 Froome's appearance at the Worlds came about after he impersonated Kenyan cycling federation president Julius Mwangi by using Mwangi's email account to enter himself into the Championships, in order to add some European racing experience to his CV and boost his chances of obtaining a contract with a professional team.Froome turned professional in 2007, aged 22, with the South African team, Konica Minolta, withdrawing from university two years into his degree in economics.He competed from April to September in the U23 Nations Cup for the Union Cycliste Internationale's World Cycling Centre (WCC) team based in Aigle, Switzerland.