'It adds a huge risk to the riders' - Chris Froome questions cobbled stages at the Tour de France

Published 06/07/2022 at 15:05 GMT

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome is unsure if Grand Tours should feature cobbled stages, stating “riders prepare for months” but can have their hopes “go up in smoke” due to the nature of racing on pave. The Israel-Premier Tech rider is 80th in the Tour de France, 2’22” behind leader Wout van Aert who was one of the favourites to win Wednesday’s stage to Arenberg.

‘Questionable!’ – Froome says GC riders’ hopes could go ‘up in smoke’ on cobbles

Chris Froome (Israel–Premier Tech) has questioned whether the Tour de France should include cobbled stages, stating they add a “huge risk” to the riders.

For the first time since 2018, the riders will face a significant section of cobbles on Stage 5 of the Tour de France, which includes 11 distinct pave sections.

The inclusion of cobbles has split the peloton as the General Classification riders can lose a lot of time through crashes or punctures.

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“It’s a tough one,” Froome said when asked by Eurosport whether gravel and cobbles has a place in Grand Tours.

“Certainly gravel, that’s quite a novelty and quite exciting. But when it adds a huge risk to the riders, a stage like today. That’s more questionable for sure.

“Riders have prepared for months to be ready for this race, teams have invested huge amounts behind GC riding and that could just go up in smoke on a stage like today.”

Froome has had mixed fortunes on the cobbles at the Tour de France, having crashed out before even getting to the pave in 2014 when he was favourite to win the overall race, but fared better in 2018 when the Tour last had a cobbled stage.

“The last memories I had on the cobbles was in 2018 when a group of us went clear on the last cobbled sector,” said Froome.

“So I have good memories from being on the cobbles despite what happened in 2014. Designing my own Tour de France I wouldn’t have cobbled stages in there. I’d have a few more mountain stages!

“But it is what it is, everyone’s in the same boat and we’re all going to try and survive the stage as best as we can. It will be very interesting to see how it all pans out.”

Defending champion Tadej Pogacar could be vulnerable to attacks from his rivals, with the likes of Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard (both Jumbo-Visma) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers).

Froome believes cobbled stages at a Grand Tour are not like Paris Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders.

“It’s a very different race to Paris-Roubaix,” added Froome. “When it’s in a Grand Tour you’ve got a lot of guys who would normally be going for the victory in a support role, helping their GC riders, a lot of guys thinking about GC, a lot of climbers who aren’t as experienced on the cobbles.”

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Stream the Tour de France live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.

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