Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[MBotero]

I'm really angry that his Tour is over,it was a **** year anyway.He's luck was running out but i believe he''ll be back stronger than ever.Bring on La Vuelta the best GT in the world.

 

[Richeypen]

Froome riding the Vuelta will most likely ruin the chances of other Sky riders going for GC (Henao, Kennaugh).

I though Heano was out for the season.

 

[Jaunty Monty]

SKY confirming they simply cannot deal with weather adversity at all. Every time the climate goes bad, they get ill or crash or abandon- all together.

Like Stannard or Thomas for example? Sky does not equal Froome, Wiggins and Porte.

Besides Wiggins is ok in the rain as his recent National TT title showed. Its descents (particularly wet descents) he's poor at.

 

[Jaunty Monty]

I though Heano was out for the season.

You may be right. I knew he was injured but tbh I hadn't paid much attention to how long for.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Just going to presume Froome would be ok for the Vuelta and piece together a team for the mountains. Kennaugh would obviously go, surely Nieve would want to ride his home tour if he is not too tired from the Tour. They also have Cataldo and Suitsou who have been resting since the Giro. I wonder if Porte would want to go and help his buddy too?

 

[gooner]

He had a broken wrist even before crashing today.

Phil Sheehan ‏@_FlammeRouge_ 18m
Team Sky mechanic told me that Froome started the day's stage with a broken wrist #nails #TDF2014

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

I doubt Wiggins would ride the Vuelta, he will probably prefer all the support he gets from winning the Tour of Britain again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNgsjLBp7JY

The Vuelta is Wiggins race. He should tell Froome to **** off.

 

[The Hitch]

Just going to presume Froome would be ok for the Vuelta and piece together a team for the mountains. Kennaugh would obviously go, surely Nieve would want to ride his home tour if he is not too tired from the Tour. They also have Cataldo and Suitsou who have been resting since the Giro. I wonder if Porte would want to go and help his buddy too?

I presumed that with Andy Schleck in 2012 too and others before. But vuelta doesn't quite have the pull of the tour. Especially not for a tdf winner. Don't know if hell motivate himself.

 

[del1962]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNgsjLBp7JY

The Vuelta is Wiggins race. He should tell Froome to **** off.

Wiggo is only doing it as prep for Worlds TT, don't see why they can't be back on the same team, time to kiss and make up

 

[Ramira]

You may be right. I knew he was injured but tbh I hadn't paid much attention to how long for.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sergio-henao-out-for-the-season-after-tour-de-suisse-crash

He fractured his kneecap, even if he returns this season, I doubt it will be at a level that would allow him to challenge for the Vuelta, so Froome might simply end up taking Henao's spot in the Vuelta selection.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I presumed that with Andy Schleck in 2012 too and others before. But vuelta doesn't quite have the pull of the tour. Especially not for a tdf winner. Don't know if hell motivate himself.

Yes this is true, although Froome does seem to go into every race with a determination to win. After what happened in 2011 he may see it as unfinished business.

 

[JRanton]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNgsjLBp7JY

The Vuelta is Wiggins race. He should tell Froome to **** off.

Wiggins was only ever going to race the Vuelta as prep for the worlds TT.

So, no, it's Wiggins who needs to **** off and go and prepare elsewhere.

 

[cineteq]

Quintana, Froome, Rodriguez.. that will be a nice Vuelta.

Dont forget Gesink

 

[JRanton]

All that energy wasted on humiliating Wiggins and that useless autobiography, hopefully this will humble him...needless to say he won't have his way again next year if Wiggo stays with Sky. Lesson learned (at last) for Brailsford? You would think that the 2011 fiasco would have been enough.

Best thing for Sky would be to ditch Wiggins completely to stop the constant ''noise'' from his fanboys.

 

[JRanton]

Part of me was hoping the guy could put in a performance that I could respect today. Not even close. Shame, the Tour will be less interesting for it. Didn't even make it to the cobbles and retires with no apparent race ending injury. He was just done. :|

Thanks for the information, doctor.

 

[JRanton]

If Froome tried to even carry on he wouldn't have got nowhere near close enough at getting back on. He would have lost a packet and his Tour prospects were well and truly and over. No way could you go on to the cobbles with your wrist in pain like that. Better to pull out for the greater benefit of the future and a possible tilt at the Vuelta if he can recover in time.

