Chris Froome’s grip on cycling’s premier race in question as the Tour de France rolls into town

The Briton heads into this year's Tour de France in uneven race form and with a wide field of competition set to push him all the way

Chris Froome has his sights set on a fourth Tour de France title (Getty)

Nobody ever said winning the Tour de France was simple. But when he rolls down the start ramp at the race’s opening time trial on Saturday in Düsseldorf, three-times Tour winner Chris Froome knows he will be facing the hardest challenge of his career to date.

This isn’t just because the more successful Froome becomes at winning Tours, historically speaking, the more his chances of further triumph decrease. Victory in four Tours or more is so exceptional, in fact, only four riders - Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil - have achieved that since the race began in 1903.

Rather, Froome’s biggest short-term challenge is probably uneven race form, stretching back to the beginning of this season. For the first time since his first Tour victory in 2013, the Sky rider will start the race with no previous wins whatsoever. Even in 2014, when things had gone awry for Froome well before crashing out in the first week of the Tour, Froome had triumphed in five races prior to July. This year - nothing.

The 2017 Tour route, too, does Froome precious few favours. Rather than long time trials, one of his in-house specialities, or long spells in the mountains, where he has previously pulverized his rivals, there are few set-piece battle stages in the Pyrenees or Alps.

Instead, the Tour organisers have created a nervous, punchy course where opportunities for gaining great swathes of time are very limited - and chances of ambushing Froome abound. Froome’s third difficulty could be intensified media pressure, given the ongoing UK Anti-Doping investigation into Sky, principally concerning the suspicions surrounding Sir Bradley Wiggins’ 2012 Tour de France victory. Sky’s team boss, Dave Brailsford, has faced repeated calls for his resignation and as a result of the turmoil, Froome and his team-mates could well face another slab of scrutiny and questions.

A fourth challenge facing Froome could well be Old Father Time. The average age for a Tour de France winner is currently 28 years and two months, with Froome now over 32. Logically, the number of younger rivals for his throne is proliferating.

Chris Froome has struggled for form in 2017 (Getty)

More long-standing challengers like Alberto Contador, the Spanish veteran Tour de France winner, or Nairo Quintana - who beat Froome in last year’s Vuelta a España - have not gone away. French climbing duo Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot might cause more than a few headaches. And there are new challengers like Colombian Esteban Chaves and Simon Yates to take into account, too.

The most intriguing top rival, though, is Froome’s former Sky team-mate, Richie Porte. Fifth in last year’s Tour de France despite crashing early on, Porte has had a spectacularly successful 2017 season, starting with a victory in Australia’s biggest home race, the Tour Down Under this January.

The most important element of all, though, came in the Criterium du Dauphiné, the Tour’s biggest warm-up race, this June. Porte trounced the opposition in the long, mid-race time trial, including Froome and then dropped the Briton on the final mountain climb. Porte finished a narrowly defeated second, Froome fourth.

Richie Porte is being touted as a serious contender to Froome's crown (Getty)

The upshot of this was that Froome and Sky have begun labelling Porte with “the favourite to win the Tour label,” but the Australian, showing he is wise to such mind-games, calmly batted that idea back earlier this week.

“Chris has won three Tours and there's no reason he can't win a fourth," Porte argued. ”He's the big favourite here. I think he's going to be in a lot better form than in the Dauphiné and he knows how to take the pressure, obviously."

On the plus side for the Briton, Froome’s ever increasing experience as a Tour winner is a huge advantage. Last year, he proved more adept than any of his rivals in gaining time with surprise attacks in the Pyrenees and at Montpellier.


 Froome is eyeing a historic fourth Tour de France title 
 (Getty)

Whilst today’s opening flat time trial stage will likely see few gaps between the favourites, an initial opportunity for Froome to re-stamp his authority will come as soon as Wednesday’s first summit finish.

Froome’s first Tour stage victory came on the lung-bursting ascent to La Planches des Belles Filles in the Vosges in 2012, won overall by Wiggins, with Froome in second place. Five years on from then, and Froome has long since overhauled his former Sky team-mate at Tour success - and now, the same climb in the Vosges may well, instead, indicate whether Froome’s grip on cycling’s premier race is, as suspected, finally beginning to falter.