Giro d'Italia 2018 standings: Chris Froome accepts leader Simon Yates may win tour
CHRIS FROOME has admitted victory is unlikely in the Giro d'Italia after a tough first week hampered his quest to conquer another grand tour.
GETTY
The 32-year-old Team Sky rider is bidding to hold all three grand tour titles at the same time as he looks to add the Giro to the Tour de France and La Vuelta crowns he won last year - putting aside the ongoing battle surrounding his positive test for salbutamol at the end of La Vuelta.
But things have not gone well for Froome in the Giro so far, and he reached Monday's rest day two minutes and 27 seconds down on fellow Brit Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) in the pink jersey and one minute 49 seconds behind defending champion Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb).
"It is a big gap," Froome said on the Team Sky website, "but we've got some extremely tough racing coming and we've got a long time trial as well. I wouldn't say it's likely at this point, but stranger things have happened.
"I'm going to take the race one day at a time. I still want to do the best I can do: if that's 20th place, if it's second place, or if it's first place. I'm here to race. I'm a bike racer and that's what I'm going to do."
GIRO
Froome made the Giro-Tour double his goal for the season, despite seeing the likes of Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana come up short in recent seasons. No rider has done the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.
His Giro bid was hit by crashes before the opening time trial in Jerursalem and during Saturday's stage eight, but Froome also put his poor form in the first week down to a training plan tailored to see him peak in the last week of the Giro in order to be in good shape for the Tour.
"I always came into the Giro with the plan of building into the race, with the bigger goal of doing the Giro d'Italia and going on to the Tour de France," he said.
"It was never my objective to arrive right at the beginning of the Giro absolutely firing on all cylinders because as we've seen in riders who've done that in the past, they reach July and just have nothing.
"I was always looking to build through this period, but I think the crash (before stage one) was a setback to me. I also think the second crash (during stage eight) didn't help, also on my right side, but we're here and that's the nature of cycling.
"I'm here, soaking it up, and really enjoying racing here in Italy. It's been tough but it's been good bike racing."