Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[May0maniac]

Re:

Hope Froome doesn't go too deep into the red so he can give some good opposition at the Vuelta.

I don't think he'll show up at the Vuelta after winning the Tour, the media buzz after winning the Tour is way too big to stay focused and prepare for the Vuelta.

 

[Ludwig's Olaf]

Re:

The difference to Nibali's win is that the Big 3 are still here. Nibali and Contador are off their peak form (only themselves to blame, of course) but Quintana is in peak form. And Froome has dominated him in the climbs.

Nibali and Quintana haven't ever reached a level that would beat the Froome we're seeing now in a typical Tour route. Contador has, but not after 2009.

Giro 2011 was certainly any rider's most convincing victory in living memory, the toughest tour ever, and strong competitors. Nibali after his Vuelta victory, Rujano (that's the one Quintana reminds me of), Anton, and Simeoni was still younger. The difference to Froome's TdF this year; Contador didn't need his team at all, and he could afford to give away stage victories left and right.

 

[Metabolol]

Re:

The difference to Nibali's win is that the Big 3 are still here. Nibali and Contador are off their peak form (only themselves to blame, of course) but Quintana is in peak form. And Froome has dominated him in the climbs.

Nibali and Quintana haven't ever reached a level that would beat the Froome we're seeing now in a typical Tour route. Contador has, but not after 2009.

Froome is very strong but you are exaggerating his strength. Even a Contador from last years vuelta would have been right up there with Froome (most likely lost 20-30 sec on stage 10 but that time loss is manageable). Nibali from last year's TDF wouldn't have been able to drop Froome in the climbs but his overall shape was such that he could have controlled his time losses on the climbs to such a degree that he would still be in contention to win.

 

[Queens Boulevard]

It's impossible to really compare winners of tours against past winners if none of them were ever truly pushed. Last year Nibali could have taken a nap on the side of the road and still finished first, this year we don't know that Froome feels tested enough to really try to lay the hammer down, certainly Contador from the Vuelta could have had a faster overall time but instead he just rode Froome's back wheel until near the end when he jumped him. In a grand tour most of the time there is simply one rider who's stronger than the others, this tour it's clearly Froome. We might not see how strong right now for the same reason that no adult runs full speed when racing with a 5 year old, there's no reason too. Quintana and the other riders (who are professionals and can probably judge this better than we can) seem to be of the unanimous opinion that Froome is the strongest, by far. Perhaps even when Quintana attacks he just gets a sense that Froome is at no point in difficulty and that's what stays his hand for the most part. If his primary opponents act like it's simply a winner's procession for Froome for the rest of the race they probably base that off something, most likely how much stronger he clearly is to them.

 

[Singer01]

at the start of this tour it was 'froome can't ride cobbles, froome can't handle cross winds, froome can't do uphill sprints, froome can't descend'.
i suppose the only thing that we have left is 'froome gets weak in the last week' once he has done that he is bo Jackson.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

at the start of this tour it was 'froome can't ride cobbles, froome can't handle cross winds, froome can't do uphill sprints, froome can't descend'.
i suppose the only thing that we have left is 'froome gets weak in the last week' once he has done that he is bo Jackson.

There's also "Froome is weak in rain". Hopefully we'll get some rain soon enough so this thesis can be confirmed or invalidated.

 

[Carstenbf]

Credit where it's due though. Froome rode very well yesterday.

And yeah, true about the wet descending. But then again if that's all you're left with, things are starting to get somewhat desperate.
Personally I checked mentally out of this edition after stage 10. Keeps drawing me back though. Must be a masochist.

 

[jsem94]

I want to see Giro 2013-like conditions with a snowy finish to see how Froome handles it in comparison to his rivals.

 

[Vasilis]

Froome won two rainy Romandies and got third in another. I think he can handle it.

 

[buchanan]

Re:

at the start of this tour it was 'froome can't ride cobbles, froome can't handle cross winds, froome can't do uphill sprints, froome can't descend'.
i suppose the only thing that we have left is 'froome gets weak in the last week' once he has done that he is bo Jackson.

