It took more than three quarters of a week but Team Sky's new leader has finally delivered on his favourite status and taken the lead at the Criterium du Dauphine. The Dauphine is to the Tour de France what the Golden Globes are to the Academy Awards - a good precursor of things to come, and Kenyan born Brit, Chris Froome is hoping that a win here would be a good omen just as it was to his predecessor, Sir Bradley Wiggins.
With Wiggo forced out by injury, Team Sky can now fully concentrate on Chris Froome's chances of glory in the middle of summer rather than have a battle royale between two symbolic "team leaders" - let's also not forget that super sprinter Mark Cavendish has now left to join Omega Quickstep after Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford couldn't guarantee that the team could help the Manxman with his bid to win the green jersey for winning the most stages.
Yes, while the Dauphine is not the Tour de France and is a bit more of a sprint rather than a marathon like its big brother that starts later this month, there are strong signs that Team Sky is hungrier than ever and ready to dominate professional cycling regardless of who is leading the team.
Team Sky has always been different from the more traditional cycling teams based in France and Belgium. Born out of an idea to have a British - and drug-free - team dominate pro cycling, Dave Brailsford has always sought inspiration from Formula 1 when it comes to managing the team with technical directors and coaches for every single thing possible available at disposal.
A natural progression has also been in place at Team Sky - as we all know from last year's Tour de France, Chris Froome was Bradley Wiggins' right hand man and a superb foil as the British 1-2 held off Vincenzo Nibali and fading Cadel Evans. With Wiggins gone and Froome now leader, Richie Porte looks set to assume the role as Froome's right hand man and there's the young Edvald Bossson Hagen who looks like he could step in if needed - both has shown great form in the Dauphine and could continue that from the end of this month.
While this Tour de France is supposed to favour climbers like Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, there are question marks over the ability of their BMC, Radioshack and Saxobank teammates to be able to match the power of Froome and Sky.
If Froome and Sky can pull it off, we could quite possibly see real signs of change in pro cycling and an adoption of many of the methods undertaken by Sky. The emphasis on the team would become even greater than before.
So come on Froome!!
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