Brailsford: Froome can still win the Vuelta
Sky manager upbeat about Briton's chances
With two crunch stages left in the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Vuelta a España, Sky manager Dave Brailsford is adamant that 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Chris Froome, having moved up to second ෴on stage 18, can now battle for the overall win.
Asked by Cyclingnews at t🌼he start of stage 19 if Froome still had a chance of winning, ꧑Brailsford said simply: “Yes. You’ve got to believe that, and for sure he can. Anything can happen in a bike race, we all know that. What are the probabilities of him winning? I’m not going to answer that, but could he still he win it? Yes.
“There’s still a lot of suspense, and tomorrow’s summit f𝓰inish is a very difficult climb. If anybody’s on the way down and anybody else is on the way up....”
Prior to stage 19, Froome was 1:19 back on Contador, which - coupled with other factors like a strong team and Froome’s evidently rising form - Brailsford believes could still tip the balance. But Brailsford is adamant, in any case, that Froome will not now ride conservatively to ho▨𝔍ld onto second place.
&lꦯdquo;Are we going to continue to try and win it? We’re certainly 💜not settling for the podium. And with the most difficult climb of the Vuelta still to come and the time trial, we’re still very much full gas going for the best performance possible.”
Asked if he thought the race could even come down to the final time trial on Sunday, Brailsford said “I don’t know, but I’d hope so. What a great race it would be if 🤡it did, we’ve had that in the Tour de France [in 1989], haven’t we?
“[For Froome to win] would mean Chris having a fantastic day and Co💞ntador having a difficult day.&rdquo🎶;
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Should Froome win, he would be the first Briton ever to take the Vuelta a España. Previous best finishes for the UK are Robert Millar’s brace of second places in 1985 and 1986 and Froome’s second place in the 2011 Vuelta, ahead of team-mate Bradley Wiggins.
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.