'Froomey had some dog in him and that was one moment when it came out' – 'Road Captain' by Luke Rowe book extract

Road Captain: My Life at the Heart of the Peloton is a new memoir from Luke Rowe, taking you inside the inner workings of the peloton, and the Welshman's long career as one of the sport's most well-known road captains during his time at Ineos Grenadiers. As well as Luke's own words, the book features insight from Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish.

This extract is from the chapter 'Froomey'. Rowe was a teammate of Froome's for three of his five Tour de France wins.

Road Captain by Luke Rowe is out now (£22.00, Bantam).

I did ride Froomey's bike a couple of times, and it felt really weird with those osymetric chainrings, but I only ever handed my bike over to him once in a race. That was in the 2015 Tour, two days after Tony Martin had taken the yellow jersey from Froomey on a cobbled stage to Cambrai. The race was still up in the north and finished up a climb about a kilometer or so in length in Le Havre. There was a crash halfway up it, and Chris and Astana's Vincenzo Nibali, who was the defending Tour champion, both went down, as did Tony Martin, who broke his collarbone and couldn't start the next day.

Ian Stannard and I had led the team into the climb and then dropped back, so I reached the riders on the floor a few seconds after this had happened. As Nibali stood up, he took his bottle out of its cage and launched it at Froomey before riding off, because Nibali thought he was to blame for bringing them down. There were photographers all around us taking pictures of Froomey and I said, 'Listen, mate, just take my bike and get to the finish.' He had no concerns in terms of time because the 3K rule meant he would be awarded the same time as the winner. I told him, 'Just get away from the riff raff.' I could see as I gave him my bike that he was fuming.

I sorted out Froomey's bike, got the chain back on, and got to the finish as quickly as possible. David Rozman was the soigneur at the finish line, ready with the post-race drinks for the riders. I asked him where Froomey was and he said that he didn't know, that he'd just ridden straight past him.

I was like, 'Oh, fuck. I know exactly where he's gone.' I went to our bus and asked if Froomey was there. Once again I was told that he'd gone by without stopping, so I sprinted up to the Astana team bus, leant my bike against it and started to climb the stairs on to it. As I did so, Froomey was coming down them.

'Are you all right?' I asked him.

'Yeah, all good. Let's go.'

We made our way back to the Sky bus, and when we were on it I asked him what had happened. Froomey simply stated, 'He won't be fucking with me for a while.' It turned out that he'd got on to the Astana bus and grabbed Nibali by the scruff of the neck. The footage of the crash was on TV, and Froomey said to him, 'Show me how I caused the crash,' although he wasn't quite as polite as that. Although Nibali had blamed him for the incident, you could see on TV that it wasn't Chris's fault. Nibali, meanwhile, went as white as a ghost and didn't know what to say. Froomey told him never to fuck with him or the team again, or words to that effect, and then stomped off the bus. Both Sky and Astana had a few Slovenian staff on the teams, including Rozman, and we subsequently heard through them that Nibali was shitting himself after that encounter. Like I said, Froomey had some dog in him and that was one moment when it came out.

That's an example, I guess, of how we were prepared to do anything to back each other up and be together as a unit. I didn't know what I might be walking into on the Astana bus, but that didn't matter. If Froomey was going to get on their bus, then I was going to follow him. I knew that he was pissed off and that he'd be outnumbered. Cyclists aren't boxers, we all know that, but I was set on backing him up. However, as I've already said, Froomey can handle himself so there was never really an issue. In fact, that incident turned in our favor a little later in the race. We were riding on the front and Astana started coming up the outside on a climb as we were pacing. It pisses you off when guys come up alongside you like that. But as they did, Froomey looked across at Nibali and went 'Fuck off!' and they dropped back again. We had him by the balls.

People talk about the likes of Bernard Hinault or Lance Armstrong being the peloton's patron at the Tour, the rider who basically decides who does what and when, and Froomey had that about him as well. He could not only impose himself physically, but also bend most situations to his will. He demonstrated that on the Tour's Ventoux stage the following year, before the mayhem that eventually ensued on the final climb that none of us will ever forget.

Road Captain by Luke Rowe is available to buy and read now.