The expected return of Chris Froome: “It will surprise more than one”

The neoprofessional Carlos Rodrguez, fellow of the British in the Ineos team, highlights the tesn of a champion who returns Monday after eight months of demanding rehabilitation

The illusion of the child who debuts and the anxiety of the old man who returns after a long convalescence. The Spanish Carlos Rodrguez (19 years recently) opens today, in the Tour of the Arab Emirates, as a professional after jumping directly from the youth team of the Alberto Contador Foundation to the powerful Ineos, and he does it with Chris Froome (34), who returns to the competition after eight months of absence, after that terrible one each in the Dauphin.

In recognition of the time trial of the French round, the British fractured a cervical vertebra, the right elbow, the fmur, the hip and several ribs. He spent more than eight hours in an operating room at a hospital in Saint Etienne and then began an exhausting 10-week rehabilitation in which every morning he did four hours of physical therapy and in the afternoon, two more hours of specific work. Forty days after the operation he gave the first pedaling with the left leg, while with the right he did balance exercises. A hard cross that the cudruple champion of the Tour reflected with images in their social networks accounts.

Froome has plenty of willpower, everything he does requires a lot of sacrifice and effort, explains Carlos Rodrguez, who lived with the British in the concentration of the Ineos last January in Mallorca and Gran Canaria. Chris is an example to follow, not only for his humility and sympathy, but also for how he strives to do his best, says a boy who is not afraid of the tremendous leap in his career. Three months ago I ran with kids, now the cycling lite is elbowing: I am not afraid of the situation I am in, because it is somewhat premeditated and therefore I am sure of the step I am taking. I'm taking it with illusin, not fear. My goal this year is to be as ahead as I can in the races and gradually adapt to the World Tour level.

In his learning period he has been recorded the great atmosphere that reigns in the Ineos: I was surprised by the close people. Everyone is very friendly and you don't lack anything. It is better equipment even than you expect. And among his companions the figure of Froome stands out. Chris does specific work to speed up the recovery, but he is practically at his level, he goes at our pace without any problem, it is more, until he sets the pace. I think that in the Arab Emirates it will surprise more than one.

Froome grabs the attention of a round that starts today and ends next day 29, in which Valverde, Pogacar or Yates also participate. The cudruple winner of the Tour returns after his fleeting presence at the Criteriun de Saitama last November. I am still far from where I was before me in the Dauphin, needing time to return to that form, but the simple fact of being back in the peloton is a relief, commented the head of ranks of the Ineos, a tanned guy in the Last months in the solitude of the gym.

A lot of exercise bike and, at the same time, use of various recovery techniques, such as cupping therapy, from traditional Chinese medicine, in which they use a series of glass capsules that are emptied and favored increased blood flow to stimulate the body's natural responses to injuries.

Thanks to his dissertation, he managed to reintegrate into the Ineos preseason training in Mallorca (short stay) and in the Canary Islands. According to the Strava network, from January 10 to 28, the British traveled 2,224 kilometers and signed 46,621 positive meters uploaded in almost 84 hours on the bike. Numbers for the most desired and meditative return of the season.