Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[meat puppet]

A hunger knock or dude spent all his W' in the run up and climbs, which resulted in no kick at all in the end.

If the second, he might be vulnerable, as some others are stronger.

 

[ahsoe]

His inability to follow on the last ramp certainly makes this race much more interesting. More interesting than it has been since 2011, and that is just fantastic.

It will be exciting to see the reaction in the coming mountain stages from the other contenders, now that they sense a (very) small crack in Froome's armor.

But it remains to be seen if he is suffering from missing his absolute top form, he is feeling the age a bit and the continuing pressure of performing year after year or if it was just a bad day or down to the very steep last hundred of metres.

I would expect, that he might just have had very bad legs yesterday, and that he goes on the attack in the coming days. That has been seen before, as others have noted.
And even a Froome not in absolute top form can make things very difficult for the other riders, as we saw on stage 9 - also considering his strong team.

But I found it strangely satisfying to see a small, small crack in his armor - that he is in fact not all conquering in all terrains. I will cut him some slack now, I think, and await his expected coming attacks with much more enjoyment and respect. I don't think I can explain it better in English - perhaps in Danish

I will expect him to go on the attack and win the Tour still - yesterday was just a bad day.

But the slight possibility of a crack in the defense, shown yesterday, was the best that could happen for the race, and what, I at least, have been yearning for while seeing the Sky Train these last years.

It opens for exitement, unpredictability and hope :razz:

Edited: Spelling mistake.

 

[SeriousSam]

But I found it strangely satisfying to see a small, small crack in his armor

Most do. Relentless dominance is just tiresome unless you're a fanboy of the dominant rider.

 

[tretiak]

Re:

But I found it strangely satisfying to see a small, small crack in his armor

Most do. Relentless dominance is just tiresome unless you're a fanboy of the dominant rider.

Like yourself

 

[SeriousSam]

I'm not even a fan of Froome, never mind a fanboy!

 

[dacooley]

Re:

I'm not even a fan of Froome, never mind a fanboy!

Probably yes, though numerous mentions of 'froome the best climber in the world when on form' give you this image. )

 

[Savant12]

Think the Dawg can go "full alien" in this Tour or just trying to keep a decent gap for the final ITT?

 

[Angliru]

His inability to follow on the last ramp certainly makes this race much more interesting. More interesting than it has been since 2011, and that is just fantastic.

It will be exciting to see the reaction in the coming mountain stages from the other contenders, now that they sense a (very) small crack in Froome's armor.

But it remains to be seen if he is suffering from missing his absolute top form, he is feeling the age a bit and the continuing pressure of performing year after year or if it was just a bad day or down to the very steep last hundred of metres.

I would expect, that he might just have had very bad legs yesterday, and that he goes on the attack in the coming days. That has been seen before, as others have noted.
And even a Froome not in absolute top form can make things very difficult for the other riders, as we saw on stage 9 - also considering his strong team.

But I found it strangely satisfying to see a small, small crack in his armor - that he is in fact not all conquering in all terrains. I will cut him some slack now, I think, and await his expected coming attacks with much more enjoyment and respect. I don't think I can explain it better in English - perhaps in Danish

I will expect him to go on the attack and win the Tour still - yesterday was just a bad day.

But the slight possibility of a crack in the defense, shown yesterday, was the best that could happen for the race, and what, I at least, have been yearning for while seeing the Sky Train these last years.

It opens for exitement, unpredictability and hope :razz:

Edited: Spelling mistake.

You explained it quite well!

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

I'm not even a fan of Froome, never mind a fanboy!

Probably yes, though numerous mentions of 'froome the best climber in the world when on form' give you this image. )

But it's true - or at least used to be true. I am almost certain Froome is on his way down, we haven't seen full genius Froome for two years now.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

I'm not even a fan of Froome, never mind a fanboy!

Probably yes, though numerous mentions of 'froome the best climber in the world when on form' give you this image. )

Isn't that the truth? Or, at least, wasn't it until last year?

 

[JRanton]

So hopefully just a hunger knock yesterday and he has timed his form right for Izoard and the time trial. Bizarre that the others aren't even trying to test him on the climbs. At least he has a go even if he lacks the power of a few years ago.

 

[deValtos]

Looked much better today.

Alp stages look ok for him also.

 

[dutchdescent]

i am wondering whether Froome is just more spreading out his peak so to say over a longer period to suit his Tour Vuelta double attempt. Last year he clearly had less top end acceleration and he seems to have the same this year. It might just be simply down to age and natural decline. High octane to diesel climbing or something. But something in me thinks it may be a change of approach to hold his level high for a longer time period. Obviously not as high as in 2013-15 period but high enough to compete with the best and stay at the top for longer, i.e. until Vuelta. He really does want to win that race once. He openly admits to it. In 2013-15 peaks he would also somewhat fade in 3rd week. Last year he stayed, relative to years before, strong till the end. If not for Formigal he would've won that Vuelta. Perhaps the same approach this year? Do have to say he didn't look very in control yesterday and also today on the really steep stuff. Top end speed is lacking, but perhaps he hopes that overall his gamble pays dividend?

 

[hazaran]

Showing some weakness is just the latest act in the constantly new and emergent Froome publicity campaign. They are even playing up Landa as the new Judas, the disciple betraying his master

Of course in reality the time gap will be carefully managed and come the TT history will be back to its expected course with Froome taking yellow to Paris.

