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Chris Froome goes mountain biking in the Negev Desert

His Israel Start-Up Nation teammates look out for him, and tease him a little

Froome Wheelie Photo by: Noa Arnon/Israel Start-Up Nation

On Tuesday morning, at the trailhead in Arad, Chris Froome sped toward a group of his fellow Israel Start-Up Nation riders. He wasn’t on his usual Factor road bike, but a mountain bike. He came to a stop, letting his rear wheel rise. It was a solid endo by a guy who often takes flak for his riding technique.

Froome and seven other riders from the team were prepping wide-tire bikes with riser bars for a 40-km ride in the Negev Desert. They were all going to descend from 600 m above sea level to roughly 70 m in Masada, not far from the Dead Sea. It was a bonus outing for these select riders from within their team camp, which is just wrapping up in Israel.

Guillaume Boivin
Guillaume Boivin rides a section of the Israel Bike Trail from Arad to Masada.

Roughly 10 years ago, construction began on the Israel Bike Trail, a national singletrack route. At the moment, it has about 450 km of trail in two sections, one in the north and one in the south. The plan is to connect those sections to create a 600-km trail from Mount Hermon to Eilat on the Red Sea. The Arad-Masada route that Froome was going to ride had just opened two weeks before.

The new section had to be built by hand because it runs through a protected area of desert. As Israel Bike Trail project manager Hillel Sussman said, “It’s all nature reserves, and a fragile environment. There’s no green grass or trees to cover up your mess when you are building the trail.” He and his team of volunteers brought their tools and food into the desert by donkeys. The team was also monitored by archaeologists as sections of the trail are part of old Roman routes.

Froome began his ride with teammates Guillaume Boivin, Daryl Impey, Guy Sagiv, Tom van Asbroeck, Rick Zabel, Rudy Barbier and Matthias Brändle. Some of them let out whoops of joy has they headed down from Arad. Had they not stopped for photos and water along the way, they would have easily beaten a car following the roads from Arad to Masada.

Chris Froome is followed closely by Matthias Brändle. Brändle was keeping an eye on the four-time Tour de France winner.

At the end of the ride, from a vantage point high over the Dead Sea, Brändle discussed the domestique role he just had, while also getting in some digs on the four-time Tour de France winner. “My plan was to always stay behind Chris because when he’s on the bike it looks so dangerous and bumpy with arms out,” Brändle said. “You know how he rides his road bike. Now imagine he’s doing the same on a mountain bike on a trail. But he managed to survive. He was also trying to jump. It might have been over his limit but he’s here.”

After lunch, the riders got into a minibus to head to Tel Aviv. Froome pulled out his phone and played a video he had taken during the ride. It was of Guillaume Boivin in his national champion jersey. The two were riding hard to bridge a gap. Boivin yells, “Full gas! OK, Froomie. We close.”

“Seeing you with one hand filming, I was worried,” Boivin said to Froome after the video finished. “I was looking out for you. I was going to yell if there was a big rock.”

Photo: Noa Arnon/Israel Start-Up Nation
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