Froome’s bumpy road to Tour de France glory MyZA

Tour de France: Chris Froome’s rocky road to glory in Paris. Photo: Getty Images

By professional cycling’s very nature, Tour de France champion Chris Froome has had a long way to go to reach the summit of his sport, but his road to the top was rockier than most.

Born in Kenya to English parents in 1985, Froome’s journey to the podium in Paris began when he sold avocados from the back of his BMX in Nairobi 17 years ago.

It continued as a teenage mountain-bike nut on the dust tracks of the Kenyan highlands and, after an initial struggle to make it on the roads in Europe, when he grew his own bean sprouts in an attempt to gain a nutritional advantage, the more exact science of Team Sky has helped him gain the ultimate glory in France.

Froome’s passport is pretty much the only thing he has in common with Bradley Wiggins, who made history as Britain’s first Tour winner last year, but in the race’s 100th edition his victory is also a landmark – a first victory for an African-born cyclist.

Froome credits Kenyan rider David Kinjah for “igniting his passion with cycling”. Photo: Reuters

“He was a very thin boy, nothing special,” remembers David Kinjah, the man who introduced Froome to road cycling in the Kikuyu township when the future champion was 11.

“But he was not the kind of guy you could tell ‘this is enough, stop it’. He always wanted to go further. He wanted to discover his own world.”

The Tour de France win is starting to sink in for Froome now.

“I can’t believe this, it is amazing,” he said after sealing his victory on the top of Mont Semnoz in the penultimate stage.

“The way I started, riding on a little mountain bike in Kenya and now to be here, winning the biggest event of the cycling calendar, it’s difficult for me to put into words. It’s really been an amazing journey.” – BBC Sport