Tour of Andalusia 2015: First blood to Chris Froome as battle against Alberto Contador is resumed
Froome’s victory was his third straight triumph in his first event of the season
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Your support makes all the difference.Following a roller-coaster 2014, Chris Froome got 2015 off to a faultless start yesterday as the British Tour de France champion won his first race of the year in the Tour of Andalusia – with the added satisfaction of beating arch-rival Alberto Contador on his home soil.
Beaten by the Tinkoff-Saxo rider both in the stage-one time trial on Wednesday and again in Friday’s first summit finish, Team Sky’s Froome bounced back with a vengeance on Saturday’s stage four climb to Allanadas, claiming a lone victory and wrenching the lead from the Spaniard by a bare two seconds.
Yesterday the Briton had no problems on the race’s final stage, a four-hour trek past olive groves and across the vast mountain scree slopes of central Andalusia to the small town of Alhaurin de la Torre, all tackled by the peloton at a breakneck average speed of 44 kilometres per hour (27.5mph). The long, steady grind-up which rounded off the stage ended with victory for Spanish sprinter Juan Jose Lobato; Froome crossed the finish line safely in sixth place, three ahead of Contador.
Quite apart from being the first Briton ever to win one of Spain’s most venerable short stage races since it began in 1925, Froome recognised that his victory in the Tour of Andalusia also represented “a big morale boost for the rest of the season”. He said: “It’s the first race of the year and, knowing that I’ve got a lot to build on now as we head towards the Tour, it really couldn’t have gone any better for us.”
Froome’s victory was his third straight triumph in his first event of the season, following wins in the Tour of Oman in 2013 and 2014.
“Winning here just reminds me how grateful I am to be in this position, and how these wins, no matter how big or small, don’t come easily. You have to work very hard for them,” he added.
Defeating Contador is also an important step in the right direction for Froome after injury and illness blighted his 2014 season, particularly as in last year’s Vuelta a España – the last time the two crossed swords – the Spaniard beat him by a clear margin.
With over two minutes 30 seconds separating Froome and Contador from third-placed Benat Intxausti of Spain on the final podium, both riders claim to be in better shape than they expected at this point in the year.
“I got a win I didn’t count on and that’s a plus,” Contador said, referring to Friday’s stage victory. “My only regret is that I didn’t go a little bit harder that day, I wouldn’t have then lost the lead.”
Contador and Froome next do battle in Tirreno-Adriatico, Italy’s second biggest stage race, next month. Sparks will surely fly again.
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