Chris Froome in his prime could have lived with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, says Ineos' Luke Rowe

Chris Froome could have lived with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar in his prime, says Ineos Grenadiers' Luke Rowe. Rowe had a front-row seat for Froome's Tour de France domination, acting as a domestique as Froome racked up his four yellow jerseys between 2013 and 2017. Ad/> With Froome, 37, approaching the twilight of his career and still recovering from a serious crash in 2019, the days of his leadership of the peloton seem to be over with his hotseat taken over firstly by Pogacar — champion in 2020 and 2021 — and now Vingegaard, who took the 2022 Tour title.

Cycling'This is just a stepping stone' — Froome backed for Tour return after untimely exit21/07/2022 AT 20:48 But in a fight between all of them in peak condition, Rowe thinks it would have been an even contest. Rowe told VeloNews: “The level is higher [now than during Froome's glory era]. I’m not a big numbers man but if you look at the numbers they are going faster now than they were then but the sport is evolving.

“They’re getting faster and faster with all this equipment, all this training and all this jazz. He [Froome] won and in those years at the Tour he was riding relatively within himself to be honest. 'I hear what people say about me' — Laporte frustrated at doping questions ‘Forcing her to unclip!’ – Van Vleuten involved in near-miss on Stage 4 Pogacar to skip La Vuelta to focus on World Championships and one-day classics “We were conservative.

This dull, robotic style that was written about, looking back was dull and robotic. But I still stand by the fact that it was the most efficient way to defend the jersey. Any team would have done the same if they had the same strength as we did then.