Chris Froome’s Ineos experience a huge boost for Israel Start-Up Nation – Alex Dowsett

ByTom Bennett

Updated 13/11/2020 at 10:18 GMT

Alex Dowsett says that Chris Froome’s experience of riding for one of the biggest teams in cycling will be a huge boost to Israel Start-Up Nation’s hopes of becoming a major player in the sport. Froome joins the Israel team for 2021, where he will team up with former Sky colleague Dowsett.

Chris Froome could find adjusting to a new team tricky, but Alex Dowsett says that his new Israel Start-Up Nation team-mate’s wealth of experience will make a huge difference to the team.

In an interview with Eurosport’s Orla Chennaoui about his new two-year contract with Israel Start-Up Nation, Dowsett talked about his excitement over reuniting with Froome.

“Getting back together with Froomey will be fun,” Dowsett said.

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I was good mates with him when we were both on Team Sky, certainly in 2011 we were both sort of ‘C Team’ in Team Sky… and then he wasn’t C Team after that! He moved up to the A Team and I moved on to Movistar.

“Sky’s way of racing is that they would always be the first seven or eight guys on the front, so even if I was in the same race as Froomey I almost never saw him. I almost never said hello because he was sitting eighth wheel and I was in the bunch with everyone else. So it’ll be nice to catch up and work out what he needs from us all really.

“He brings a lot of experience from the way Ineos do things, and they do things very well. You don’t want to copy because you’ll always be behind if you copy, but certainly understanding what they do and how they do it. Things have moved on a lot since I was there, and that’s where we want to be performing. I think it’ll be really exciting.”

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However, Dowsett also believes that Froome won’t find adjusting to being at a new team totally straightforward.

The seven-time Grand Tour winner is moving on after 11 years with Sky/Ineos, and Dowsett says it could be a bit of a shock for the 35-year-old.

“I think it will be a shock for Froome because he’s been part of Ineos for a decade, and going anywhere else when you’ve been part of the same team for ten years is going to be a shock," Dowsett said.

‘Joining a new team will be a shock for Froome’ – Dowsett

“I’ve ridden for four different World Tour teams now (Katusha, Movistar, Sky and Israel) and they’re all different. That’s not to say that any are different or worse than each other, it’s just that there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

“There are teams that I’ve ridden for before that are quite stuck in their ways, Israel are very progressive and forward thinking. So it could be a new challenge for him and a big old lease of life. I think he’ll have fun.”

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