'It's been pretty much a perfect build-up to the Giro d'Italia'
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Kenny Elissonde leads Team Sky teammate Chris Froome on an ascent at the Tour of the Alps(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Team Sky set the pace(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chris Froome (Team Sky) stage 4 Tour of the Alps(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chris Froome (Team Sky) fourth on stage 2 at Tour of the Alps(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chris Froome (Team Sky) ready for stage 2 at Tour of the Alps(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chris Froome (Team Sky) says that it would be futile to make too many predictions off the back of the final results at Tour of the Alps. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) took out the overall victory with Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) rounding out the podium.
Froome just missed out on the rostrum, finishing the race in fourth place 16 seconds behind Pinot and one second off Pozzovivo and Lopez. The Team Sky rider has ridden an aggressive race but looked in trouble when Pinot attacked on the final climb with Pozzovivo, setting off in chase of Lopez who had already gone up the road. Thanks in part to a lack of cooperation up front, the favourites did come back together with the GC ending up as it had been at the start of the day.
"I don't think that we can read too much into it. Everyone has different approaches to the Giro," Froome said outside his team bus in Innsbruck. "Some guys probably wouldn't have been 100 per cent in this race and will probably be going a lot better at the Giro but for sure there are somethings you can't mistake. Thibaut is in great shape, Pozzovivo is in great shape in the climbs as well. Fabio Aru is not far off. Miguel Angel Lopez from Astana is looking great. It's a little bit of a taste of what's to come in May."
Team Sky have dominated the Tour of the Alps – or the Giro del Trentino in its former guise – for the past three seasons with Mikel Landa, Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte claiming the last three editions. However, all three have gone on to suffer some misfortune in their battle for the Giro d'Italia overall classification. Froome was coy, however, when he was asked if Pinot was going too well too early.
"Everyone has their own way of preparing for a race. Maybe, for him, that is the right thing. You can't read too much into it," said Froome. "The last few years Team Sky has won Trentino but not won the Giro. It's just how it is. Not every year Is the same and for sure, Thibaut is in great shape now. That's a good sign for him ahead of the Giro."
With the longest stage of this year's Tour of the Alps just 164 kilometres, the five days of racing have been flat out from the outset. The intense style of racing, says Froome, is hard to get in training and he feels as if it's put him in the right place going into the Giro d'Italia in two weeks' time.
"I've been having a lot of fun these last few days just racing, proper bike racing. They have been short and explosive stages but this isn't the kind of thing that you can replicate in training, these kinds of races. It has been really good to be here and to have been a part of it," said Froome.
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"I'm definitely a lot closer to being ready for the Giro than I was a month ago at Tirreno-Adriatico. I'm really happy with the sensations now and I've still got two weeks now. It's been pretty much a perfect build-up to the Giro d'Italia."
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