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news
Wiggins and Froome (pic Bettini Photo, courtesy Pinarello)Chris Froome says he had issues trusting Bradley Wiggins at 2012 Tour de France
Chris Froome says he had issues trusting Sir Bradley Wiggins during the 2012 Tour de France, and that he considered attacking his former team-mate.
The Team Sky pair finished first and second overall, with Wiggins becoming the first British rider to win the yellow jersey.
But it was evident that there were tensions between the pair, highlighted on Stage 11 of the race when Froome rode off ahead of Wiggins, only to be ordered to drop back by sports director Sean Yates.
Speaking to retired Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg on his Beyond Victory podcast, Froome recalled: “There were definitely a couple of moments where I thought ‘right I’m going to go for it now.’
“But the team orders and the guys calling the shots in the car were straight onto me and called me back.”
Yates later said that the episode on the stage to La Toussuire almost led to Wiggins, whom he said felt as though he had been “stabbed in the back,” quitting the race
Froome told Rosberg that he had a problem trusting Wiggins as a result of the previous year’s Vuelta.
During that race, Froome rode himself into the overall lead following the Stage 10 individual time trial, but the following day was made to work for Wiggins, who took over the red jersey.
Wiggins’ would eventually finish third overall, with Froome leapfrogging him into the runners-up spot behind Juan Jose Cobo.
“The difficult part for me was trusting him as the leader, given that in the last big race, the Vuelta a España, I’d gone there to support him and he fell apart in the last few days,” Froome said.
“The team turned to me and said ‘right now you have to try and win it’.
“Going into the Tour de France I had this in my mind. I was thinking ‘I’m doing a job for this guy, but if he falls apart in the last few days I need to be in the position to take over again.’”
He pointed out that Wiggins had “never won the Tour de France at that time. Okay I’d never won it either, but there were a lot of reservations in my mind.
“I was also quite young at that time. I had more Tours to come. He was at the peak of his career, that was his year.
“Being part of a team you have to make sacrifices here and there. That was a sacrifice for me.
“I don’t regret it, that’s sport,” he added.
An injury picked up at the Giro d’Italia in 2013 meant that Wiggins missed the 2013 Tour de France, with Froome going into the 100th edition of the race as Team Sky’s undisputed leader,
He won that year, and has since won three more titles, putting him one short of the record for most Tour de France wins.
Last year, however, Froome lost time on the opening stage due to a crash and it was team-mate Geraint Thomas who emerged as Team Sky’s main challenger, taking the yellow jersey on Stage 11 of the race to La Rosiere.
He extended his lead after winning at Alpe d’Huez the following day and kept the yellow jersey all the way to Paris, while Froome would finish third overall.
The pair are both expected to start this year’s race in Brussels, by which time Team Sky will have become Team Ineos after its change of ownership, effective from 1 May.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
The headline is misleading and could be described as clickbait!
What Froome is saying is that he couldn't trust that Wiggins would be able to pull it off, not that he would do something against either Froome's or Sky's interests.
Trust issues, that's a bit off considering it was Wiggins who couldn't trust you Chris not to break team orders, couldn't be trusted not to stab your team mate and team leader in the back, if you were told you had the green light to go for it yourself then that would have been made clear from the off.
As it is Wiggins was doing enough to win by beating the opposition, not thinking he had to beat a back stabber in his own team, it makes you look like dope test avoider Hinault when he back stabbed Lemond in '86!
Take some fucking responsibility Chris, you acted like a spoilt brat instead of sticking to your job, considering the help you've had off from Geraint and the others you should look back and say actually that was my fault, I thought it was about me, my chance, instead I should have backed up my leader and bided my time for when it was my chance to shine! Nope, instead you've said you didn't trust him when actually it was the other way around.
Changed my thoughts somewhat as to the person you are, was always a backer/admirer but now this makes you out to be a shallow two faced backstabbing cunt!
For goodness sake jump down off that fence and let it all go. We'd love to know your honest opinion.
And there I was thinking it was just sport after all...
Was it a little ambiguous, I was holding back a smidge so hence your confusion
He speaks very highly of you!
Duplicate.
I'm currently reading Richard Moore's book about the 1986 TdF and the similarities are striking.
It will be interesting to see how Sky deal with the potential conflict between Thomas and Froome this year. I doubt there was too much last year because, as others have said, Froome had won several TdFs and held all 3 GTs while Thomas didn't have much to show for his previous GT attempts, primarily owing to his role as a domestique.
The situation between Froome and Wiggo in 2014 was a bit different, in my opinion, because neither had won a GT and both presumably felt that they were the strongest.
Well at least I can beat Froome on one thing - I have issues trusting any of them going on just past experience.
Let it go Chris, you've done alright.....zzzzzzzzzzzz
Sports people are ultimately selfish, they sacrifice a lot to get to the top and they're not likely to want to fall at the final hurdle by being nice. Cycling is different to most in the way some riders will have a hugely 'successful' career whilst never winning a race, the team dynamic means so much. Yet still, in those crucial moments it is about the individual and their desire to win at all costs...
Nibali looked strong last year too, may well have been a contender had he not been knocked off by a spectator.
Froome's crash set him back last year, but when it came down to it at pivotal moments he simply didn't have the power, as said above, likely due to the 3 previous GT wins.
Will certainly shape up for an interesting race this year, where we know Froome is targeting TdF above all. But the internal contest again with G will also make for some good politics.
Nibali in 2014, watching him on the cobbles just showed how exceptional his bike handling skills were. There may have been questions of other aspects of his win, but on those wet cobbles, he shone.
G's book is enlightening... it shows how frustrated he was at how little support he had from TS management in the Tour last year, who were still riding for Froome even though it was apparent he was not firing on all cylinders.
Froome can't have it both ways.
Ultimately though...without that crash he probably would have won number 5
Without Froome's crash in 2014 he'd probably have won 5 on the bounce already. Remember how easily Nibali won in 2014, over Peraud of all people.
Let's not forget that going into the 2018 Tour Froome had won the previous 3 GTs including the Giro only a few weeks before. I personally think he'd have cracked in the last week anyway and the more significant event was Dumoulin running into the back of Bardet at an unfortunate moment, without which I think he'd have beaten Thomas. But all that's supposition