When Chris Froome won the Tour de France on Sunday, he made history by becoming only the fifth rider to win at least four Tours.
Froome is now one behind the other four riders — Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain — who all won the Tour five times. Froome is just 32 years old, and it looks likely that he'll be joining that club in the next year or two, and perhaps become the first rider to win six Tours.
What makes Froome so good? He's one of the most naturally talented riders. He trains hard. He lost 20 pounds and transformed his body. His Sky team has the biggest budget and can afford to bring the deepest squad to the Tour. But besides being No. 1 at pedaling bikes fast, Froome has also matured, both as a rider and as a team leader, and that's made some difference, so his boss, Sir Dave Brailsford, told Business Insider. According to Brailsford, it's in moments of chaos that Froome shines, leading his troops coolly under pressure.
"It's been fun to watch over time," Brailsford said. "He knows when he needs to step in and make a decision, and he knows when others can make a decision. He's got that very well tuned in now, and that gives him the confidence, so he's not on edge all the time. He's focused but not intense. The people who are around a leader who is intense, they agitate, and it's not a pleasant experience."
Here are six reasons Froome is the world's best stage racer, according to his boss:
1. He is calmer now in moments of crisis.
Brailsford talked about how Froome handles stress, as on stage two of the Tour when Froome crashed.
"He knows there are highs and lows, but the way to manage chaos optimally — because it is quite chaotic in a crash like that — is to stay as calm as possible," Brailsford said. "If he's calm, everybody else is calm. When they all go down like that, you know, the pack — they stall, they all turn and they look at the wolf, and whatever he does next, they all go with him. If he's calm and he says, 'All right, guys — let's go,' boom, they all go again. If he's panicking or kicking off, then they all do the same, which creates even more agitation, more chaos."
2. He is more confident with experience and success.
Froome began this Tour with a whopping total of zero victories this season. He was still the favorite — he's just that good — but some people were speculating that he might get beat. But none of that fazed Froome, according to Brailsford.
"As he gets more experience and becomes more successful, he's got more confidence in his ability to gain the form at the right time, to peak at the right time," Brailsford said. He no longer maybe needs confirmation.
"When he started out, he had to develop leadership skills and he needed the confirmation of winning. And that's one of the insights for me — as he's getting older, his awareness of how to be a leader is fantastic. And he's very grateful, very generous with his support."
3. He is intrinsically driven.
Winners of the Tour don't win outrageous amounts of money, at least when compared to other sports. Froome won 500,000 euros on Sunday ($580,000), and tradition dictates he share that money evenly with his team. Most of his earnings come in the form of his $5 million salary paid by Team Sky. But when it comes to winning, according to Brailsford, it's not really about the extrinsic rewards.
"I think the one thing about Chris is he's highly intrinsically driven. He's very, very driven. For all the right reasons actually," Brailsford said. "It's not about the reward side of it — it's about the achievement side of it. So he's up for it, he's got hunger, he wants it. He's got the talent obviously, so there are your two credentials. Put a good plan in place and remove the distractions and all the barriers."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider