Why Chris Froome Will Not Skip the 2015 Tour De France

Shortly after the 2015 Tour de France route was announced in Paris, 2013 champion Chris Froome suggested that he may skip the famous race to focus on the Giro d'Italia. But in reality, Froome's absence will not be a possibility for Team Sky—not through choice anyway.

Le Tour's general director Christian Prudhomme was all smiles as he laid out the parcours for the 102nd "Grande Boucle," but Froome was left disappointed by the lack of time trial kilometres on offer.

The 2015 Tour will only contain 14km of individual time-trialling—the fewest since 1945 (via William Fotheringham of The Guardian)—meaning the yellow jersey will be fought out over the race's seven mountain stages.

In a statement on his website, Froome admitted that the route did not particularly inspire him. With so much emphasis on mountain climbing, it would be hard for him to repeat his 2013 triumph.

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The team and I will have to give it some careful consideration before we make any commitments to which of the grand tours I will compete in. I see myself as quite a balanced GC rider and the Giro with it's inclusion of a long TT of 60km and tough uphill finishes will make it a well balanced race which suits me well. If I did the Giro I may also be able to get myself back to top shape for the Vuelta and go there with a realistic chance of aiming for the win.

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The reaction in the Twittersphere was pretty unanimous—there is no way that Team Sky will let their star man miss the biggest race of the year, even if it does mean having to settle for the inevitable outcome of Froome not winning.

The Kenyan-born rider's victory in 2013 was greatly boosted by his speed in the two individual time trials. He put two minutes into his nearest rival Alejandro Valverde over the 33km to Mont Saint-Michel on Stage 11 before winning the 32km Stage 17.

Despite winning two stages in the mountains, the Brit was heavily marked throughout the race by the likes of Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador, both of whom have said they will contest the Tour next year.

I think it's fair to say that Froome's climbing ability is up there with the best, but even he—judging by his thoughts on the route—doesn't believe that he can beat Quintana, Contador or even Frenchmen like Thibaut Pinot in the mountains alone.

But here is where the politics come in. In recent years, Sky's whole season has revolved around the Tour de France. The popularity of the race has boomed in the UK thanks to the successes of Froome and 2012 champion Sir Bradley Wiggins, not to mention the Grand Depart in Yorkshire this year.

While the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana hold Grand Tour status, their appeal in Britain is fairly limited—perhaps due to the relative lack of British success in the races—meaning it would be a waste for Sky to "hide" their biggest asset in those two races. 

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To be clear, given what Sky are investing & the level of UK interest in Giro & Vuelta, they'd be barking mad to let Froome skip the Tour.

— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) October 22, 2014"

Stephen Roche, winner of the 1987 Tour, made the point in his Daily Telegraph column that it would be fairly unprecedented for one of the main contenders to voluntarily skip the race. Roche, who's son Nicolas transferred to Sky from Tinkoff-Saxo this winter, believes Froome was merely "voicing a bit of frustration at a parcours which...does not play entirely to his strengths."

Roche makes a good point. This could be Froome's way of telling the organisers that just because the Tour is the world's biggest cycling race, it does not mean the world's biggest riders will automatically attend.

But journalist Richard Moore suggested on Twitter that while Froome may prefer the Giro's parcours, Sky's sponsors may have other ideas of their main man opting out.

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Riders hinting that they'll miss the Tour until sponsors say, 'don't think so, sonny m'lad.'

— Richard Moore (@richardmoore73) October 22, 2014"

In their 2013 accounts (via The Inner Ring), Team Sky revealed their title sponsor pumped £14.5m into the team's coffers, while other minor backers provided nearly £6m more.

In a sport where money talks, Froome's participation in the race for the yellow jersey is pretty much paramount for the continued success, and sponsors' backing, of Team Sky.

So expect to see Froome in his Sky skin suit rolling down the start ramp on Stage 1 in Utrecht next July, trying to prove a point in the race's only time trial.