Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[rick james]

Re: Re:

so how do we think his shape is now? nowhere near where he was last year fitness wise I think.

I really think he is very close to last year. Last year he didn't drop porte like this year

Dam it, you got the edit first :lol:

 

[DanielSong39]

Let's start taking measurements for the yellow jersey.

 

[Krokro]

Re: Re:

so how do we think his shape is now? nowhere near where he was last year fitness wise I think.

I really think he is very close to last year. Last year he didn't drop porte like this year

When did he drop Porte ?

Anyway, I have a silly question, no sarcasm guaranteed. Im not rly a newcomer in cycling knowledges but can someone explain me the logic behind Froomey tendency, now well known, to be dropped and yoyo'ing a climb, then looking at his powermeter, then sudendly dropping the hammer? I mean, today was a good example of this tendency/way of climbing.

Is there any physiological/tactical explanation behind this?

No clinic talk pls. And if I missed the talk on this topic, Im sorry Im not reading it a lot.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

so how do we think his shape is now? nowhere near where he was last year fitness wise I think.

I really think he is very close to last year. Last year he didn't drop porte like this year

When did he drop Porte ?

Anyway, I have a silly question, no sarcasm guaranteed. Im not rly a newcomer in cycling knowledges but can someone explain me the logic behind Froomey tendency, now well known, to be dropped and yoyo'ing a climb, then looking at his powermeter, then sudendly dropping the hammer? I mean, today was a good example of this tendency/way of climbing.

Is there any physiological/tactical explanation behind this?

No clinic talk pls. And if I missed the talk on this topic, Im sorry Im not reading it a lot.

He's just measuring his effort. He said today he knew he needed to take it "easy" on the earlier parts of the climb because he knew it would be harder towards the finish. He was distanced a little, but he said he was holding back, just going at his own pace because he knew he'd have to try hard later.

In the (or after) sprint Porte asked him if he was looking down at his stem instead of looking at how he was riding.

 

[hazaran]

Re: Re:

Anyway, I have a silly question, no sarcasm guaranteed. Im not rly a newcomer in cycling knowledges but can someone explain me the logic behind Froomey tendency, now well known, to be dropped and yoyo'ing a climb, then looking at his powermeter, then sudendly dropping the hammer? I mean, today was a good example of this tendency/way of climbing.

Is there any physiological/tactical explanation behind this?

No clinic talk pls. And if I missed the talk on this topic, Im sorry Im not reading it a lot.

The first thing you need to know is that there is pretty much no savings from drafting on climbs as steep as Mont du Chat. So dropping back is not an issue (unless it's because you are cracked..)

The second thing is that it is physiologically easier to put out 400W constantly than do 350W one minute and 450W chasing someone the next. If those 450W are over your threshold you are eating away at your anaerobic power reserves, and that's exactly what you need when you are trying to attack someone. So when Froome rides to one tempo and then drops the hammer it's possible because he avoids going very deep into the red previously by trying to immediately follow someone.

 

[therealthing]

Dropped again today. His form seems very inconsistent this week. Though it is impressive that despite poor form he is still 2nd overall.

 

[SeriousSam]

Tomorrow is the perfect stage for Froome to prove the doubters wrong. But he was unimpressive today, and yesterday too he looked to be on the limit just following Porte for about 5 minutes.

It is the Porte Era

 

[rick james]

The fact Kennaugh was getting to go for a stage wins tells you early on that Froome didn't have the legs today

 

[deValtos]

Re:

Tomorrow is the perfect stage for Froome to prove the doubters wrong. But he was unimpressive today, and yesterday too he looked to be on the limit just following Porte for about 5 minutes.

It is the Porte Era

I don't think Porte's a rider who's going to create an era about him like Contador/Froome, but he can certainly pick up a TDF.

 

[RattaKuningas]

I have no idea what happened to Froome there. Eventhough he wasn't climbing most convincingly yesterday then he was clearly better than he was today. But we'll get the clear picture tomorrow - might have been just an odd day.

 

[Red Rick]

Porte has a weak team, would be entertaining having him be the best climber in the race and having to defend that yellow jersey.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Porte has a weak team, would be entertaining having him be the best climber in the race and having to defend that yellow jersey.

