Chris Froome will ride in the 2018 Giro d’Italia
Froome won the Tour de France in July and La Vuelta in August and says that the prospect of winning three Grand Tours in a row was too tempting to turn down.
“It’s a unique situation for me, having won the Tour and Vuelta and now having the opportunity to go to the Giro and attempt to win a third consecutive Grand Tour,” Froome said in a statement released by Team Sky.
“It’s really exciting to be able to take on a new challenge, to do something that perhaps people wouldn’t expect and to mix it up.
“It’s a whole new motivation for me to see if I can pull off something special next year.
“I feel as if my cycling career started in Italy in some ways. I lived there for three years when I began my career as a professional, so having the opportunity to go back to the Giro in the position I am now in, and with the opportunity I have, feels in some ways like completing a circle.”
Victory for Froome would make him only the third rider in history to hold all three Grand Tour titles at the same time.
It will be eight years since Froome last rode the Giro and only the third time he has ever entered the race. In 2009 he finished in 36th and in 2010 he dropped out during Stage 19 due to a knee injury.
Team Sky have never had a winning rider in the Giro, while the Giro-Tour double has proved too much for many riders to take on in recent years. However, an extra week’s break between the two tours, plus the team’s experience of targetting both the Tour and Vuelta in 2017 has given Sky confidence that they can achieve the feat.
“It’s something the team have considered carefully and we’ve talked about a lot,” Froome said. “We know that it would be a significant feat in the modern era to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same season, but the way we managed things this year gives me confidence that I can successfully target both races.
“Another factor is that there is an extra week between next year’s Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. That’s one more week for recovery and for training than there would be normally, which I think potentially makes it more manageable and conducive to being able to hit both races in great shape.
“The way we managed that period from the Tour through to the Vuelta this season was a great learning experience for us and hopefully something that will stand me in good stead for 2018.”
