Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Breh]

WHo cares about podiums?! It's all about the amount of Tour victories!

 

[Singer01]

Re:

Would someone trade 10 monuments for 3 tour wins? No, I don't think so.

Absolf'ckinglutely they would.
Even then its not a fair comparison, only 2 cyclists have won 10 Monuments, 8 cyclists have won 3 Tours (9 if you include Contador). Would someone trade 10 Monuments for 5 tours is a fairer comparison, and again the answer is almost certainly yes for every cyclist (not people on here who like to be all hipster about the classics), but any little boy growing up, starting out in cycling, if offered 5 tour de france victories wouldn't even need asking twice.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Would someone trade 10 monuments for 3 tour wins? No, I don't think so.

10 monuments is a more impressive achievement, but I'd still take 3 Tours, and so would most people

 

[deValtos]

I agree. I've seen almost every WT race in the last 6 years and I'd take 3 tours over 10 monuments no question.

 

[silvergrenade]

This is an interesting conversation. So, I think it depends on the type of the monument win. If out of those 10 5 are Roubaix and 5 are Flanders, I might take that over 3 Tour wins.
Might.

 

[PremierAndrew]

If the 10 included one of each monument, I'd take the monuments

 

[portugal11]

Awful second half of time trial... maybe he didn't practise enough time trials this year?

 

[therealthing]

I'm getting a bit worried now. Not at all encouraging to lose to Contador in a TT and be 37 seconds down on Porte. Perhaps he is trying to peak as late as possible for the Vuelta. We shall have to see what he is like in the mountains here.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I'm getting a bit worried now. Not at all encouraging to lose to Contador in a TT

Fun fact (although irrelevant) Mr Contador has twice as many career ITT wins as Mr Froome

 

[deValtos]

Re:

I'm getting a bit worried now. Not at all encouraging to lose to Contador in a TT and be 37 seconds down on Porte. Perhaps he is trying to peak as late as possible for the Vuelta. We shall have to see what he is like in the mountains here.

I think it's a combination of looking to peak later and maybe his legs just don't have it this year.

Either way his TT wasn't awful and he's still going to provide a strong challenge at the tour even if his legs are not as good.

 

[Gloin22]

Re: Re:

I'm getting a bit worried now. Not at all encouraging to lose to Contador in a TT

Fun fact (although irrelevant) Mr Contador has twice as many career ITT wins as Mr Froome

When Contador dominated, there were barely any good Itters though, *** Grabsch won WCC, says it all

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

I'm getting a bit worried now. Not at all encouraging to lose to Contador in a TT

Fun fact (although irrelevant) Mr Contador has twice as many career ITT wins as Mr Froome

Are you attributing that to Contador being a superior time trialist or Froome blossoming late

 

[Climbing]

Re: Re:

I'm getting a bit worried now. Not at all encouraging to lose to Contador in a TT

Fun fact (although irrelevant) Mr Contador has twice as many career ITT wins as Mr Froome

Are you attributing that to Contador being a superior time trialist or Froome blossoming late

:lol:

 

[DanielSong39]

Re:

Sure, the tour is more valuable than any FW or LBL win in isolation, but you have to consider the exchange rate. 1 tour win is not the same as 3 LBL to anyone who knows anything about cycling. Sure, to the layman who doesn't know or care anything about cycling other than the Tour de France, it might be more impressive, but the layman who doesn't know or care anything about cycling is also not likely to care about the legacy of great riders.

Would someone trade 10 monuments for 3 tour wins? No, I don't think so.

Not a perfect comparison but you might as well be describing Greg LeMond and Sean Kelly. A few years from now we may be comparing Chris Froome to Peter Sagan.

Obviously we're comparing apples to oranges.

Mark Cavendish probably belongs in the conversation somewhere as he is possibly the best sprinter ever.

 

[Climbing]

You guys are completely mad... only 2 cyclists in the whole history of cycling won more than 10 monuments…

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I'm getting a bit worried now. Not at all encouraging to lose to Contador in a TT

Fun fact (although irrelevant) Mr Contador has twice as many career ITT wins as Mr Froome

Are you attributing that to Contador being a superior time trialist or Froome blossoming late

it's a fun, trivial fact, although irrelevant, as I wrote quite clearly

 

[silvergrenade]

God damn, that was a bad performance. He was struggling and moving on the bike like a man in a world of pain. Generally his second part of the TT is much better. Today was very very bad. He went too far in the red and paid for it.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

God damn, that was a bad performance. He was struggling and moving on the bike like a man in a world of pain. Generally his second part of the TT is much better. Today was very very bad. He went too far in the red and paid for it.

Yeah, it seems like he didn't time his effort well. Would have probably been pretty close to Valverde otherwise.

 

[Red Rick]

If there's any sort of distribution in the monuments, I'm taking those monuments.

Hell, I'd rather have Giro-Tour-Vuelta than 3 Tours.

 

[SeriousSam]

It's much easier to win the same monument 3 times than it is to win 3 different monuments, because the latter requires very different characteristics.

But it is much easier to win the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta than it is to win the Tour 3 times.

 

[Katabatic]

I definitely wouldn't take the Giro-Tour-Vuelta over the Tour (unless they somehow came in the same calendar year).

But there's no way I'm trading 10 monuments for 3 tours, almost regardless of how you distribute them. For a more casual fan the 3 tours would be far more impressive, but it's much, much harder to win that many monuments.

 

[Red Rick]

It's much easier to win the same monument 3 times than it is to win 3 different monuments, because the latter requires very different characteristics.

But it is much easier to win the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta than it is to win the Tour 3 times.

For me it's more a petty irrational thing. Having contested and won them all would give me much more of a sense of completion. Ofcourse 3 Tours would make you more famous

 

[Bolder]

Re:

I agree. I've seen almost every WT race in the last 6 years and I'd take 3 tours over 10 monuments no question.

So would I.

Objectively, winning a monument is exceptionally hard. But all it really takes is to be the best on any given day, whereas to win a Tour you need to be the best day after day. Or, at least pay attention during the sprint and throwaway stages. Let's assume all else is equal, including team strength -- I think it's much easier to win a monument. That sounds odd, because if it was so easy you'd have more riders with 10 plus wins (assuming 2 per season for a Sagan or Gilbert type for a 10 year career).

As a fan, I cannot wait for the spring classics. Maybe even more than the TdF, to be honest. The drama is just nonstop. But I fully acknowledge that the the GTs (even the Vuelta now) are far more important.

As for CF today, I have no idea. I'm not sure he does, either, but the proof will come in July, as always. I also wonder if Porte is burning an extra match or two.

 

[WheelofGear]

He can't drop Porte.

 

[Jspear]

I'm forgetting. Has he ever yo-yo'd in the Dauphine? I feel like he'll be yo-yoing in the mountains here. He should still podium.