We can dispose of one anti-Froome argument straight away. ‘Oh, but he was born in Kenya’. Correct, but Froome is a British national, represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics and rides for the British Team Sky. Besides, last year’s winner was born in Belgium, and do you want to tell Sir Brad he is not English? Look through the list of past winners and Canadian-born Greg Rusedski, Jamaican-born Linford Christie and former Canadian Olympian Lennox Lewis – each one a British hero in their own way.
If anything, Froome’s Kenyan past makes his achievements all the more remarkable. Kenya is hardly a hot-bed of cycling, and Froome famously learned his trade with an informal group of riding buddies from the townships, led by his first mentor, David Kinjah. An early enquiry about the national championship ended with him being told to make his own jersey. He travelled under his own steam to the under-23 world championships in Salzburg in 2006, arriving as the sole representative of the Kenyan cycling federation, and posing as the team’s directeur sportif to gain himself a place in the time trial, which he began by promptly riding into an official. And the slow start to his professional career has been traced to an infection with the bilharzia parasite, one whose carriers are typically from developing countries.
But the Froome-dog overcame all of this to become Bradley Wiggins’ chief lieutenant at the Tour de France last year, a race he finished just one step down from the Londoner on the podium in Paris – the first two British men to ever stand on it. His efforts last year – which also included a bronze medal in the Olympic time trial and fourth place at the Vuelta to follow his second place in 2011 – were overshadowed by Wiggins’ phenomenal success, but should not be understated and earned him the right to fight for individual glory this year.