Back in 2011 - June to be exact - I sat down for dinner with Chris Froome after a British
National Championships where neither of us had finished and in fact neither of us had
a contract for 2012. Since then, our careers have gone in very different directions. One
has gone on to become an internationally recognised global superstar, while the other one, well
he won the Tour de France.
Anyway, today I've got the privilege on the final rest day of the Vuelta of going along
with Team Sky for their rest day ride and I'm going to catch up with Chris Froome, find
out how the legs are and just have a bit of a chat.
Of course, for you the Tour was such a huge objective which you've been thinking of for
the 11 months from the preceding one. When that's over after 5 days, how hard is it to
pick yourself up and make a new goal like that and work towards it?
Yeah, it was really tough. Initially when it happens I almost get this feeling that
you can just write this season off now. It's a big step back - broken wrist, broken hand,
I had to take some time off. Even once I got back into it I had to ride around with a splint
and stuff, I just...a lot of me thought that was probably my season done. Then after a week
of sitting on my arse at the house it felt like actually no, OK, I can still get something
out of this season, even if it's just to set me up for next season.
How important is that? It's something a lot of riders talk about, getting three weeks
of back-to-back racing and they miss it if they don't do that for one year.
I think it is pretty big. It is pretty important to get that big three week race in the legs.
It's been a pretty hard experience coming to this Vuelta and racing when I'm not 100%,
but I really do think it's going to give me a lot of base work for next year.
It must almost feel quite nice coming back to this race though, because it's not exactly
where it all began but certainly in terms of...
I do love the Vuelta. The Vuelta is a special race. It really is for the pure cycling enthusiast
I think who follows the Vuelta, because of the harshness of the conditions, the climbs.
In terms of the racing I think it really isn't far off very very top level, so it's best
of both worlds I think in that respect.
I've got a sub-standard bike, I've got no numbers to look at - I thought Sky was all
about numbers!
And I've got a bottle, I don't know how I'm supposed to drink anything from that.
Come on Dan, stop whinging!
How many kilometres have we done?
About...3!
All uphill though!
Right, well we're on the obligatory café stop for a recovery ride. I think I'm going
to make this a 'no mic' zone, I don't want to piss them off.
How much time do you spend at home on a time trial bike when you're training?
I try and do one or two rides a week on it.
Long rides, or short ones with intervals?
Generally recovery rides, or shorter ones...
Literally just a case of just getting yourself in that position?
Yeah, just getting into that position and being comfortable in that position.
Do you find it easy or are you someone that has to do stretching to make sure you're comfortable
in that low position?
I always stretch but not particularly for time trialling or anything.
I think on the TT bike in general, the more time you can spend on it, the more comfortable you're
going to be in that position.
It must be pretty nice when you're on the back of a train when you look at guys like
Kosta and Kiri and Deignan and Mikel, all these guys in the team, that must be quite
something looking ahead and thinking 'these guys are working for me'.
I get so excited sitting on the back sometimes, watching the race getting faster and faster
and seeing them basically build up to speed...
...But are you nervous about that? Are you just concentrating on your job or are you
thinking 'Christ, I don't want to let these guys down after all that'!
Yeah, exactly. I don't want to disappoint them, I know how hard they've worked to put
me in this position. I want to think of them on the bus after the race watching and thinking
'Right, Chris did what he said he was going to do.' We've got a really cool group of guys
here, really cool group. Everyone just gets on with it.
Thanks very much to Chris Froome for your time on your rest day. Sorry to have disturbed
your ride, but good luck for the rest of the race.
Awesome, thanks a lot.
This is Sean, he's the coach from Team Sky who allowed us to come along today. I just
wanted to say thank you very much, it's a real privilege to have joined them on the
ride. Do you think Dave B will be giving me a job shortly?
For sure. I hope Chris didn't give you too hard a time up the mountains.
To be honest, I felt like I was giving him a hard time, that's why I'm asking about the job.
That's a worry, isn't it?!
One last thing, where do I go for my massage?
Chris Froome's room in 303!
What are you laughing at?! No seriously, thank you very much indeed.