Chris Froome hesitant to say today's top riders are much faster than those in the past

As Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Giulio Ciccone, Jasper Philipsen and Tadej Pogačar lined up to conduct media engagements ahead of the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium, there was a clear generational divide between the 'big six' selected to represent the world's biggest bike race.

The former three, all aged between 33 and 38, represent the peloton of the 2010s, during which time Froome won seven Grand Tours, Cavendish established himself as the greatest sprinter of all time and Sagan became the enigmatic face of modern cycling. The latter three, meanwhile, have all flourished since the turn of the decade and represent the present and future of the sport.

Read more:

• Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome and Peter Sagan defeated in rickshaw relay
• Chris Froome rides Paul Smith designed Factor Ostro VAM at Singapore Criterium

Whilst Froome, Cavendish and Sagan will all rightfully stake their claim to the sport's spoils in 2024 - be it on the road or in mountain biking - talk naturally turned to the generational shift in the peloton when GCN sat down for a one-on-one interview with Chris Froome over in Singapore.

With the British rider still battling to return to a competitive level following his near life-threatening crash in 2019, fans will probably never get to see the mouth-watering prospect of Froome battling against Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard - today's big forces in the Grand Tours.

There will be no Lionel Messi vs Kylian Mbappe in the World Cup Final, no Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alvarez at Wimbledon, no Michael van Gerwen vs Phil Taylor in the World Darts Championship Final.

We are unlikely to ever find out which of these era-defining champions would come out on top against one another at their best, but for Froome, the difference between himself and today's champions may not be as great as some people might assume at first.

"I am still hesitant in saying the top guys are going much faster than the top guys in the past," said Froome, "because there are guys who were at the top in the past and they are still at the top now. Geraint Thomas is an example."

Indeed, Thomas, the runner-up at this year's Giro d'Italia, is only one year younger than Froome and has been a force in stage races since winning the Volta ao Algarve in 2015.

Now in the autumn of his career, Thomas has regularly noted this year that he is producing better numbers than when he won the Tour de France in 2018, but it is hard to pin down exactly how far the top of the sport has progressed since Froome's halcyon days. Instead, the most obvious change that Froome notes between the mid 2010s and today's racing is how much the general level of the peloton has increased as a result of improved nutrition, specified training and alike.

"It’s an interesting one," Froome begins, when asked to expand on how far the sport had evolved in the past decade.

"Just as an example, just pulling numbers out of a hat here, riding at 6.5w/kg for 20 minutes deep into a Tour de France stage, we’d probably find 5-10 years ago there’d probably be less than ten guys left. Now there are probably 30 guys left able to do that after five hours of racing in a stage of the Tour de France."

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

With two years left on his Israel-Premier Tech contract, only time will tell whether Chris Froome is able to follow Mark Cavendish's lead and return to race-winning form

Froome may not know whereabouts he would stack up against Pogačar or Vingegaard at his Grand Tour-winning best, but he is certainly enjoying watching the two do battle on the grandest stage.

"It’s super interesting watching the dynamic between the younger guys now," he acknowledges, before going on to compare Jumbo-Visma's current advances to those made by Froome's Team Sky back in the day.

There is massive disparity in the peloton, notes Froome

It is astonishing to think that just 18 months ago, Jumbo-Visma had never won neither the Tour de France nor the Giro d'Italia, and yet they now have two Tours and a Giro in their trophy cabinet, whilst being compared to the all-conquering Team Sky outfit that dominated cycling throughout the 2010s.

Read more: Is Jumbo-Visma's Vuelta a España team better than Team Sky at their best?

Such are the achievements of the Dutch team in the past couple of years that there are many who now believe that although they do not yet have the longevity at the top of the sport that Froome's old team did, they are in fact better than Team Sky were at their best.

The similarities between the teams are not lost on Froome, who himself draws comparisons between the two of his own accord.

"It is especially very impressive seeing what Jumbo-Visma have been able to achieve, I mean there are definitely reflections of Team Sky back in ‘12, ‘13, ‘14, ‘15, ‘16, '17, '18, '19," Froome says, with a nod to the remarkable period of time that Team Sky spent at the top.

"It seems like they have got a winning recipe now and they are definitely doing things better than every other team out there by the looks of it. And it is not just about one rider being so successful, but it’s coming through guys who you would consider super-domestiques winning Grand Tours now, that’s definitely to me evidence of something they are doing right."

Froome's comments point to the unexpected rise of Sepp Kuss as Jumbo-Visma's latest Grand Tour winner at the Vuelta a España just a couple of months ago, whose predicament in Spain was not too dissimilar to how Froome burst through as a winner in his own right at Team Sky.

Twelve years ago at the Vuelta, it was Froome's turn to find himself ahead of his nominated team leader, Bradley Wiggins, at the Vuelta. The Kenyan-born climber did not turn down the opportunity and his performances were enough to earn him the overall title following Juan José Cobo's retroactive disqualification.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Chris Froome was presented with the trophy for his 2011 Vuelta a España win some nine years later, as he made his Grand Tour return following a life-threatening crash

This past September, Kuss performed above expectations to find himself in the race lead after six days and his staying power earned him the backing of his Jumbo-Visma team - eventually.

Whilst Kuss' transformation from domestique to Grand Tour winner was not as stark as Froome's, both achievements were a result of a team setup that got the best out of its riders.

Jumbo-Visma are "similar to Team Sky back then," recognises Froome, "in the sense that they are paying more attention to all the small details, all the marginal gains, that added up collectively make a difference.

"I think some teams have maybe not invested quite as much in research and development, whether that’s across nutrition, equipment, clothing, training, everything else, as Visma have. In my opinion, I think they have gone above and beyond in that regard and I think it is showing in their riding, in their results."

The strength of Jumbo-Visma, whilst mightily impressive to Froome and many commentators, does also point to the massive gulf in quality between the teams that are getting things right in their preparation for races, and those who are lacking behind the eight ball.

In a recent episode of The Cycling Podcast, AG2R Citroën's Larry Warbasse noted the chasm that existed between Jumbo-Visma and much of the rest of the peloton at the recent Vuelta a España, and he is not alone in noting the power imbalance that currently prevails in cycling.

"There’s massive disparity in the peloton," agrees Froome. "I don’t think it’s quite so apparent to people on the outside, but I think it’s very evident from being on the inside and speaking to other riders and having changed teams myself, that there is a very very big difference between teams."