Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[serfla]

And the year before?

 

[Ferminal]

Also the best Foreigner.

 

[Dedelou]

Also the best Foreigner.

yeah! But was he the best Chris Froome?

 

[mountainrman]

The argument continues :-

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome-i-never-rode-against-wiggins

Froome says he never rode against Brad,

Brad says he almost quit the tour because of it - and in the biography spends 4 pages talking about the incident.

It seems to me the two are not mutually exclusive - Froome wanting to distance Nibail to nail down 2nd does not compromise brad even if he takes time from him: Brad was safe.According to Brads autobiography Froomey asked for the freedom to consolidate his second position against Nibali and the team turned him down.

I actually think the problem is with Sky being greedy. You cannot have three riders of the quality of Cavendish, Brad and Froomey and support them all to the degree they deserve. Expecting a guy of froome or cavs ability to play domestique is unfair on them - they only have one chance to enter sporting history and fulfill the life dream.

 

[William H]

One second place at the Vuelta and nothing else wasn't really enough to say that he was too good to be a domestique for the Tour.

 

[mountainrman]

One second place at the Vuelta and nothing else wasn't really enough to say that he was too good to be a domestique for the Tour.

True.

But the second (would have been first at Vuelta- had the team acted on Brads suggestion that he take over as leader)

Combined with his second GC classement at the time of this debate having lost most of that on a mishap demonstrated by the time of the argument he was one of the best grand tour riders of the era.

So I think he Should have been given the nod to claim a couple of stages and also make sure he stayed clear of Nibali and Cadel. If the gap to Bradley had closed significantly then he could have held back.

The deal they did with Cav demonstrates that they are being to greedy with taking riders they cannot support enough.

It will be interesting to see the final outcome on who in the end Sky backs for tour 2013,

Froomey certainly deserves his shot, although I suspect Bradley took advantage of a (relatively) weak field this year. Next year will be harder with Berty (if tinkoff are allowed to compete) and the clear potential of some of the newcomers. Froomey may never get another chance, or regain the fitness he had for the last 12 months.

If Froomey gets better which he still may, he could become unbeatable.

 

[maxmartin]

The argument continues :-

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome-i-never-rode-against-wiggins

Froome says he never rode against Brad,

Brad says he almost quit the tour because of it - and in the biography spends 4 pages talking about the incident.

It seems to me the two are not mutually exclusive - Froome wanting to distance Nibail to nail down 2nd does not compromise brad even if he takes time from him: Brad was safe.According to Brads autobiography Froomey asked for the freedom to consolidate his second position against Nibali and the team turned him down.

I actually think the problem is with Sky being greedy. You cannot have three riders of the quality of Cavendish, Brad and Froomey and support them all to the degree they deserve. Expecting a guy of froome or cavs ability to play domestique is unfair on them - they only have one chance to enter sporting history and fulfill the life dream.

CF is fake, but W also looks like a drama queen in this case when he considered leaving Tour that night. What a joke! His mental state is like 10 year old girl in 2012 Tour!!

"CF has again denied that he deliberately looked to distance Bradley Wiggins on La Toussuire at the Tour de France and expressed his regret that his Sky teammate supposedly considered leaving the race that evening."

 

[cineteq]

The argument continues :-

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome-i-never-rode-against-wiggins

Froome says he never rode against Brad,

Brad says he almost quit the tour because of it - and in the biography spends 4 pages talking about the incident.


I actually think the problem is with Sky being greedy. You cannot have three riders of the quality of Cavendish, Brad and Froomey and support them all to the degree they deserve. Expecting a guy of froome or cavs ability to play domestique is unfair on them - they only have one chance to enter sporting history and fulfill the life dream.

In hindsight, Sky could have satisfied all 3 riders, but the goal was to have Wiggo winning the Tour no matter what. Thus they did what they needed to do:
- Froome suffered a flat tire towards the end of stage 1 and lost about 1 minute and Sky didn't seem to be in a hurry to help him.
- Wiggins and Sky didn't want Froome to gain time at all since he could compromise Wiggo's 1st place as he did in 2011 Vuelta. Also watch A Year in Yellow and see the Yates' reaction.

If Froome said he didn't attack Wiggins, but rather Nibali, so why he didn't say that to Wiggo or said something in the press conference?
Wiggins is one of the most insecure riders out there, thus he wanted to leave the Tour after Froome attacked him, I mean Nibali.

In the end, actions speak louder than words.

 

[El Pistolero]

You're not allowed to attack during a bike race. Bradley Wiggins was correct when he threatened to leave the Tour because someone was so pathetic he made one attack during a 3 week stage race.

Boy, the Tour has sunk low. This race will never make it into the WT. What's it status now? 1.1?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

You're not allowed to attack during a bike race. Bradley Wiggins was correct when he threatened to leave the Tour because someone was so pathetic he made one attack during a 3 week stage race.

Boy, the Tour has sunk low. This race will never make it into the WT. What's it status now? 1.1?

What else was he going to write about?
Evans panache?
Nibali's descending skills and bravery or
JVDB's endless attacking?

 

[Angliru]

What else was he going to write about?
Evans panache?
Nibali's descending skills and bravery or
JVDB's endless attacking?

If it's true that he devoted several pages to his Diva moment response to Froome's momentary lapse that should have been easily attributed to his inexperience and youth, then he was better served simply leaving that admission out. Is his mental state so fragile that the slightest deviation from the team's plan had him considering pulling out of the race--all while leading the race and close to reaching his ultimate goal? Really doesn't reflect well on him at all.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

If it's true that he devoted several pages to his Diva moment response to Froome's momentary lapse that should have been easily attributed to his inexperience and youth, then he was better served simply leaving that admission out. Is his mental state so fragile that the slightest deviation from the team's plan had him considering pulling out of the race--all while leading the race and close to reaching his ultimate goal? Really doesn't reflect well on him at all.

