In an interesting interview with the British channel GCN during the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium in Singapore, Chris Froome was asked about the state of cycling and today’s cyclists. Inevitably, comparisons with the past were made, and the British rider shared his thoughts on the matter.
Geraint Thomas as an example of longevity
“I still hesitate to say that the top riders are going much faster than the top riders from the past,” Froome said, “because there are guys who were at the top in the past and are still at the top now. Geraint Thomas is an example.”
Thomas, who secured the second place in this year’s Giro d’Italia, is 37 years old, one year younger than Froome, and has proven to be a strong competitor in stage races since his victory in the Volta ao Algarve in 2015.
Thomas even announced earlier this year that he’s producing better numbers than when he won the Tour de France in 2018, but it’s challenging to determine to what extent the top cyclists in the sport have progressed since Froome’s last Tour de France victory, which was in 2017.
Numbers can have a special meaning.
“It’s interesting,” Froome begins when asked to explain how much the sport has evolved in the last decade.
“Just as an example, taking numbers out of the hat here, riding at 6.5w/kg for 20 minutes in a stage of the Tour de France, probably we would find that 5 to 10 years ago there would be fewer than ten cyclists at the end of the race.”
Today, probably 30 guys would be capable of doing that after five hours of racing in a stage of the Tour de France,” Chris Froome concludes.
