One down for Tour de France winner Chris Froome, how many more to go?
Having crushed the opposition at the 100th Tour, the British rider is looking ahead. And the French may need to get used to hearing the British anthem ring out again and again on the Champs-Elysees.
Froome's prowess in time trials and on mountain climbs - vital for any modern winner of cycling's premier race - plus his age, 28, and his hunger for more success give him the makings of a multiple champion.
Rivals, be warned.
"As long as I'm hungry for it, as long as I've got the motivation and the physical ability, I'll go for it," he said.
"To come and target the Tour, that's got to be the biggest goal and to be able to do that year after year through your prime period, I think that's got to be what my main focus is on."
"I can time trial reasonably, I can climb pretty well.
"I can't see what else they are going to really put in the Tour that I would struggle with. So I would like to think that I can come back every year."
Froome is too ambitious to rest on his laurels. Rather than succumb to the temptation to "just fly home and switch off for a few months," he now plans to focus on the world championships in September. He believes the course in Tuscany, Italy, is suited to riders who can climb and he doesn't want to miss the "great opportunity" to achieve what would be an "amazing" Tour-worlds double.
"Being world champ, that's probably the second biggest thing in cycling - isn't it? - after the yellow jersey," he said.
Froome was born in Kenya. His mother, Jane, died in 2008 shortly before he raced in his first Tour.
When he quit his studies to move to Europe to race bikes, "she was behind me 100 per cent in saying, 'Go for it. Do what makes you happy. There's nothing worse than being in a job that you're miserable in. You'll be forever asking yourself, what if?"'
In Froome, the Tour also got a winner who isn't a cycling geek.
By his own admittance, his knowledge and interest in cycling history is patchy. On Mont Ventoux, he wasn't aware until told that he was the first rider since legendary five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx in 1970 to win a stage on that mammoth climb in Provence while also wearing the race leader's yellow jersey.
"I definitely have taken more of an interest to the past," he said. "But I still am very weak, I'll admit it, on knowing exactly what (five-time champion Miguel) Indurain did, what Merckx did or who their biggest rivals were. I just completely missed that era. I literally just turned it on for the first time when it was Lance and (Ivan) Basso."
"I'm more focused on the future," he concluded. "I'm not really someone that dwells too much on the past."
Share
