Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[gregrowlerson]

Tactics can always be questioned, but all in all another great effort from Froome, and after a season filled with crashes he should be very happy with his 2nd at the Vuelta. Hey, he won Romandie and Oman too. That's really not a bad season.

 

[Parker]

The gap would go up fast enough unless Berto started to work. Berto wouldnt allow it to grow to 2-3 mins. Let the leaders jersey do the work. Simple really. Then attack with all you got in one massive counter and hope for the best. Alternatively a long range attack. Anthing but what he did today, really. Its fine with a long sustained attack but continue to ride tempo after when Berto wasnt dropped was just stupid

But he doesn't need to work hard. He just keeps within his limits. He had a large gap on both JR and AV. Same as he didn't chase Froome on Thursday.

And as for a long range attack. Really? So Contador sits on for even longer. And he's better at the long range stuff than Froome anyway.

Froome's only chance was to crack Contador by going for a all out effort at a range that best suited him.

Unless Contador had a bad day nothing was going to work. Maybe in your imagination, but not in reality.

 

[Cimber]

The essential point is that SKY and Froome is a one trick pony. Tinkoff and Contador know exactly what was going to happen.

Sky is unable to win unless they have a rider who can simply obliviate the rest

 

[Cimber]

But he doesn't need to work hard. He just keeps within his limits. He had a large gap on both JR and AV. Same as he didn't chase Froome on Thursday.

And as for a long range attack. Really? So Contador sits on for even longer. And he's better at the long range stuff than Froome anyway.

Froome's only chance was to crack Contador by going for a all out effort at a range that best suited him.

Unless Contador had a bad day nothing was going to work. Maybe in your imagination, but not in reality.

If AC had to pull for a few KMs that could be the the thing that tipped the scale. Valverde was, on paper, just as much a threat as Froome, but Cotador knew what was gonna happen and that Froome would make sure Valverde wasnt getting anywhere.

About long range attacks, it is also about the element of surprise.

Sky = One trick pony

 

[Forunculo]

Only it wouldnt take that long if noone worked. Berto would have to work much sooner.

You are overestimating Valverde and Purito climbing level. They weren't a potential threat in the last climb. Contador marking Valverde from a secure distance means doing 2 minutes slower than he did it, Purito 3 min. So he would have had an extra gear to hold Froome wheel and of course not enough terrain left.

 

[del1962]

If AC had to pull for a few KMs that could be the the thing that tipped the scale. Valverde was, on paper, just as much a threat as Froome, but Cotador knew what was gonna happen and that Froome would make sure Valverde wasnt getting anywhere.

About long range attacks, it is also about the element of surprise.

Sky = One trick pony

Serious question, can you give me an example of where the Contador (or anyone else) in 2nd place has let a third or forth placed rider (not on his team) just go up the road who was threatening his 2nd place in the expectation that the jersey holder would chase them down.

 

[Parker]

If AC had to pull for a few KMs that could be the the thing that tipped the scale. Valverde was, on paper, just as much a threat as Froome, but Cotador knew what was gonna happen and that Froome would make sure Valverde wasnt getting anywhere.

About long range attacks, it is also about the element of surprise.

Sky = One trick pony

Here's the thing. Had Froome tried any of your tactics they would have failed too. Because Contador wasn't having a bad day. And you would have come on here saying how stupid the tactics were.

Froome was like a boxer coming into the last round three rounds down. Only a knockout will do. In that situation you go for your hardest hits. You can't set up a day with a strategy dominated by the word 'if'.

Contador is a very good defensive cyclist. In all the Grand Tours where he's taken the lead, he's never once lost it. He's not going to lose 1'20 to anyone unless he has a bad day. Your ideas are fantasy.

 

[damian13ster]

JRod attacked with over 8kms to go. And Valverde not long after. If nobody would work the gap would rise really fast, and Berto would be forced to react. And then he could crack Berto. Alternatively do a long range early attack

Also, its fine that he made a long sustained attack to try to crack AC but when he coulndt its really mindblowingly stupid to ride tempo, essentially helping him. The attacks were ok, the tempo part less so.

Just ask Berto how to win even when you are not the strongest

I dont think he rode the tempo. He just isnt in good shape so his accelerations were weaker than usual (And I believe he did at least 3-4 of them). After all he did manage to crack Aru, Rodriguez and Valverde. Contador is stronger than those 3 though.

 

[icefire]

Finally...

@chrisfroome

And people ask me why I ride with my head down?! pic.twitter.com/Q0SGhCE4Ui

https://twitter.com/chrisfroome/status/510858653893947392


The picture shows a woodstick thrown at him by an idiot at the road side

 

[kingjr]

Only it wouldnt take that long if noone worked. Berto would have to work much sooner.

He wouldn't even have to work hard, just ride steadily within himself, max Froome can get like this is 10 seconds plus bonus, and that's optimistic. And maybe he would not even have a podium spot in the end.

