‘A tough race for me’ – Chris Froome reflects on his overall performance at La Vuelta

Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) says La Vuelta had been a “tough race” for him but believes being at the Grand Tour has been beneficial.

After showing promise at this year’s Tour de France, particularly with a third place finish on Alpe d’Huez, Froome’s stock has sunk again after a quiet three weeks at La Vuelta.

Froome has previously admitted his preparations for the Grand Tour were derailed by “quite bad” Covid symptoms, but he says he was glad to be competing.

“I have good feelings [about the Vuelta],” he said after Sunday’s final stage.

“It’s been a tough race for me personally. Since I’ve had Covid I haven’t been feeling the same, but having said that I’m happy to have been here at the Vuelta.

“To get another Grand Tour in the legs I think will help me going forward, and [help me to] start next season fresh and with new energy and new motivation.”

He added: “He has been very impressive. I had a few doubts towards the end of the second week – he showed a few signs of weakness, but he’s held on really well in the last few days.

“Chapeau, he deserves the victory and I look forward to seeing what comes next for him.”

Speaking on The Breakaway, Adam Blythe believes the four-time Tour de France champion should focus on picking up stage wins in future Grand Tours and not be too concerned by the general classification standings.

“We heard that Covid really played a heavy part in his form and his condition going into this race,” he said.

“I would like to see Chris Froome repeat what he did at the Tour de France, but a little bit more consistently – go for the stage wins, forget about GC.

“But as he did on that Alpe d’Huez stage, he did amazing to not just get into the race but fight for the win at that stage.

“I don’t know what’s next for him but I’d love to see him go out and try and target stages, the big Grand Tours – at the highest level and get appreciation for all the hard work that he’s doing.

“At the minute we watch him in a race and it’s always focusing on him because of who he is, but it gets to a point where I feel a little bit sorry for him.

“Because of who he is that attention is always on him, and it’s not remembering him as that great champion that he still is, but it’s looking at him how he is now. It must be quite difficult for him, so I hope he gets back up to the top.”

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