Sports Eye
Broom-broom Froome
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
BEING a former professional cyclist, I can’t help but to comment on the just concluded 2015 Tour de France (TdF) winner, Christopher Froome of England, his second after three years. Yes, he’s the only Briton to conquer the Tour.
Chris Froome was not born in any part of UK but in Nairobi, Kenya where his parents migrated to run a farm. Born on May 20, 1985, Froome tested his cycling capability in South Africa where he won some national amateur road races before he turned professional in 2007 at the age of 22.
It was in 2011 Vuelta when Froome won his biggest plum of his life by placing first runner-up won by the Spaniard Juan Jose Cobo. And his biggest TdF victory was in 2012 by finishing second overall to his compatriot and team skipper Bradley Wiggins. He played a key role to Wiggins triumph and TdF sports pundits said that he could had beaten his country mate but he was so loyal that he did not do so because his role was just to play domestique to his captain. The following year, the strong time-trialist fellow indisputably bagged the crown of TdF and dedicated his victory to his mother who died because of cancer. However, he was unsuccessful in defending his 2014 TdF title due to three bad falls in two days and had to quit the race at the fifth stage. But he came back with a vengeance in 2014 Vuelta to land second overall again. His newest and biggest today, was winning the TdF tiara for the second time.
When he said, “Although I was riding under the Kenyan flag, I made it clear that I had always carried a British passport and felt British,” I was reminded of my own situation in 1973, after my first of three Tour conquests. Despite being born a Filipino, raised and educated here, I’ve always felt I was half-Mexican, carrying the genes of my father, and have been proud of it. Nakakatindig ng balahibo, ‘ika nga.
Froome, 30, joined the national team of England for the 2012 London Olympics where he won a bronze medal in in the 40-kilometer time trial event. Being one who enjoys competing everywhere, he won the Tour of Oman, now Asia’s second prestigious bikefest, twice and third place overall in the first edition of 2011 Tour of Beijing. These races were his tune-ups for his attempt to win the grand slams. Today, as the new king of TdF to bag the 450K top prize, he beat some of Europe’s and South America’s best like the 2014 Giro winner Nairo Quintana of Colombia by a mere 1:12 minutes, Spanish mountain specialist Alejandro Valverde by 5:25 minutes, another Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali of Italy by 8:36 and above of all, the 2015 Giro title holder and two-time TdF king Alberto Contador by 9:48. His Team Sky squad also won the team championship worth Euro 50K.
His friends call him Froomey but I will call him Broom-Broom Froome for he’s the fastest so far this year, a human car in the TdF, considered the richest, longest, toughest and the most prestigious multi-stage bicycle race in the world. (I wish I had joined this event during my heydays) His forte is time-trialing and mountain climbing. I’ve always maintained that a cyclist without these two capabilities will never-ever win a grand slam race.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And Jesus Christ said “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. MATTHEW 12: 31-32
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