Rider of the Month: July

02 Aug 2017

Rider of the Month: July

July couldn’t have gone much better for Team Sky. Chris Froome won one of the closest editions of the Tour de France in recent memory to seal his fourth yellow jersey, capping a superb team effort.

It won’t surprise you that our four nominees for July's Rider of the Month all played a part in Froome’s historic win… 

Michal Kwiatkowski emerged victorious to cap a brilliant month for the Pole.
Chris Froome

Chris Froome was all too happy to admit that his fourth Tour de France title was the toughest challenge he’s faced in his career. Pushed all the way on a testing parcours, the 32 year old still came out on top in Paris after a consistent show of strength in the mountains and two flawless time trial performances. Next up for Froome is the Vuelta a Espana, and then his focus will switch to winning a historic fifth Tour - and after another fantastic win in 2017, few would bet against him pulling it off.
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Michal Kwiatkowski

What can you say about Michal Kwiatkowski? After a brilliant first half of the season - when he won Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, and podiumed in the Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege - the Pole blew the cycling world away with his selfless display at the Tour de France. Then he demonstrated his form yet again with a fine win at San Sebastian on Saturday to round off the perfect month. 'Kwiato' is on fire.
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Mikel Landa

Few riders came out of the Giro d’Italia with the form to match Mikel Landa. Even fewer riders were able to hold their form all the way through July to the same extent as the Spaniard. King of the Mountains winner in Italy, he came through to ride an exceptional Tour in support of Chris Froome and came agonisingly close to making it onto the podium, missing out by a mere second to Romain Bardet. But his fourth place is surely a sign of things to come, and his showing at San Sebastian, when he finished fifth after a selfless ride in support of Michal Kwiatkowski, crowned a fantastic July.
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Geraint Thomas

It’s been a year of highs and lows for Geraint Thomas. After suffering the heartbreak of crashing out at the Giro d’Italia when well placed for a tilt at the title, he bounced back in the best fashion to win the opening stage of the Tour de France - a soaking wet city centre time trial in Dusseldorf. That earned the Welshman the first yellow jersey of his career and he kept it for four days. But, on stage nine, when well placed overall, disaster struck. Midway down a wet descent ‘G’ was caught up in a crash and broke his collarbone. He was forced to retire and spoke of his devastation at having to leave the Tour early. He will always have the memories of that yellow jersey though.
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