Especially with Froome being a much better descender and historically more consistent

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Tomorrow is the perfect stage for Froome to prove the doubters wrong. But he was unimpressive today, and yesterday too he looked to be on the limit just following Porte for about 5 minutes.

It is the Porte Era

Porte will be 42 at the end of his era so maybe his idol was Horner ?

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Porte has a weak team, would be entertaining having him be the best climber in the race and having to defend that yellow jersey.

A weak team among many weak teams it seems if the Giro was any indication. BMC have looked okay in this race. There doesn't seem to be a really dominant team at the moment.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

Porte has a weak team, would be entertaining having him be the best climber in the race and having to defend that yellow jersey.

Especially with Froome being a much better descender and historically more consistent

It's rare that something actually comes down to descending, unless someone crashes. That BMC is nowhere near the 450w Sky train is much more worrying

 

[deValtos]

BMC will have a good depth in their team for the TDF and are very strong. The only thing they are missing is that top climbing domestique that is there when the group is 10-15 riders. I think they were hoping that was going to be Roche but he hasn't looked amazing so far.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

BMC will have a good depth in their team for the TDF and are very strong. The only thing they are missing is that top climbing domestique that is there when the group is 10-15 riders. I think they were hoping that was going to be Roche but he hasn't looked amazing so far.

Roche is there more as the road captain. Caruso is his number one mountain domestique based on last year's Tour. Roche is a good climber but always struggled to finish with the elite climbers.

 

[Tonton]

If what we saw so far is relevant, LRP will gain upwards of one minute total on the ITTs. He's familiar with the Sky train, and maybe use it to his advantage, sit on Froome's wheel, match Dawg's attacks. And dish out a few of his own like he did today.

He can't have bad luck forever. Those who bet on a disaster ruining Ritchie's chances at Le Tour would be making a dangerous gamble. We saw it at Il Giro with Dumoulin: when are the wheels going to fall off? As it turned out, they didn't.

Right now, unless we go with the premise that the defending champion is the man to beat, Porte looks like the favorite in July.

 

[Red Rick]

The Tour looks the most exciting it has since Quintana announced his Giro participation.

 

[portugal11]

If what we saw so far is relevant, LRP will gain upwards of one minute total on the ITTs. He's familiar with the Sky train, and maybe use it to his advantage, sit on Froome's wheel, match Dawg's attacks. And dish out a few of his own like he did today.

He can't have bad luck forever. Those who bet on a disaster ruining Ritchie's chances at Le Tour would be making a dangerous gamble. We saw it at Il Giro with Dumoulin: when are the wheels going to fall off? As it turned out, they didn't.

Right now, unless we go with the premise that the defending champion is the man to beat, Porte looks like the favorite in July.

I knew that dumoulin would be a top gt rider after 2015 vuelta. When porte rode the giro, we all saw what happened... and 2015 porte was the best ever. He won paris nice, down under, catalunya

 

[SeriousSam]

Porte was the second strongest rider at the Tour last year

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

Porte was the second strongest rider at the Tour last year

Yep. No doubt. He's been coming on to this form for a couple of years.

 

[dacooley]

another underwhelming perfomance from froome. i have an impression that sky intentionally gave froome a weak climbing team to look how he goes with a minimal team support in the dauphine. his average form combined with lack of climbers in this squad don't bode well for tomorrow. froome obviously needs a big leap of form to overtake richie in the tour.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

another underwhelming perfomance from froome. i have an impression that sky intentionally gave froome a weak climbing team to look how he goes with a minimal team support in the dauphine. his average form combined with lack of climbers in this squad don't bode well for tomorrow. froome obviously needs a big leap of form to overtake richie in the tour.

Yesterday's stage cost him, which is normal when you're not on great form and you overexert yourself the way he did.

I expect Froome to bounce back a bit, although it's obvious that he could easily lose his podium spot here. If he can't hold on to a top-4, or thereabouts, if it's close, then it's time to maybe start panicking.

As it stands, though, it's just a significant blow. In any case, he still has three weeks to ride himself into form and lose some fat.

 

[armchairclimber]

Froome will come into the TDF several kilos lighter than he is now, unless he has just lost the desire to go through the necessary deprivation. He looks heavy and some way from peak. The fact that he still sits in 2nd place despite all that, in a fairly competitive field, is something that thge others might be worried about. LRP will know that the Froome that he is leaving on the road now is not the Froome had had as a team mate.