result of time bonuses, Froome reduced Cobo's lead to thirteen seconds. Froome was unable to reduce Cobo's lead any further and initially was placed second overall in the Vuelta. On 17 July 2019, Froome was declared the winner of the race following the disqualification of Cobo for drug offences. The win, retroactively, made him the first British rider to win a Grand Tour. Froome was initially close to being dropped by the team at the end of the season, and Sky's team manager Dave Brailsford had been in talks with 's manager Johan Bruyneel offering a trade, but Brunyeel had turned down the offer saying 'I want a cyclist, not a donkey'. However, after watching Froome's strong performance in the Vuelta, team manager Dave Brailsford reportedly flew to Spain to offer him a new contract in the middle of the race. Five days after the race's finish in Madrid, Froome signed a new three-year contract with Sky. Later that year, it was revealed Froome had suffered throughout the year from the parasitic disease schistosomiasis, after having picked up the disease during a visit to Kenya in 2010. Brailsford speculated that the disease had affected Froome's earlier career in a negative way. The discovery and subsequent treatment of the illness has been used to explain Froome's rapid rise in form during 2011. He was part of the Great Britain team that helped Mark Cavendish win the world road race championship. In October, Froome finished third overall in the first edition of the Tour of Beijing, 26 seconds behind overall winner, Tony Martin. 2012: Super-domestique to team leader The early part of Froome's 2012 season was wrecked by illness. He withdrew from the Volta ao Algarve with a severe chest infection, and blood tests showed the schistosoma parasites were still in his system. In March, while on a training ride, Froome collided with a 72-year-old pedestrian. He returned to racing in May, for the Tour de Romandie, where he helped Wiggins win the race overall, before participating in a training camp on Teide in Tenerife with several of his teammates. Froome was selected for the Sky squad for the Tour de France. After placing 11th in the prologue, he suffered a punctured tyre from the end of stage one and lost over a minute to overall leader Fabian Cancellara (). On stage three, Froome was involved in a crash on the hill-top