Chris Froome has thanked Sean Kelly and Bradley Wiggins for their belief in him, saying many other people had told him to give up on his career.
The four-time Tour de France winner said he was grateful to Kelly and Wiggins, who have both said they believe Froome can be competitive again.
“I’ve
received countless tweets telling me to
pack it in already,” Froome said on La Vuelta, where he struggled on the
opening stages but is looking much stronger now.
“If I quit every time things got tough during my cycling career I would have never achieved anything. Believe me when I say I’m far from done.”
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Speaking to Eurosport, where he is part of the Vuelta commentary team, Kelly noted that Froome had been riding on the front of the peloton deep into the last couple of stages, which was in contrast to being dropped from large bunches on the opening stages of the race.
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"In the early days of this Vuelta he looked like he was struggling a lot and was losing contact," Kelly of Froome.
"But we have to remember he was out for a long time and he's slowly getting better because we can see how he's riding now on difficult stages.
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"He's looking like a man with confidence now and he's happy with the way he's riding. That is so important for Froome, he needs this Vuelta to finish off this season."
Wiggins, who is also working for Eurosport, agreed and said he believed Froome was now on his way back after his crash during his stage 4 warm-up ride at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June last year.
“I still
think he has one big day left in him where he is going to shine. He is getting
back to the rider he was with every pedal rev, and he has shown that,” Wiggins said.
"Every turn he has at the front he is going longer
and longer into the race and he is enjoying putting people in the hurt bag
again and regaining his confidence.
"You have to imagine for him, there were probably
times when he thought, 'will I ever get back to that strength and that rider?'.
"With every rider that gets dropped with him doing that at the front, he has to start believing, 'look, I can win races again'."
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