Tour de France champ Chris Froome turned a normal Saturday into a day that local riders will not soon forget. The University of Southampton received an unexpected visit from several hundred riders all because the champion wanted some company for a bimble in the area.
The Team Sky leader took to Twitter to tweet his followers and it didn’t take long for Froome Fans to grab their gear and rush to heed his call.
Froome was in the neighborhood for fun times in a wind tunnel, perhaps an unusual way to celebrate being handed his OBE at Buck Palace the day before. His tweet read:
“Anyone keen for a short ride with me around Southampton this afternoon?”
And just to make things easier for the ‘flash ride,’ Froome posted a map with his exact location and the time to meet. We admire well organised cyclists.
Froome’s definition of “short ride” must have differed from the local riders because when the Tour de Froome stopped riding there were only 30 left standing from the original group. But, if you were one of the lucky ones left you were treated to photo opportunities, autographs, and chances to chat it up with Chris.
The champ was thankful for the dedicated turn out and said so in another tweet:
“Thank you to everyone who came out to ride with me in Southampton today, great day out!”
It was a nice and welcome break for Froome, because it will be back to business as usual soon enough. He has his eyes set on a third title at the Tour de France in July. And will have gold on his mind when he joins his countrymen in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games in early August.
I’m sure more people will be paying attention to Twitter just in case Chris Froome gets the itch to get up and close with his fans again.
If you’re interested in riding with the big lad himself keep an eye on the hashtag #RideWithFroomey
If he’s a fan of this type of spontaneous mass group riding maybe we’ll see Froome on a Critical Mass ride one day?
Last Updated on April 29, 2023
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