“The accident has certainly changed me, given me a new start,” said Froome. “It’s like starting from zero again, below zero if you like, that’s what it feels like,”
“But it’s completely changed my motivation, given me a challenge I’ve never had before. This could be perceived as an incredibly difficult and negative situation, but I’ve tried to turn that around to try and achieve something unprecedented.”
Froome says it is too early to say whether next year’s edition of the Tour de France, where he hopes to win a record-equalling fifth yellow jersey, is “doable.”
“I’ve got to get the legs back to 50-50 (instead of 65-35 strength balance). I’ve still got more surgery (in December) to remove a big metal plate and about six screws. It’s quite tender, the muscle and soft tissue that’s being impacted by this metal plate on my hip,”
“The Tour de France is the driving force, the big prize for me is to try and get back to the Tour de France, it’s still too early to say if it’s doable. I’m going to do everything I can to get back to where I left off,”.
Froome says the unusual 2020 Tour de France route is double motivation.
“It’s a Tour de France we haven’t seen for decades. It’s a much more punchy, much more explosive Tour route than usual,” Froome says. “It’s a route that looks a lot more like a Vuelta a Espana.
“It’s not a typical parcours where we only see three or four ‘GC’ days, there’s at least half a dozen there. It gives a lot of opportunities to the main rivals to really slug it out. That’s what all fans want to see.”
Dave Brailsford has said Team Ineos will pick a team which emphasises strength in depth. Froome says they will need it.
“Certainly there’ll be strength in depth, with four Grand Tour winners on the books.
“But if you look at that course on paper we’ll need very versatile riders to be in that selection of eight. Guys who can do everything.”
“Egan has handled himself very well and obviously had the Tour de France win to show for it this year. He’s no slouch.”
