I know I joke about Chris Froome but that’s only because I’m a jerk. I know it’s not really funny. It’s not funny for his teammates who must be looking at him thinking ‘I should be getting paid more money than him’. It’s not funny for other teams whose riders may be looking

at Froome and thinking I should be getting paid more money than him, thereby driving up the salaries across the entire sport. It’s not funny for his team having agreed to pay him so much money and are getting nothing in return (does the negative publicity count?)

But most of all it’s not funny for Froome having put in all this effort to come back to the sport only to realise that age has caught up with him anyway. Or indeed, his injuries have proven to much of a climb to get over.

And while it’s not funny. It *is* fascinating. I’m fascinated what his teammates, his DS’s and Froome himself are thinking and when did they start thinking it. I imagine this story will only be fully revealed long after he’s retired.

Like when Armstrong recently admitted that he thought his own 2009 comeback was ‘lame’ because he had to ride for Astana and it wasn’t the fun it used to be with the US Postal boys. He admitted that 11 years after the fact.

I’ll be fascinated to learn when it was that Froome realised this bid to win a fifth Tour was over. When did he tell his teammates. When did they know. When did Sylvan Adams know.

Will he still even ride the Tour de France this year? I wouldn’t bet on it.