Froome eyes fifth Tour de France title after Vuelta triumph

BySportsbeat

Published 12/09/2017 at 08:41 GMT

Barely 48 hours have passed since Chris Froome made history in winning the Vuelta a Espana, yet he's already turned his attentions to next year's Tour de France - where a win would mark a record-equalling fifth.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

On Sunday, Froome became only the third rider to win both the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same year, and the first Brit to do so.

He wore the red jersey for the final 18 stages of the Vuelta having taken over the lead of the race after just the third stage, also finishing in Madrid as the holder of both the green and white jerseys.

Should Froome win the Tour de France for a fifth time in 2018, he would equal the record currently held by Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

Liège - Bastogne - Liège Men

Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2024: How to watch on Eurosport and discovery+

an hour ago

But a new challenge also lies in wait for the 32-year-old in the form of the Giro d'Italia - the one Grand Tour in which he is yet to triumph.

Only six riders have ever won all three Grand Tours during their career, and Froome insists it won't be long until he tries to make it seven.

"I'm sure the time will come when I will target the Giro," he said.

"It's a big task to try to go for the Giro and it could compromise the Tour but I wouldn't write it off.

"A fifth Tour de France title will take my aim but it's early days and I'll wait to see what the Giro, Tour and Vuelta courses look like next year and sit down with my team to draw up the goals.

"I wouldn't say [winning all three Tours] is impossible, nothing's impossible, but certainly it would take some doing."

Sportsbeat 2017

Giro d'Italia