Despite finishing just 38th at the Tour de Romandie, Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford has assured fans Chris Froome is well on track for the Tour de France.
Froome suffered a puncture on the first mountain stage right at the foot of the final climb and couldn’t get back on, losing 17 minutes. He fought back on the queen stage, attacking on the penultimate climb and holding on for a magnificent solo win.
Brailsford also said that Froome must arrive in peak shape later than normal, as he is also targeting the Olympics in addition to the Tour this year.
Brailsford told skysports.com: "Overall, he is in a pretty good place. We came into the season thinking we are going to build slower and try to get through the Tour de France, maintain that level through the Olympics and into the Vuelta. In that sense, I would say the trajectory is on track and, mentally, he is as strong as anybody, so I think it's all looking good."
Brailsford said that despite the knowledge he wouldn’t be as good in Romandie as usual, his solo stage win gave Froome so much confidence moving forward to the coming weeks leading up to the Tour.
"That stage win gave him a lot of confidence, to bounce back like he did. Every now and then with Chris you see these moments of real grit, and that is what we saw that day."
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