Cycling: Chris Froome can win more titles, says Dave Brailsford

Team Sky's Chris Froome has won his fourth Tour de France title on Sunday, becoming Britain's most successful rider in three-week races and probably the best British rider ever. Froome is now 32 years old but Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford believes that he can continue to win big races for years to come. Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain hold the record for most Tour de France victories as each of them has won the race five times. Infamous American rider Lance Armstrong won it seven times, but his titles were stripped after it was proven he was taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs. "Chris can go on - there's no reason to think that he can't," said Brailsford. "Physically he's got what it takes and I don't think that's going to diminish in the next year or so. He's getting better tactically and technically, so as long as that hunger continues and he keeps his health, then he'll be a force in this race for a good couple of seasons to come." This year Froome finished just 54 seconds ahead of Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) and that is the narrowest winning margin in any of his triumphs at this race. "When his back is against the wall - like all great champions - he just believes that he can win," Brailsford added. "Physically he is unquestionably one of the best riders in the world, but it's his mental strength which gives him the edge." Despite his success, or maybe because of it, Froome had some nasty interactions with the French fans as some of them booed the British rider. "99.9% of the time the crowd are fantastic," Brailsford said about the fans. "It's the friendliest tour we've ever had actually. It's the most supported we've been. You're going to get the odd isolated incident when there's a home rider and the crowd is pretty patriotic, but overall it's the friendliest tour we've ever had." The next big three-week race is the Tour of Spain which takes place between 19 August and 10 September 2017. Chris Froome is the favourite to win that race as well, he is 4/6 at Bet365 to win it even though it's not really certain that he will take part.