So right. Even before this Tour started I just rolled my eyes when people were going on about how Froome was going to lose time on the cobbles, descents, the wet, etc. Such a load of nonsense, or wishful thinking maybe. He's shown he can handle all conditions. But even before this Tour, I knew that.

 

[hrotha]

This year's cobbles were extremely weak sauce though.

 

[wwabbit]

Re: Re:

So right. Even before this Tour started I just rolled my eyes when people were going on about how Froome was going to lose time on the cobbles, descents, the wet, etc. Such a load of nonsense, or wishful thinking maybe. He's shown he can handle all conditions. But even before this Tour, I knew that.

I think people were reading too much into the fact that Froome has hinted that he does not like cobbles, descents, wets, etc, and assuming that he does not like them because he can't handle them. He was also seldom in a situation where he had to perform well in those conditions, so we have no idea if he hasn't been trying or he can't handle those conditions, and too many people were assuming the latter.

 

[Dog]

Brailsford now saying that Dawg might do next years Giro as well as this years Vuelta.

 

[SeriousSam]

That would be bad news. He should 100% focus on the Tour to ensure no one who isn't a better climber and time trialler than him can win it.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Brailsford now saying that Dawg might do next years Giro as well as this years Vuelta.

Well, if Dawg does successfully complete the Vuelta double, it would make sense to go for the Giro given that he'd be fresh and it's a chance to have all 3 GTs under his belt at once.

 

[Poursuivant]

Re:

That would be bad news. He should 100% focus on the Tour to ensure no one who isn't a better climber and time trialler than him can win it.

I agree he should swerve Giro, but is there any news on next years Tour? With regards to TT's?

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

That would be bad news. He should 100% focus on the Tour to ensure no one who isn't a better climber and time trialler than him can win it.

I agree he should swerve Giro, but is there any news on next years Tour? With regards to TT's?

Well, there's no way it will be less suited to Froome than this year's edition, given the lack of ITTs and the presence of a couple of dangerous descents as well as cobbles.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

This year's cobbles were extremely weak sauce though.

Boonen said it was nothing, just like last year it was. But the rain made the big difference. With rain you can't compare it, it's way way harder then.

 

[DBotero]

Another day gone,Paris is closer and closer.He just needs to hold on for 2 more days,it should be easy

 

[mr. tibbs]

Brailsford now saying that Dawg might do next years Giro as well as this years Vuelta.

Well, if Dawg does successfully complete the Vuelta double, it would make sense to go for the Giro given that he'd be fresh and it's a chance to have all 3 GTs under his belt at once.

I'd cheer for that. I'd also really like to see Froome and Contador both try for the Giro/Tour double next year.

Dude rode a killer stage today. Smart cycling by the Briton.

 

[SeriousSam]

Pretty much the complete GT rider at this point. It's a shame he wasn't allowed to win the Tour in 2012 and crashed out in 2014. Might have won 7 in a row.

 

[huge]

I had the impression Froome was a bit in trouble on the last short climb. Always at the back of the small bunch, small gap opening on the final ramp before the top. Small signs. But definitely a different Froome than on week ago. I think he starting to loose form, while on the other hand Quintana and Nibali seem to get stronger day after day. Still, no chances. He is still strong enough to get safe and sound to Sunday. The only sure thing is that tomorrow and Sat we're gonna see fireworks!

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Pretty much the complete GT rider at this point. It's a shame he wasn't allowed to win the Tour in 2012 and crashed out in 2014. Might have won 7 in a row.

That's a huge "might." To stay dominate for that long is extremely hard. I'm very glad he hasn't/won't! That would be a nightmare for cycling...

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Pretty much the complete GT rider at this point. It's a shame he wasn't allowed to win the Tour in 2012 and crashed out in 2014. Might have won 7 in a row.

It's a big shame honestly. Tour 2014 was gonna be the best tour of the last 10 years prob.

Contador and nibali were in one of the best shapes ever. And put a froome there who i think was also in really good shape. Would have been amazing.

This tour shows that it's very hard for the riders to be on their best shape every year. Look at piti, he was great in tour 2013, terrible in tour 2014 and now he's great again.

 

[rick james]

Another day ticked off for the Dawg..