Things are looking slow but steady for the Tour De France Winner Chris Froome. The Athlete announced that he would be taking a break from racing, especially the upcoming 2022 season to focus on his knee injury that he got last week.
At the launch of Israel Premier Tech, the UCI World Tour Team, Froome explained that he would be taking it easy until he gets better. Apart from this, he also explained how he got the injury,
In mid-December I picked up a bit of an injury getting back into training,” he said. I tore my tfl (tensor fascia latae) tendon on the side of my leg. I had to take a bit of time off…
He further revealed his plans
My preparations have definitely been delayed. I’ll be racing a little bit later as well. [I am] happy to be here, happy to get the work in, I don’t feel any pain at the moment, but I still have to take it pretty steady and have a slower progression into the first part of the season.
There is a silver lining to this however, Chris Froome has expressed his happiness and gratitude to be at the launch of Israel Premier Tech. He looks forward to starting his practice session there and is eager to ride with the highly competitive team.
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This is not Chris’s first rodeo with Israel Premier Tech, they have been together for 2 years, as the team was formerly known as Israel Start-Up Nation. The team changing names means how far they have come and how ambitious their goals are.
It’s really good to be at the training camp now, this is a training camp I didn’t make it to last year. I’m really happy to be here and to be starting training with the guys, Chris explained.
One of the most important questions asked from Froome was his perception about the World Tour, especially since he left Ineos Grenadiers in 2020. Although Ineos Grenadiers is a virtually unbeatable team, Froome is confident that Israel Premier tech would catch up to them. He also plans to step up his game as compared to his performance in the previous Grand Tours.
It’s fair to say that a decade ago Team Sky were setting the benchmark, Froome said.
I think in previous years other teams have caught up and it seems at the moment that there are two or three bigger teams who are on a very similar kind of level, especially when it comes to riding the grand tours and controlling the grand tours in terms of the general classification. It does seem to be a much more even playing field.
In terms of Israel-Premier Tech I wouldn’t necessarily say we were one of those teams setting the benchmark for general classification in grand tours, but that’s something we can hopefully keep building on in these next few years and a goal for us to try and reach that level.
Chris is really confident while being with Israel Premier Tech, he thinks that with goals and ambitions they would be able to leave behind Ineos Grenadiers. We hope that he makes a speedy recovery and does his best in the upcoming season.
Featured Image Via YouTube/ProCyclingClips
