Froome: “I have trained really hard for this. It is disappointing”
After seizing the Tour de France title in a dominant fashion in July, Chris Froome spoke about his goal of becoming the first rider since Greg LeMond to win both the Tour and the worlds in the same year. However his performance was ultimately far off the American’s 1989 feat, with he and all the other British riders in yesterday’s race withdrawing long before the end.
The weather conditions didn’t help, but team coach Rod Ellingworth didn’t hold back afterwards in stating that there were serious issues with the team’s approach and attitude.
“We should be very disappointed,” he told Sky Sports, giving a scathing assessment. “The lads’ attitude wasn’t where it needs to be, to be honest. I’m not sure they really took this on thinking it was going to be as hard as it actually was.
“With the weather, we knew it was going to be pretty tough. I am very disappointed in the whole team performance.”
Early on, Cavendish dragged the bunch along, sitting at the front of the peloton in the driving rain and limiting the gains of the break. The work he and others did looked promising, in terms of the team’s commitment for the day, but as the race continued the plan unravelled and the riders started to abandon.
One of those who packed early was Bradley Wiggins, who had pledged before the race to put his personal differences with Froome to one side and to ride as a professional.
He struggled in the wet conditions and appeared not to have the right motivation after netting silver in the time trial.
Froome’s challenge faded later on, and he admitted that the legs were not there. “At the end of the day I just didn’t have it. I was feeling blocked up and all stiff through my back, I think from trying to grip on to the brakes. It was a really grim day out there today,” he said.
“After two laps there were only a couple of us left from GB. Everyone else had crashed, punctured or abandoned already. It just wasn’t to be for us today but it was really sketchy out there. This has been a really big target for me. I have trained really hard for this. It is disappointing.”
Despite that, Ellingworth wasn’t feeling sympathetic. “Chris said he struggled with the cold and the rain, but it is the same for everybody. That’s what makes the worlds what it is,” he said.
“All of them sat on the bus with 100km to go is very disappointing. Luke [Rowe] and Cav [Mark Cavendish] were average, the other guys were well below average.
“I’m sure Brad will be disappointed with his performance. It is not as if he didn’t have the form. He had the same problem as he had in the Giro: he couldn’t get down the hill, went out the back and was gone.”
Geraint Thomas was the last to abandon but, long before Rui Costa (Portugal), Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde (Spain) plus Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) fought it out for the final victory, he too was on the team bus wondering where things went wrong.