Would Team Sky and Chris Froome risk a fifth victory at the Tour de France to try to win the Giro in 2018?
Logic would say no, but the British rider says ‘he’s seriously considering’ a Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double in 2018.
British newspaper The Times claims that Froome is considering the attempt to achieve the goal of taking the victories of the three Grand Tours in a row.
Even though the main objective of the 2018 season would be to take a fifth victory at the Tour de France, the Giro could now also be a strong possibility.
There are several other factors at play that could motivate Froome to go for the Giro-Tour double and the most important could be is the extra week between the two Grand Tours due to the Tour’s shift in start date to avoid the FIFA World Cup.
Another advantage would be the fewer days in the cold of the north of Italy, which has the potential of creating bronchial problems for the Tour de France champion, and more days in the hotter weather of Israel, conditions that Froome has stated favour him.
Only seven riders have won the Giro and Tour back-to-back, and all of them did it at their absolute physical peaks: Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Stephen Roche, Miguel Indurain, and Marco Pantani, the last to do it in 1998.
When Alberto Contador tried it in 2015, one of his central motivations was his quest to do something “grande,” an achievement that would stand apart.
