't see why he wouldn't. There are a couple of time trials in there, albeit they are not traditional time trials. Ventoux is somewhere he really likes going. He has been there before and, if he performs well up there, that could be good.
"I can't see any reason why he won't be rubbing his hands together. You have got to race what is in front of you. That is the great thing about the Tour de France - every year is different."
The first time trial arrives on stage 13 and covers 37km of rolling road, while the second follows on stage 18 and is almost all uphill for 17km.
Brailsford feels they could prove to be even more important than the summit finishes.
He added: "The second one is definitely uphill and the first one, there is quite a hard section in the middle, there is a technical descent and it's rolling, so it's a challenging course.
"But he is a good time-triallist, and so if we support him to get his preparation right and he goes in there with the right condition, he could look to capitalise on the time trials."
