Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[PirazziAttacksVino]

Good competition seems to change even Froome's approach to a race. He looks so desperate for every second he can take. However, I have a feeling that it will all come down to who's the strongest in the third week. If Froome's the strongest, he'll take this by protecting his ITT advantage. If Contador and Quintana are stronger, they can take back as much as they need in the third week, even 2 minutes.

 

[Afrank]

There you go, if it is a "bike race" then they should've taken advantage of him crashing, right?

No, not at all. Taking advantage of another riders misfortune when they crash is a crappy thing to do and no rider would want to win because one of their main rivals crashed.

Sprinting at the finish of a race is in no way comparable to taking advantage of a crash.

 

[hiero2]

Good competition seems to change even Froome's approach to a race. He looks so desperate for every second he can take. However, I have a feeling that it will all come down to who's the strongest in the third week. If Froome's the strongest, he'll take this by protecting his ITT advantage. If Contador and Quintana are stronger, they can take back as much as they need in the third week, even 2 minutes.

Think so? Maybe. We will soon find out. Personally, I think Froome likes to stamp his dominance on the other riders - partly playing the mental game.

I'm not so confident as you that anyone of these guys will be able to gain minutes. But, we will see.

 

[Pricey_sky]

So he doesn't know what truce means?

I'm all for racing all the time, plain black and white, no grey areas.

It seemed pretty clear to me, nobody attacked and that was a respectful thing to do. I'd feel exactly the same whichever GC guy crashed. In the final sprint it's game on, you cannot compare the two.

 

[cineteq]

From Gesink's post stage comments: "in a corner, Froome was looking down and he just crashed". Nothing new there

Why does this guy think bad luck haunts him if he doesn't bother to look up the road?

Good to hear that part of the story, and from Gesink, of all riders, makes it even better.

 

[cineteq]

It seemed pretty clear to me, nobody attacked and that was a respectful thing to do. I'd feel exactly the same whichever GC guy crashed. In the final sprint it's game on, you cannot compare the two.

No, not at all. Taking advantage of another riders misfortune when they crash is a crappy thing to do and no rider would want to win because one of their main rivals crashed.

Sprinting at the finish of a race is in no way comparable to taking advantage of a crash.

You guys' code of ethics is very weird. Nevertheless, I respect that. The End.

 

[Parker]

Froome crashed with about 130km of the stage left to go. They hadn't even had lunch yet. No-one waited and no-one attacked. They just pottered along as they normally would. He was always going to get back OK.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Dan Martin was interviewed on ITV4 and said he was alongside Froome and he lost the front wheel and went down as the road was very slippy. It seemed like several riders all crashed within the same section of road, even guys like Adam Yates fell too and that was hardly mentioned.

 

[cineteq]

Interesting I used the same word: truce, in my previous posts.
Contador:

"Once Froome had rejoined the peloton, it looked as though there would be a general truce among the overall contenders but such hopes were dashed as the pace ratcheted upwards once again in the closing kilometres"

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-nobody-pulled-in-front-when-froome-crashed

 

[Pricey_sky]

Interesting I used the same word: truce, in my previous posts.
Contador:


http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-nobody-pulled-in-front-when-froome-crashed

The problem with that is you get guys like Dan Martin and Gilbert (just an example for this stage) sprinting and it all gets chaotic, My guess is that perhaps he believed riders like Purito and Valverde would also go on an uphill finish and didn't want to lose any seconds.

I got the impression from Contador's post race interview that he was more annoyed he chose the wrong option of following Valverde rather than close down Froome himself.

 

[movingtarget]

Sure Froome has crashed a lot lately but many of those crashes were caused by dangerous roads or other riders. All the same Froome's riding style of looking down so often cannot help. Maybe he has "bat like" senses as Carlton Kirby jokes then again maybe not.

 

[yespatterns]

As an admitted Froome/sky "hater" I thought that the peloton acted appropriately, as did Froome himself when he nipped a couple of seconds at the end. No biggie, he wasn't attacked after his crash and took time when peeps were inattentive or indecisive. I like this new desperate version of Froome compared to the usual.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

From yesterday.

Luckily just skin and lost pride I think.

 

[theyoungest]

According to Gesink fan Havetts, Gesink hasn't crashed in a long time

It's true, he rarely crashes... but when he does, he tends to break something, like the tall, lanky guys are wont to do. Much like Chris Froome.

 

[Franklin]

No, not at all. Taking advantage of another riders misfortune when they crash is a crappy thing to do and no rider would want to win because one of their main rivals crashed.

Sprinting at the finish of a race is in no way comparable to taking advantage of a crash.

But you forget the sheer hatred Valverde holds towards team Sky. This goes back to 2012. On that note, Nibali also likes to spite Sky riders whenever he can, so it's not a if he's alone with this sentiment.

There's an axe to grind. And for the record, after Froome's book I am not surprised that Contador is just grinning at the whining about how everyone is without respect.

Reap what you sow.

 

[cineteq]

Froome: "I saw Dan Martin sprinting, I thought : 'I have to follow'. I got two seconds there. Maybe my rivals on GC don't like that but I don't think they [Movistar and Tinkoff-Saxo] pulled at the front of the bunch when I was chasing behind after my crash"

 

[Parker]

But you forget the sheer hatred Valverde holds towards team Sky. This goes back to 2012.

Do you really think he hates them? He's good friends with Nicolas Portal. Kiryienka, Zandio and Lopez were his teammates of his for many years.

 

[Colonel]

Good competition seems to change even Froome's approach to a race. He looks so desperate for every second he can take. However, I have a feeling that it will all come down to who's the strongest in the third week. If Froome's the strongest, he'll take this by protecting his ITT advantage. If Contador and Quintana are stronger, they can take back as much as they need in the third week, even 2 minutes.

Tactically Froome is light years behind the Likes of Contador etc. He always relied on past of being strong and the team being strong and controlling the race/stages. Now that riders have elevated that level and also throwing in incredible tactical knowledge Froome is outclassed and deseprate. Showed at P-N for example and some others. Froome performs well within his own comfort zone, when he is out he is a totally different rider.

 

[Colonel]

But you forget the sheer hatred Valverde holds towards team Sky. This goes back to 2012. On that note, Nibali also likes to spite Sky riders whenever he can, so it's not a if he's alone with this sentiment.

There's an axe to grind. And for the record, after Froome's book I am not surprised that Contador is just grinning at the whining about how everyone is without respect.

Reap what you sow.

I agree with this. Its no secret froome isnt well liked in the peloton from what I have heard and amongst some team members/staff.

 

[cineteq]

Tactically Froome is light years behind the Likes of Contador etc. He always relied on past of being strong and the team being strong and controlling the race/stages. Now that riders have elevated that level and also throwing in incredible tactical knowledge Froome is outclassed and deseprate. Showed at P-N for example and some others. Froome performs well within his own comfort zone, when he is out he is a totally different rider.

+1 Fanboys would disagree.

 

[classicomano]

Froome was looking down, and then he crashed.

http://youtu.be/Fms9oO4nCiw?t=2m

 

[happychappy]

Reap what you sow.

 

[Parker]

Froome was looking down, and then he crashed.

http://youtu.be/Fms9oO4nCiw?t=2m

Gesink and Martin give two different 'witness statements', for want of a better phrase. Who knows what happened, but it shows that witness statements aren't particularly reliable.

 

[yespatterns]

Hey, this is the Froome thread, why bring Betancur into it?

 

[Pricey_sky]

Hey, this is the Froome thread, why bring Betancur into it?

You beat me to it! The resemblance is uncanny.