Sun sets on Froome-Ineos era

David Millar says it will have been a difficult decision for boss Brailsford, reports Vern Pitt

- Vern Pitt

“I’d be interested in being involved in the planned British team,” Chris Froome wrote in the pages of Cycling Weekly in 2008. “I haven’t spoken to Dave Brailsford but I’d love to sit down with him and hear his plans and tell him my goals for my career.”

That conversation spawned the Froome era, as he and the forces of Team Sky, now Ineos, dominated Grand Tours, winning seven together, including four Tours de France, between 2012 and 2018.

The sun had started to set on that era in May this year when reports emerged that Froome, unhappy with the erosion of his leadership status within a squad that now contained two other Tour winners, was entertaining offers from other teams. Last week it was announced that he’d leave Ineos at the end of the year for Israel Start-Up Nation, a set-up that’s yet to race a single Tour de France.

Thirty-five-year-old Froome was never offered a new contract by Ineos, something of a contrast to 23-year-old team-mate Egan Bernal, who is on a five-year deal that runs until the end of 2023. CW understands Froome, on the comeback trail from injury, was keen to get such an offer before the Tour. The reports he might leave had many of the hallmarks of having come from the Froome camp – he is managed by his wife Michelle. That helped to sour the relationship between team and rider further.

“Froome was not offered a new contract by Ineos”