 

[SeriousSam]

Finally...

@chrisfroome

And people ask me why I ride with my head down?! pic.twitter.com/Q0SGhCE4Ui

https://twitter.com/chrisfroome/status/510858653893947392


The picture shows a woodstick thrown at him by an idiot at the road side

It's a shame that happened. I'm always furious when idiot spectators interfere. Well, except when they brought done Wonderboy if I'm honest.

 

[Cimber]

Here's the thing. Had Froome tried any of your tactics they would have failed too. Because Contador wasn't having a bad day. And you would have come on here saying how stupid the tactics were.

Froome was like a boxer coming into the last round three rounds down. Only a knockout will do. In that situation you go for your hardest hits. You can't set up a day with a strategy dominated by the word 'if'.

Contador is a very good defensive cyclist. In all the Grand Tours where he's taken the lead, he's never once lost it. He's not going to lose 1'20 to anyone unless he has a bad day. Your ideas are fantasy.

They would likely fail, sure, but what he actually did was even more likely to fail which it did. Why? because what he did was exactly what Tinkoff-saxo expected - sky did the same as all the other days (and all the other races). they should have mixed it up to surprise and unsettle the opponents tactics. The hit that hit hardest is the one your opponent doesnt expect. When his guards are up and the the hit is expected it wont do enough damage unless you are Muhammed Ali (Read: unless you are in alien-form which he wasnt)

When you do the same over and over and it doesnt work its time to mix it up really. But sky rarely do that.

Not even once did sky exploit that their team was stronger. Instead they just did Tinkoff saxos work for them. They had Kennaugh out front one day and I was hoping that was a part of and offensive plan, but it wasnt

 

[Forunculo]

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/deportes/2014/09/13/lanzan-palo-cabeza-froome-plena-ascension-os-ancares/00031410629068118983521.htm

A guy in orange. It was an accident

 

[Netserk]

Serious question, can you give me an example of where the Contador (or anyone else) in 2nd place has let a third or forth placed rider (not on his team) just go up the road who was threatening his 2nd place in the expectation that the jersey holder would chase them down.

 

[Miburo]

Froome fought well but he handled it wrong imo. He was counting on his power and on nothing else.

This shows you that froome as a rider is closeminded. If it was Contador he wouldn't have waited on the last climb cause he knew it would have been impossible.

He would have went earlier, putting everything on the line for the sake of victory. Then again this is after talk of course

 

[trevim]

This was awesome. Sanchez and Menchov killing it and only got like 10s on Contador and Schleck who were basically joking around

 

[Poursuivant]

A guy in orange. It was an accident

I can't figure out who threw it. Weird.

 

[sir fly]

I can't figure out who threw it. Weird.

LaFlo, who else?!

 

[T-Nielsen]

I can't figure out who threw it. Weird.

No one threw it. He was slamming it at the ground to make an encouraging noice and then it snapped and bounced towards Froome.

 

[sir fly]

No one threw it. He was slamming it at the ground to make an encouraging noice and then it snapped and bounced towards Froome.

Cult of snap...

 

[T-Nielsen]

Cult of snap...

Thats some deeeeep mumbo jumbo.

But then I do preferre blues.

 

[sir fly]

Thats some deeeeep mumbo jumbo.

An elaborate description of the incident.
Maybe someone wanted to play fetch with the Dawg... send him back down the mountain.

But then I do preferre blues.

Keep your eyes on the road, your hands up on the wheel...

 

[Netbalp]

Just ask Berto how to win even when you are not the strongest

One thing is to do it with Rodríguez, quite a limited rider who wheelsucks and gives a kick on last 300 meters the whole career and merely doesn't have individual engine on flat, the other one is to do with Contador / Froome. I even doubt it is possible. Let's see Contador beating Froome with better tactics and worse physics. Probably then it would make sense to draw these parallels.

 

[Poursuivant]

No one threw it. He was slamming it at the ground to make an encouraging noice and then it snapped and bounced towards Froome.

Yep I see now

 

[Kwibus]

Are we getting confused with the belly breathing technique here? I'm petty sure Froome is just racing on data honestly, and wants to maintain sustainable numbers. While it makes for dull racing, it's obviously effective with a train riding on Their threshold. Plus some jackasses put their had down a lot when riding

I'm not sure, because Wiggins for example who really is the big example of maintaining a constant high wattage and nothing else didn't have any problems looking forward.
I'm sure Froome keeps an eye on his wattage, but so do plenty of riders nowadays. Froome keeps a constant pace and then accelerates for a while, back to his tempo and another acceleration. He does this all while sitting down so it's sometimes hard to see if he's accelerating.

He earned my respect this Vuelta though. It's also because of the blind hate he gets here.

He does need to learn a different tactic though. Trying to attack from far out for example. He can sustain efforts for so long so why not?