Chris Froome on Olympic hopes: “We have to put our egos aside and try to get a medal”
Chris Froome today said it would be “absolutely amazing” to follow his Tour de France triumph with a medal at Rio 2016.
The cyclist is among the leading contenders in the men’s road race on Saturday. But Froome, 31, played down suggestions he could walk away with gold, saying he thought others in the team were favourites.
He said Britain had a strong team which could adapt to the situations that may unfold over the 237.5km race. Froome also highlighted team-mate Steve Cummings, who won stage seven of this year’s Tour de France and has triumphed in several recent races through breakaways.
“It would be great if at some point we could have him in a breakaway,” Froome said. “It would give us a lot of confidence behind knowing that he is up there and we don’t have to do any chasing … it’s up to other nations to get him back, otherwise he is going to ride away and win the gold.
“There are a lot of different scenarios and we have to make those calls on the road. Hopefully, we are a close enough knit group to be able to make those calls, and egos aside, make the right calls to get a medal at the end of the day.”
At the end of the day, we have to put it together on the road and put our egos aside and try to get a medal,” said the three-time Tour winner.
While Froome acknowledged the course suits him with its three ascensions of the nine-kilometer Canoas Vista Chinesa climb in the latter part of the race, he believes there are other favorites and that he will have to take a chance to win.
“It’s a real climber’s course. It’s going to be hard,” he said. “For sure the Colombians will be good, [Alejandro] Valverde [of Spain], [Italian Vincenzo] Nibali and riders like that. It’s very different to the Tour de France. The Olympics is a one-day race. It’s not a three-week race like the Tour, when you make adjustments and think tactically over three weeks.
“In this race, you have to give it all on the day. You have to be willing to gamble and take your chances.”
