“I think it’s time”: Chris Froome says 2025 could “potentially” be his last season and suggests retiring at Vuelta would be a “nice way to close the circle”; UN Road Safety Ambassador Tadej Pogačar using phone on the bike?! + more on the live blog

We all knew it was coming, but it seems that one of the sport’s most accomplished riders is ready to finally call the curtains on his racing career.

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, attending the unveiling of the Vuelta a España route event, casually dropped the answer that was perhaps on everybody’s minds. Speaking to Eurosport, he said: “This is the race for me where it all began in 2011, in terms of riding of Grand Tours and I’ve got some really special memories and it was great to see all the history, all the past winners, and then of course to see the route presentation for next year.”

He said that he’d “very much” like to come back to the race which he first won with Team Sky 13 years ago, sparking a career that would embed him as a British cycling great and an overall icon of the sport, but also adding that if he does end up on the starting line in Piedmont for Israel-Premier Tech in August next year, it could very well be the last time.

“Next year would potentially be my last season racing and to finish at the Vuelta could be a really nice way to close the circle, having started at the Vuelta, to finish at the Vuelta as well. That could be very special,” he said.

“I think it’s time. Next year I'm going to be 40. It was always my goal to be racing until the age of 40, so I’m getting closer to that goal. I can be very happy with everything that I’ve been lucky to achieve in the sport.”

> Chris Froome downplays war of words with team owner, claims criticism of bike set-up and performances "blown out of proportion"

He continued: “Age is just a number! But we’re definitely getting a lot of really young riders, who are getting younger and younger it seems, the average age in the peloton. 

“It’s great to see where the sport is going, and just how fast the sport is evolving.”

Chris Froome at the 2022 Tour de France (ASO / Pauline Ballet)

Froome added that the sport has changed a lot, “especially the last five years”. He said: “We’ve seen the sport really move forwards, especially in terms of the technological advances, the material, everything’s just getting faster. As I said, the average age of the peloton is also changing, we’re getting much, much younger riders turning professional and actually able to win races from a very young age.”

“It’s been really cool to witness it, not so easy sometimes. But especially after my accident in 2019, I’m really glad to have continued in the sport and had an opportunity to continue doing what I love.”

From his very public distaste for disc brakes and set-up and equipment issues, one involving where his bike was off by “centimetres” to frequent injuries, the last few years haven't been kind to Froome. Earlier this year, there were rumours of a rift within the team and even a power struggle, which were denied by the two-time Vuelta winner. But despite his efforts, he was once again not selected for Israel-Premier Tech’s Tour de France squad.

> Tadej Pogačar’s power numbers are “mind boggling”, says Chris Froome, as four-time Tour de France winner reckons “any record is vulnerable” with “absolutely incredible” Slovenian around

Just a couple months ago, former Danish pro-turned-journalist and pundit Michael Rasmussen blasted Froome as “the worst signing in cycling history” after a disappointing performance at the Tour of Guangxi, which summed up his 2024 season — something the British rider will be hoping changes as he prepares for one last hurrah on the bike.

Froome also shared his thoughts about the 2025 Vuelta route as well, saying: “Like every Vuelta, it’s extremely hard, but I think next year, it’s especially difficult. Not just the final climbs, but during the stage there are so many really hard mountains, so it’s going to be a really tough Vuelta. Not so many time trial kilometres, only two shorter time trials. But like always, the Vuelta never disappoints. It’s always going to be spectacle.”

The bike path’s lack of progress has sparked safety fears, after the route was proposed as a diversion for cyclists due to an upcoming roundabout closure.

> Bike diversion route will send cyclists into “crowds of kids and parents” on “mud path” outside school, as councillor claims funding for new safe cycle lane has “disappeared”

After much ado about the BBC neglecting cycling as a sport, and cyclists as sportspersons, there looks like there’s been a recent course correction at the public broadcaster’s HQ.

