[Sport] Chris Froome to leave Ineos after team decide not to renew contract

[Mr.BaZzAr]

Chris Froome dejará Ineos después de que el equipo decida no renovar el contrato

 

 

El ciclista de ruta más exitoso de Gran Bretaña, Chris Froome, es dejar el Equipo Ineos al final de la temporada después de que decidieron no renovar su contrato.

Se unirá a Israel Start-Up Nation para la próxima temporada como único líder del equipo.

Después de 10 años y cuatro títulos del Tour de Francia ganados con Ineos (anteriormente Team Sky), Froome, de 35 años, dijo: "Hemos logrado mucho juntos y siempre atesoraré los recuerdos".

Froome competirá por Ineos en el Tour de este año, que comienza el 29 de agosto.

El gerente general de Ineos, Sir Dave Brailsford, dijo que él y Froome "compartieron muchos momentos memorables a lo largo de los años, pero creo que esta es la decisión correcta para el equipo y para Chris".

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One main reason for Froome's departure was understood to be his growing unease at having to battle another two riders at Ineos for the Tour's famous yellow jersey - 2018 winner Geraint Thomas and last year's victor Egan Bernal.

Ineos' policy is not to focus all their backing on one rider until late into a three-week Grand Tour, after establishing who the strongest contender is.

Brailsford added: "Given his achievements in the sport, Chris is understandably keen to have sole team leadership in the next chapter of his career - which is not something we are able to guarantee him at this point.

"A move away from Team Ineos can give him that certainty. At the same time, it will also give other members of our team the leadership opportunities they too have earned and are rightly seeking."

Froome said: "It has been a phenomenal decade with the team. I look forward to exciting new challenges as I move into the next phase of my career but in the meantime my focus is on winning a fifth Tour de France with Ineos."

Kenya-born Froome joined Team Sky from their beginnings in 2009, first serving as Sir Bradley Wiggins' strongest domestique - powering him to Britain's first Tour de France victory in 2012.

After finishing second in that race himself, Froome went on to become Britain's most road successful cyclist, with four Tour de France wins, in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Froome, who grew up in Nairobi and latterly Johannesburg, South Africa, also won the Giro d'Italia in 2018, following an astonishing comeback ride, and the Vuelta a Espana twice - in 2011, after being awarded the title retrospectively following a positive dope test for Juan Jose Cobo, and in 2017.

 

His Ineos contract ends in December and he has raced very little since a crash just over a year ago before a stage during the Criterium de Dauphine race, in which he suffered a fractured right femur, a fractured elbow and fractured ribs.

Israel Start-Up Nation are a team created from the pro-continental Israel Cycling Academy and now defunct Katusha squad.

El propietario Sylvan Adams, un desarrollador inmobiliario israelí-canadiense, ha invertido fondos sustanciales en el nuevo equipo e hizo varios fichajes importantes, incluidos el irlandés Dan Martin y el ex poseedor del récord de la hora de Gran Bretaña Alex Dowsett.

Pero obtener Froome es una gran declaración y podría cambiar el equilibrio de poder en el pelotón por primera vez en una era en la que Team Sky / Ineos han dominado las carreras de más alto perfil del ciclismo, los Grand Tours.

"Mi sueño es ganar más Tours que nadie", dijo Froome a L'Equipe en abril. "Sería el escenario perfecto, pero sé que todavía hay mucho trabajo para hacerlo realidad".

Froome necesita dos victorias más para lograr el seis, lo que lo llevaría por delante de Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Miguel Indurain y Bernard Hinault.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Dr.Drako
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