'I could have played a role' at Tour de France, insists Froome

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome said he "could have played a role" for Ineos Grenadiers at this year's Tour.

Froome and fellow Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas were sensationally left out of the Ineos Grenadiers team by general manager Dave Brailsford, who has since come under fire from Sir Bradley Wiggins for the move.

With Egan Bernal's title defence and Ineos' GC contention hopes in tatters, Froome spoke to Eurosport and insisted it was a team decision to leave the star duo out of the Tour.

"Yes, definitely (it was a team decision)," Froome told Eurosport.

"I think I could have played a role but the team decided that was not going to be the best thing for them and for myself personally.

“I can only speak for myself but I mean I would have been more than happy to have gone to the Tour and helped as much as I could.

"It's really difficult to tell from the outside. Between myself and (Geraint), we have a lot of experience - we've been racing the Tour for years now, we've won it five times between the two of us.

"So I would have liked to think we could have contributed in that sense of terms of helping the team.

"It was not going well from the first climb to be honest," Bernal said, after Stage 15.

"The feeling was that I was empty. I had no power.