Froome: Mentally I feel a lot more relaxed than at the Tour de France

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Before the racing can begin, a game of pass the parcel breaks out among the contenders for the Vuelta a España. Bookmakers’ fancy Nairo Quintana has claimed that the onus is on other teams to control the peloton. Alberto Contador, meanwhile, insists that Chris Froome is the outstanding favourite for victory. At the team presentation in Jerez de la Frontera on Friday evening, however, Froome was quick to deflect the pressure

Froome has suffered one brief scare since arriving in Spain, when he fell while en route to reconnoitre the course of the opening team time trial on Thursday afternoon, but he shrugged off the idea that he has been affected psychologically by his crashes at the Dauphiné and Tour.