After taking the yellow jersey with the tour de france win in July, Froome set his sights on winning in Spain, something only 2 other riders had done in cycling history in the same year.
The Sky riders ascent to winning, as ever, ably supported by a superb team, carried on from Paris to Spain to win the tour by 2 minutes 15 seconds over fellow grand tour winner – Italian Vincenzo Nibali.
After going over the line, to claim the white jersey, Froome goes on to join Jacques Anquetil in 1963 and Bernard Hinault in 1978 to complete the Tour-Vuelta double. The only Grand Tour Froome hasn’t won yet is the Giro Italia, something he will surely target next season.
“To win two Grand Tours like this is amazing feeling and it’s going to be hard to top,” Froome told the bbc.
The tour was a fitting finale for one of Froome’s great rivals Alberto Contador who retired after Sunday’s stage, but not before winning one more stage – a thrilling climbing lesson for cyclists – from the Spaniard on the penultimate stage.
Contador won the Vuelta 3 times in his career.
For Froome, he headed straight to the world championships in Norway and was trying to succeed where Chris Boardman and Bradley Wiggins in 2014 were successful in taking gold for the individual time trial.
Going off as favourite, Froome suffered wet conditions in Norway, and with very little training for the Sky rider going into the event, settled for third on the podium as Giro Italia winner, Tom Dumoulin took gold for the Dutch. It was double delight for Holland as Annemiek van Vleuten won the time trial event in the women’s time trial.
For Froome, 2017 was a year to remember in his career. “It has been a long season and an amazing season that I will forever be grateful for. I am glad to be at the end of it now,” he told the bbc.
