The Rise and Fall of Chris Froome : A Cycling Legend

Stoffer Brom at his best, it's an absolutely unprecedented, incredible image. Hard as nails, tough, tough, tough. How can you be a guy in Nairobi and dream of being any kind of decent cyclist? I wouldn't say I'm African, but I'd say that Africa has played a big part in my life. He was a young energetic boy and he had his little BMX bicycle he wanted to ride around. And the mother wanted to find somebody who can teach the young Chris how to take care of himself on the road. It was strange that a white kid in the village where there was not many people back then would be comfortable and hanging around there. And he didn't care much what people thought or looked at. He learned Swahili quite quickly, but he was always talking the language of the bicycle rather than anything else. When was the first time you ever heard the name Chris Froome even being mentioned? I remember it quite clearly actually, and it was at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Our first riders starting to get prepared now. I can remember seeing the guys from England and just their shining white kit and amazing bikes. And they were all riding the same bikes, which was just, you could see these guys were professional. His name was on the start sheet, it's not something that jumped out of the page. We've got a huge field ahead of us, we've got 72 riders. And the first rider to lead them out is the rider from Kenya in Christopher Froome, the fastest out on the course so far. And his splits start to come through. And I can remember Shane Sutton going, blimey, there's a bloke out here, he's going so fast and he's only got sand shoes on. Being the first rider off, I got back and had the fastest time on the course. Which meant that I was sitting in the hot seat for a good hour with all the cameras on me and people talking about me as the race leader. For somebody with the background that he had and where he was at, he caught our eye. Technically I was terrible, I was crashing all the time. But I think the important thing was that I showed I had an engine. The next big thing in my mind was the World Championships. If I could get to the World Championships, that might be a ticket for me onto the professional scene. And so to the Under 23 Men's Individual Time Trial. I'd previously been helping the manager of the Kenyan Cycling Federation to send emails. It was a bit sneaky of me. I directly emailed the UCI from his account saying we'd like to enter one rider into the Under 23 World Champs. And I got myself entered. Another one of my early memories of Chris was sitting in a manager's meeting. A cold, horrible day at the World Championships. And in walks this soaking wet bike rider and it was Chris. He'd managed to get there on his own and he was representing his country on his own. He hadn't got a manager. So he came to the team manager's meeting and sat there. Their only representative, he couldn't work out which way he was going, left or right. He came down the barrier. And he went down and there was a corner straight away. I was a little bit confused as to which way the road went. When you can't work that out, this is exactly what happens. Just bang, straight into him. And he was holding a big pile of papers which just went straight up in the air. And this guy's throwing his paper. Chris is, you know, it was chaos really. Just a little too much enthusiasm, a little too much adrenaline for Kenya's Chris Froome. Very quickly I earned the nickname Crash Froome. Having grown up in Africa, it just seemed so difficult. And I thought this was one legitimate way that I could get myself onto the European team. That told us a lot about the tenacity of the guy and the desire. There's a character in there that could fit pretty well in any sport. A day I'll never forget. I think it was on stage 10. He's found his legs this season. He struggled a little last year and the year before that. I got to the finish and I felt like, OK, this has been a good time here. Froome putting in a brilliant performance. I'd never expected to be in front of Brad. Wiggins with the grimace on his face. The Union Jack, the British national champion. I remember feeling I'm going to be in trouble here. It could be Froome into the red jersey. I'm supposed to be supporting Brad and now I've gone and passed him in the time trial. That's not meant to happen. He looks a little shell-shocked to be in the red jersey. He didn't expect it. I'm not sure too many others did either. I'd never won a race in my life. To now leading a Grand Tour, it was just, it was massive. It's a head-to-head battle between first and second in the general classification. Christopher Froome is on the charge. This might be the winning move for the Volta a España. Cobo has got the support as Christopher Froome is starting to fade. This is an extraordinary day of racing. Christopher Froome wins the stage. At the Sleckers track is Chris Froome. He's not just riding to win the stage, he's riding to win the Tour de France. Chris Froome wins the Tour de France. Time away from my wife, my family. It's unreal, absolutely unreal. Four times a winner of the Tour de France, winner of the Volta. Is he heading here to Giro d'Italia victory? And even on this descent, he's taking just a few seconds. I wouldn't say I was taking risks on the descent, but I pushed on and went as fast as I could. Chris Froome is now the virtual leader, the Maria Rosa of this Giro d'Italia. What a stage it has been. Who would have thought it at the start of today? What a ride here, an epic ride by Chris Froome. Masterful performance, takes the win. Chris Froome is the winner of the 101st edition of the Giro d'Italia. In cycling, you can't take anything for granted. With the big crash back in 2019, everything was perfect at that moment. I was in the shape of my life, I was ready to take on the Tour de France. And the next moment, I was in intensive care in hospital. It's been a tough week, the last week. I think the first couple of days, I didn't really know if I was coming or going. I was just so out of it all the time, I think. It sounds like what had happened was a gust of wind had taken my front wheel from a perfectly straight piece of road, just straight into someone's driveway. At first, it was the disappointment of not being able to carry on and do the race. Then it dawned on me that this isn't about bike riding anymore. This is about surviving. I just see myself as so fortunate to be able to get back into racing and so fortunate to be in this position, where I know there are thousands of people out there who would do anything to trade places with me and to race in the biggest events like the Tour de France. I want to make the most of that.