After fans were left “aghast” as Mark Cavendish was completely snubbed for the title of BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the Manx Missile who broke the record for the most Tour de France stage wins in his final season this year was awarded the “special” BBC Lifetime Achievement.

And now, BBC Cymru Wales has named Olympian Emma Finucane as its Sports Personality of the Year for 2024 — the 21-year-old from Carmarthen winning the title for the second consecutive year.

Finucane was one of the star performers for Team GB at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning gold in the team sprint alongside Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell in a new world record time, besides adding the keirin and individual sprint bronzes at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome.

The feat made her the first woman to win three medals at a single Olympic Games in 60 years, since British former track and field athlete Mary Rand achieved the same heroics at  Tokyo 1964.

Emma Finucane with partner Matt Richardson at the UCI Track Champions League, Paris, 2024 (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

“When I heard the news I couldn't believe it,” Finucane told BBC Sport Wales. “Obviously after winning my first one last year that was such a massive achievement for me, to be amongst so many names.

“I remember looking at the trophy last year, I was in awe of the names I was next to.

“Then to win it the next time... I think that's crazy and I'm so honoured to be recognised by the whole of Wales. It's such an honour to be a Welsh athlete and a Welsh rider - I'm just privileged to win this award, thank you.

“The Olympics was the best week of my life; honestly it was challenging, I challenged myself mentally and physically - it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do - but to come away with a gold and two bronzes, I couldn't have done anything more.”

Maybe they do watch some cycling…

> “Does anyone at the BBC watch cycling?”: Fans furious after Tadej Pogačar snubbed for World Sport Star of the Year shortlist, claiming cycling has “gone to the bottom, behind darts”

> Owner of custom bike specialists Spoon and WyndyMilla enters liquidation, after falling demand and rising costs put business in “impossible position”

The 2025 Vuelta route is garnering a lot of reactions from fans, and what is a Friday road.cc live blog without some good old fan reactions?

Besides the lack of flat stages for sprinters, there was another glaring omission from the route presented by the organisers last evening — the entirety of southern Spain.

In fact, not only are regions like Andalucía and Murcia snubbed, the southern-most point the Grand Tour will be visiting is Madrid — an egregious decision at best if you ask your live blog host. However, with the mercury likely to rise up to 40 in late August and early September, there’s chatter they didn’t want to put the peloton through treacherous conditions, making it especially alluring to riders whose Kryptonite is heat, *ahem* like Tadej Pogačar.

Or, they perhaps didn’t any deer crashing into the peloton…

> Wild scenes at Vuelta a España as herds of deer crossing the road jump over race cars and cause crash in the peloton, bringing down two riders

Fans nonetheless seemed to be disappointed. One person wrote: “Are they playing Southern Spain is lava? Well in August, that might be true. I wonder if that could be a factor in their decisions.”

Another person wrote: “Tour de France route often gets people angry for not doing all French regions but that’s something else here.”

Meanwhile, one fan suggested: “Looks like the ‘Pogi, please come do the Vuelta’ edition of the race,” but another replied asking: “Not that I disagree with you, but at this point, what does a ‘Pog-unfriendly’ route even look like? Does it exist? Isn’t he still basically the favourite for literally every conceivable Vuelta route, barring, y’know, some kind of stupid 200km ITT nonsense?”

Another person said: “Heat and altitudes above 2000m have been his [Pogačar’s] traditional achilles heel. He seems to have addressed the heat issue, but this year’s Tour only had the Galibier, Tourmalet, Bonette, and (narrowly) Isola as climbs above 2000. Two of those came in the middle of the stage where they did little. So I don't think we got a good sense whether he can still be vulnerable at high altitude. On the Galibier stage he at least ‘only’ put 35s into everyone.

“Maybe they should do 10 repeats of Col de la Loze in a row. He didn't have much luck on that climb in 2020, and things famously went even worse for him in 2023.

“We have also never seen how well he deals with genuine rampas like the Angliru has where it’s just crazy steep for long stretches.”

