Giro d’Italia 2018: Chris Froome admits GC hopes are remote after losing significant ground to Simon Yates

The Team Sky rider crashed during his reconnaissance of the opening stage in Jerusalem, and again on Saturday during stage eight, and has lost significant ground to his main rivals

Chris Froome has struggled to keep pace with the leaders (AFP/Getty Images)

Chris Froome has admitted his chances of winning the Giro d’Italia are remote after a difficult opening week left him nearly two and a half minutes behind the race leader, his fellow Briton Simon Yates.

The Team Sky rider crashed during his reconnaissance of the opening stage in Jerusalem, and again on Saturday during stage eight, and has lost significant ground to his main rivals.

Speaking on the Giro’s second rest day before the peloton heads north towards the Italian Alps, Froome said he is determined to finish as high as possible despite his struggles.

“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.”

Froome has been under increased scrutiny during this race in the wake of his adverse sample for the asthma drug Salbutamol during his 2017 Vuelta a Espana triumph, and the resulting case which remains unresolved. But he believes that the he has instead been affected by a plan to peak in the final week.

“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.”

The Giro will resume on Tuesday with its longest stage, a 239km route from Penne Perscara to Gualdo Tadino in Umbria. Yates leads his Michelton-Scott team-mate Esteban Chaves by 32 seconds. The reigning champion Tom Dumoulin is 38 seconds back while France’s talented Thibaut Pinot is 45 seconds off the pace.