Chris Froome predicts 2015 Tour de France will be a 'big showdown' and says Alberto Contador is main rival
Wednesday 14 January 2015 15:33, UK
Chris Froome has predicted this year’s Tour de France will be a “big showdown” between multiple riders but believes Alberto Contador will once again be his main rival.
The Team Sky leader has made the world’s most prestigious cycle race his main target for the coming season and is keen to make amends for the 2014 edition, when he crashed out after five stages.
This year’s Tour, which begins in the Dutch city of Utrecht on July 4, is unusual in that it contains only one short individual time trial and five summit finishes, meaning it heavily favours climbing specialists.
Froome and Contador are expected to be joined on the start line by defending champion Vincenzo Nibali, 2014 Giro d’Italia winner Nairo Quintana, and potentially the Spanish pairing of Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde. Froome believes all could be in contention for the yellow jersey.
Speaking at Team Sky’s winter training camp in Mallorca, he told Sky Sports News HQ: “Next year’s Tour is going to be a battle – that’s the perfect way to describe it. It’s going to be a big showdown. It’s shaping up to be the race that never was last year.
Battle
“If last year’s Vuelta is anything to go by, Contador is going to be the guy who I am obviously measuring myself against, but having said that, I don’t think I can rule out any of the other big general classification contenders, guys like Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali, Rodriguez, Valverde – those kind of guys.
“You can never rule anyone out until that point when they lose time on the general classification. Then you can say, ‘OK, that guy is not going to be a problem this year’. You have got to treat everyone with respect and understanding that they could be the one to challenge for the title.”
Team Sky have signed three climbing specialists over the winter in a bid to bolster their ranks for the season’s three Grand Tours.
Nicolas Roche has joined from Tinkoff-Saxo, Leopold Konig has arrived from NetApp-Endura and Wout Poels has moved from Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, and Froome believes the trio will help to make Team Sky a formidable force in the mountains in 2015.
He added: “I really do think this year, if any year, we have got an amazing line-up and amazing pool of riders to be able to select that Tour de France team. I would even go as far as to say that it is the strongest all-round that we have had in the last few years.”