Adam Yates wins stage 9 of the 2024 Vuelta a España (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Finally, there are also suggestions that the Vuelta organisers actively took such a decision to address sustainability issues, after they were accused of ill-planned transfers this year, costing them a terrible look in the commitment to reduce pro cycling’s carbon footprint.

The worst transfer for the riders and the teams, came after the stage nine, as the riders finished in Granada at 5:30pm in the evening and embarked on a “travelling circus” taking them 1,000km away to the north-west in the Galician town of Ponteareas — a move which was questioned by many at the time for not considering the environmental impact of such a transfer.

Is this the most brutal Grand Tour stage map… since the last Vuelta?

Perhaps not, but in case you missed it last night, the route for 2025 La Vuelta has been announced, and besides a surprising start in Torino, Italy and a snub to Andalucía (more on that in a minute), it seems that sprinters have been given the short end of the stick for the next year, with only one truly flat stage and maybe four which have the possibility of ending in a bunch sprint.

What was even confusing is that no one seems to be sure how the stages have been classified. The official Twitter of the Spanish Grand Tour account initially posted a video writing: “one flat stages [sic], 13 hilly and mountain stages, five hilly stages (2 with a high finish), one ITT, and one TTT.”

However, the post has been updated and now reads: “Four flat stages (one with a high finish), six hilly stages, five mountain stages, three hilly stages with high finish, one ITT, and one TTT.”

Other people also commented on the blurred lines between stage distinctions. I love how we commenters can’t agree on how many uphill/summit finishes are here. I don’t know myself. Each time I count, I get a different number. Nine, 10, 11, 13?” one person wrote, adding: “Definitely Roglič time.”

If you ask your live blog host (who’d like to think of possessing decent arithmetic skills), he’d count 10 uphill finishes in total. What’s he most excited about, you ask? Well, L’Angliru’s back baby!

🔥 #LaVuelta25 🔥

🛣 4 flat stages (1 with a high finish) / 4 etapas llanas (1 con un final en alto)
⛰ 6 hilly stages / 6 hilly stages
🏔️ 5 mountain stages / 5 etapas de montaña
〰️ 3 hilly stages with high finish / 3 etapas onduladas con final en alto
⏱ 1 ITT / 1 CRI
⏱ 1… pic.twitter.com/v6gRE4syhY

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) December 19, 2024

But what seemed to disappoint and bother most fans was the lack of flat stages favouring bunch finishes and going easy on the sprinters legs. Essentially, I can just see the first, eight and the last stage offering some respite to the those who struggle on the climbs, with a plausible likelihood of a sprint finish on stage 15 as well.

“‘One flat stages’ I’M CRYING… The sprinters shouldn’t even bother with this,” wrote Mihai Simion. Although, he added: “It's not that bad for the sprinters actually. I count at least 4 stages which are very likely to end in a bunch sprint.”

However, some (looking at you, sprint stage haters) seemed to not mind it too much. “Sprinters are over. No one likes flat stages in 2024 and following. Stages should at least be hilly,” said one such sprint stage-hating fan. I’d like to vehemently express my disagreement.

Meanwhile, The Fantasy Cycling Podcast pondered: “Groves handled hilly days better than I thought he would this year. Milan as well at the Giro. Are the days of the pure sprinter dead?”

And yet some fans remained unimpressed: “Your average Vuelta, maybe even a tick harder with a bigger number of hard mountain finishes and fewer shorter/easier climbs. I like how the Angliru stage is longer. Probably could use a bit more ITT-ing though.”

But of course, the big question, does this abundance of uphill stages mean Tadej Pogačar, who has is yet to decide between doing the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta this year, come to Italy anyway for the third and final Grand Tour of the year? And if he does so, how many stages is he destined to win?

On the other hand, there’s always Roglič, who tends to excel in these hilly/mountainous conditions, and after a relatively convincing victory last year, would anyone want to bet against the four-time Vuelta winner in defending the red jersey?

Let us know your thoughts about the route, how many sprint and uphill finishes do you think there will be, and of course, what are your predictions for the winner in the comments.