And you believe he would contemplate pulling out of the race wearing yellow?
This is primarily about selling a bit of books at xmas and potentially getting a bit of character writeup before the Spoty award getting announced.

We are talking Sky here, not an explosives company.

 

[Ferminal]

The stupid thing is that Wiggins didn't need Froome, and even if Froome was riding for himself, probably wouldn't have beaten Wiggins.

Froome never jeopardised a Sky (Wiggins) Tour victory.

So to complain about something which was of no material consequence...

IMO if Wiggins was that fragile they should never have sent Froome to the Tour.

 

[mountainrman]

The stupid thing is that Wiggins didn't need Froome, and even if Froome was riding for himself, probably wouldn't have beaten Wiggins.

Froome never jeopardised a Sky (Wiggins) Tour victory.

So to complain about something which was of no material consequence...

IMO if Wiggins was that fragile they should never have sent Froome to the Tour.

I think the team were more worried about froome dragging Nibali or Evans up the road, who they saw as more of a threat.

Considering that Froome lost 1.40 on the firs stage which has to be put down to poor team support, then on fitness Froomey would have been the only close rival.

If the parcours had not had such long time trials it is hard to say who would have won.

The "was going to pull out" reveals a weakness in Brads character - he has a bit of "teenager" still in him.

 

[Forunculo]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...oome-i-ve-got-my-own-style-of-leadership.html

"There will be plenty of opportunity for him to do so: Froome will start his 2013 season alongside Bradley Wiggins in the Tour of Oman (February 11-16), before heading to a team training camp currently scheduled to be held in Tenerife.

From there he will race Tirreno-Adriatico (March 6-12), Tour of Romandy (April 23-28) and the Critérium du Dauphiné (June 2-9)"

Strange calendar, isn't it?


From Oman to Tirreno there is one month, till Romandie 1 month and a half, other 1 1/2 month to Dauphine and then Tour de France.


There isn't a core of races within a short period of time where you can think, look this must be his first peak.


Does he had serious problems with recovery/endurance?

Last year he started late, at Dauphine he showed something for the first time.

Dauphine, Tour, Olympics, and the first week of Vuelta met good form.

Less than 3 months of peak, but he didn't collapse, he was 4th.

 

[jens_attacks]

if he's a force in tirreno and tour de france alone, i would be more than ok with that.

 

[trevim]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...oome-i-ve-got-my-own-style-of-leadership.html



Strange calendar, isn't it?


From Oman to Tirreno there is one month, till Romandie 1 month and a half, other 1 1/2 month to Dauphine and then Tour de France.


There isn't a core of races within a short period of time where you can think, look this must be his first peak.


Does he had serious problems with recovery/endurance?

Last year he started late, at Dauphine he showed something for the first time.

Dauphine, Tour, Olympics, and the first week of Vuelta met good form.

Less than 3 months of peak, but he didn't collapse, he was 4th.

Sky seems to be taking the approach of not racing. Now the classics riders don't even race Tirreno in order to prepare better for San Remo. Tenerife training camp is the thing now it seems

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Cyclists think racing is the best preparation over specialised training because historically and currently, cyclists could not afford to not be racing and showing their sponsors.

If you started from scratch with a comfortable budget, you wouldn't just race 90 days a year if the idea was to be as good as possible for 21 days.

 

[Carols]

Sky seems to be taking the approach of not racing. Now the classics riders don't even race Tirreno in order to prepare better for San Remo. Tenerife training camp is the thing now it seems

Yes I read an article were they are attempting to use scientific measurements in training to replace actual racing.

One wonders if race rhythm can be duplicated outside a race.

The same approach has been used in training race horses in the last 5+ years, as long as the connections are okay with the horse coming into a race 'needing the race'. It has worked well for some trainers, but is impossible to reproduce actual race conditions in training for horses.

 

[Andy99]

Yes I read an article were they are attempting to use scientific measurements in training to replace actual racing.

One wonders if race rhythm can be duplicated outside a race.

The same approach has been used in training race horses in the last 5+ years, as long as the connections are okay with the horse coming into a race 'needing the race'. It has worked well for some trainers, but is impossible to reproduce actual race conditions in training for horses.

The theory is that apparently, they can train harder and more consistently during training than during races.

Clearly, this may not be the case when in 'the mix' during a race, though I can see what they are getting at, if for example, a race was spent simply sat in the bunch.

In essence, it is easier to control the quality of training in a structured environment, than the old-school way of racing to train...

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The theory is that apparently, they can train harder and more consistently during training than during races.

Clearly, this may not be the case when in 'the mix' during a race, though I can see what they are getting at, if for example, a race was spent simply sat in the bunch.

In essence, it is easier to control the quality of training in a structured environment, than the old-school way of racing to train...

In a modern peloton where so few are "racing" the approach looks viable.

 

[del1962]

When of the best forms of training for any endurance sport is interval training, you can't do this during a race and you need recovery time from a hard training session, so not possible between races.

Other than that you need some races as prep, but these need to be competitive so you can't use them as training.

 

[bicifan]

In a modern peloton where so few are "racing" the approach looks viable.

which riders are doing this?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

which riders are doing this?

doing what? Sorry, I don't understand your question.

 

[bicifan]

doing what? Sorry, I don't understand your question.

This:

@Andy99
In essence, it is easier to control the quality of training in a structured environment, than the old-school way of racing to train...