Chris Froome could aim for Vuelta a Espana after Tour de France crash

Possibility that injured Sky leader Chris Froome may ride in the Vuelta and Tour of Britain, alongside Bradley Wiggins

TAGS:

After abandoning the Tour de France on Wednesday, Chris Froome could ride the Vuelta a España or the Tour of Britain next, and possibly with Bradley Wiggins.

“If it makes sense, if it’s the right thing to do from the performance point of view then why not?” Sky’s team boss, David Brailsford said. “But let’s wait to see first and take stock of the situation.”

Froome abandoned the Tour de France yesterday in stage five after crashing three times just over 24 hours and travelled to his home in Monaco. The biggest concern for the team is his left wrist, which Brailsford said that he believes will not need surgery.

“You have to stop and take stock of the situation. Until we found out exact the nature of his injury, and what that recover and rehab programme looks like, it’s a bit early to speculate on the rest of the year,” Brailsford continued.

“There are obviously quite a bit of WorldTour races left, which would be a consideration, a Grand Tour would be a consideration, the Tour of Britain might be a consideration…”

The 29-year-old Brit built his season around the Tour de France but was only able to race five and a half days of it. He could be hungry to race another Grand Tour – the Vuelta a España from August 23 to September 14 – to finish off his season.

Wiggins, however, might be thinking the same thing as he races the Commonwealth Games and builds towards the World Championship time trial on September 24. He has yet to race a Grand Tour this year and despite winning the Tour of California and British time trial title, was left at home for the Tour de France.

They raced the 2011 Vuelta together in Spain, where Froome placed second and Wiggins third. Froome returned in 2012 and placed fourth.

“[The Vuelta is] not confirmed yet,” Brailsford said of Wiggins. “We’ll have to see how he goes in the Commonwealth Games and where we’re at after that. Brad’s goal is to get into the best shape possible for the World time trial championships.”

Wiggins and Froome have not raced a Grand Tour together since they went one-two, respectively, in the 2012 Tour de France. In that race, they butted heads often. Froome wrote in his book, “We rode around [Wiggins] and his moods like he was a traffic island.”

Since the 2012 Tour, the have had mostly different racing programmes. They raced the Tour of Oman and Worlds road race together in 2013 and not once in the same Sky team so far in 2014.

Cobo, Froome and Wiggins on podium, Vuelta a Espana 2011, stage 21Bradley Wiggins (left) and Chris Froome (right) on the podium of the 2011 Vuelta a Espana