Chris Froome hailed the Tour of Alps as ‘the perfect build up’ for the Giro d’Italia as he finished fourth overall.
Froome rallied on a hard-fought battle between the main GC contenders on stage five which saw several late attacks and counter-attacks in the closing kilometres, as Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida) came out on top on the day, with Thibault Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) taking the overall title.
Despite missing out on a podium place by one second overall, Froome was encouraged by his performance and was content with the progression made as the start of the Giro d’Italia looms large.
“I think I’m a lot closer to being ready for the Giro than I was at Tirreno-Adriatico and we’ve still got two weeks now. It’s been a perfect build up to the Giro d’Italia,” he said.
“The team has been fantastic this week and if you look at how they have controlled the race today it’s really impressive. The break had over 10 minutes at one point and in 40km we brought it to under a minute.
“It’s really going to give us an indication of who’s in good shape ahead of the Giro and the team will be selected in the next week or so.”
“I’ve been having a lot of fun these past few days, it’s short, explosive stages and it’s not something you can replicate in training. It’s really good to have been here and be a part of it.
“The Giro is a whole new challenge for me and a new motivation for me too. It’s a huge challenge to target the Giro d’Italia after winning the Tour and Vuelta last year and it’s a huge motivation for me to got for my third consecutive Grand Tour win.”
For Froome it was the first time he was able to measure his preparations against some of his Giro rivals, but doesn’t think it is possible to gauge their form from this week’s action.
“I don’t think we can read too much into Tour of the Alps, as some guys won’t have been at 100 per cent at this race but probably will be a lot better at the Giro.
“For sure, Thibaut is in great shape. Pozzovivo is in great shape and Aru is not far off. Lopez is looking great and it’s a little bit of a taster for what’s to come.”