I was listening to Orla Chennaoui on Sky Sports and she said when she interviewed him just before the Tour he didn't come across as confident as last year and showed a lot of anxiety talking about his prospects of winning it again.

I got that impression too by his pre-race comments. He took quite a long time to recover from the Dauphine crash and his ''numbers'' in training probably weren't matching last year's.

 

[SeriousSam]

Froome should give Sagan a call and offer to trade the secret of 120RPM climbing for bike handling insights.

It kind of sucks that he had to abandon due to a crash. Hopefully he'll give the Vuelta a shot.

 

[Richeypen]

Best thing for Sky would be to ditch Wiggins completely to stop the constant ''noise'' from his fanboys.

The constant noise which said that they should take Wiggo as a previous Grand Tour winner who could be a valuable helper on the flat mountains and cobbles whilst also being there as a back up if something happened to Froome.

Damn fanboys spouting ********, what could possibly happen to Froome......

The best thing for Sky is for them to realise the need for a plan B, that has been their weakness since they formed. Still at least EBH is there to bail them out like he did when Wiggins crashed in 2011....

 

[JRanton]

He had a broken wrist even before crashing today.

Makes sense. That's why he was so badly positioned before his first crash today and also why Eisel and Thomas stayed with Porte even after that crash.

 

[Justico]

Froome was alone when crashed on stage 4

Crashed alone again today

I think it's best for him to move away from Sky

 

[JRanton]

I presumed that with Andy Schleck in 2012 too and others before. But vuelta doesn't quite have the pull of the tour. Especially not for a tdf winner. Don't know if hell motivate himself.

This is the same rider (Froome) who has tried to win pretty much every race he's been in for the last 2 years. If he can recover from his wrist injury there's no doubt he'll try to win the Vuelta.

 

[argyllflyer]

The constant noise which said that they should take Wiggo as a previous Grand Tour winner who could be a valuable helper on the flat mountains and cobbles whilst also being there as a back up if something happened to Froome.

Damn fanboys spouting ********, what could possibly happen to Froome......

The best thing for Sky is for them to realise the need for a plan B, that has been their weakness since they formed. Still at least EBH is there to bail them out like he did when Wiggins crashed in 2011....

Which ignores everything Sky / Brailsford have said on the matter. Wiggins wasn't prepared to give 100% to supporting Froome. Wiggins has not done any GC training therefore would be no more of an asset than Porte. Without a very defensive team and plenty of TTs, Wiggins could not live with Contador / Nibali on GC. Wiggins has not rode with Froome at Sky since Febuary 2013, while the present team are a unit who overall have worked together closely and all get along. Having Wiggins on the team had the potential to split the whole set-up into three camps: Pro Wiggo, Pro Froome and those in-between who hate conflict.

In Brailsford's own words below (in print and audio if you listen to the podcast... he goes through each rider as to their job and why he picked them)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/10955460/Tour-de-France-2014-Dave-Brailsford-discusses-Bradley-Wiggins-and-Chris-Froome-on-Telegraph-Cycling-Podcast.html

I honestly think that the atmosphere created by when these two egos collide was something SDB did not want to happen again hence having Porte as the back-up.

 

[JRanton]

The constant noise which said that they should take Wiggo as a previous Grand Tour winner who could be a valuable helper on the flat mountains and cobbles whilst also being there as a back up if something happened to Froome.

Damn fanboys spouting ********, what could possibly happen to Froome......

The best thing for Sky is for them to realise the need for a plan B, that has been their weakness since they formed. Still at least EBH is there to bail them out like he did when Wiggins crashed in 2011....

Wiggins hasn't trained to be a Grand Tour contender since before last year's Giro and even then he failed to join the rest of the team at the Tenerife camps. He said himself that one Tour was enough for him. He'd also have been a terrible domestique for Froome and Porte is their plan B anyway.

And as for EBH! LMFAO, have you been watching any cycling for this year? No form and he's injured anyway.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Froome was alone when crashed on stage 4

Crashed alone again today

I think it's best for him to move away from Sky

There were riders around him yesterday just not infront, also today there was another Sky rider with him today Xandio I think? If the reports are true and he really had started today with a broken wrist already then it makes sense for Thomas and Eisel to keep more of an eye on Porte.

 

[Futuroscope]

I'm not a fan of Froome but sad to see him go out this way. I hope he bounces back and maybe race the Vuelta? I already suspected after yesterdays crash that it might end this way.