If we learned anything today it's that they need to send Landa in some more breaks, possibly as early as Sunday. The others won't be able to keep up giving a minute away every time..

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

Showing some weakness is just the latest act in the constantly new and emergent Froome publicity campaign. They are even playing up Landa as the new Judas, the disciple betraying his master

Of course in reality the time gap will be carefully managed and come the TT history will be back to its expected course with Froome taking yellow to Paris.

If we learned anything today it's that they need to send Landa in some more breaks, possibly as early as Sunday. The others won't be able to keep up giving a minute away every time..

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

 

[SlickMongoose]

I have no idea what it is about Froome that makes people think he'd give up a single second by choice.

 

[hazaran]

Re: Re:

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

There is the small matter of the stage 20 time trial. And I'm not saying that because Landa is a terrible TTer, though he is, but because Dave Brailsford will both metaphorically and practically let the air out of his tires on that stage if he is trying to be a jihadist. You can lose an insane amount of time on mechanicals in these time trials..

 

[DanielSong39]

Re: Re:

Showing some weakness is just the latest act in the constantly new and emergent Froome publicity campaign. They are even playing up Landa as the new Judas, the disciple betraying his master

Of course in reality the time gap will be carefully managed and come the TT history will be back to its expected course with Froome taking yellow to Paris.

If we learned anything today it's that they need to send Landa in some more breaks, possibly as early as Sunday. The others won't be able to keep up giving a minute away every time..

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

That's exactly what Aru said in his press conference.

The other teams can do the math too and they know that their primary goal is still to gain time on Froome. The strategy only changes if Landa gets more than a 2 minute lead on Froome.

 

[DanielSong39]

Re:

I have no idea what it is about Froome that makes people think he'd give up a single second by choice.

And that's the card that will likely be played by Aru, Bardet, and Uran. See how Froome responds to Landa going forward.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re: Re:

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

There is the small matter of the stage 20 time trial. And I'm not saying that because Landa is a terrible TTer, though he is, but because Dave Brailsford will both metaphorically and practically let the air out of his tires on that stage if he is trying to be a jihadist. You can lose an insane amount of time on mechanicals in these time trials..

If it comes down to Landa taking it from Froome, maybe Landa borrows a Movistar bike??

 

[DanielSong39]

Re: Re:

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

There is the small matter of the stage 20 time trial. And I'm not saying that because Landa is a terrible TTer, though he is, but because Dave Brailsford will both metaphorically and practically let the air out of his tires on that stage if he is trying to be a jihadist. You can lose an insane amount of time on mechanicals in these time trials..

If it comes down to Landa taking it from Froome, maybe Landa borrows a Movistar bike??

I think that's a 2 minute penalty? That's what Richie Porte received.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re: Re:

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

There is the small matter of the stage 20 time trial. And I'm not saying that because Landa is a terrible TTer, though he is, but because Dave Brailsford will both metaphorically and practically let the air out of his tires on that stage if he is trying to be a jihadist. You can lose an insane amount of time on mechanicals in these time trials..

If it comes down to Landa taking it from Froome, maybe Landa borrows a Movistar bike??

I think that's a 2 minute penalty? That's what Richie Porte received.

Then maybe he has one of their guys look the bike over?

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Showing some weakness is just the latest act in the constantly new and emergent Froome publicity campaign. They are even playing up Landa as the new Judas, the disciple betraying his master

Of course in reality the time gap will be carefully managed and come the TT history will be back to its expected course with Froome taking yellow to Paris.

If we learned anything today it's that they need to send Landa in some more breaks, possibly as early as Sunday. The others won't be able to keep up giving a minute away every time..

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

That's exactly what Aru said in his press conference.

The other teams can do the math too and they know that their primary goal is still to gain time on Froome. The strategy only changes if Landa gets more than a 2 minute lead on Froome.

No their strategy won't change. I just don't see Sky/Froome lets Landa gets more than 2 minutes. Froome will chase Landa (while pretending that he is attacking Aru) if he starts leapfrog Foome. I would love to see if Aru, Bardet, Martin, Uran dare to play bluffing game with Froome. But unfortunately, no one that's crazy to gamble their position most likely. I think, Sky said Landa is another card to play. To me he is a loose cannon. If he gets 2 minutes? Boy, I would love to see that..

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

Showing some weakness is just the latest act in the constantly new and emergent Froome publicity campaign. They are even playing up Landa as the new Judas, the disciple betraying his master

Of course in reality the time gap will be carefully managed and come the TT history will be back to its expected course with Froome taking yellow to Paris.

If we learned anything today it's that they need to send Landa in some more breaks, possibly as early as Sunday. The others won't be able to keep up giving a minute away every time..

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

That's exactly what Aru said in his press conference.

The other teams can do the math too and they know that their primary goal is still to gain time on Froome. The strategy only changes if Landa gets more than a 2 minute lead on Froome.

No their strategy won't change. I just don't see Sky/Froome lets Landa gets more than 2 minutes. Froome will chase Landa (while pretending that he is attacking Aru) if he starts leapfrog Foome. I would love to see if Aru, Bardet, Martin, Uran dare to play bluffing game with Froome. But unfortunately, no one that's crazy to gamble their position most likely. I think, Sky said Landa is another card to play. To me he is a loose cannon. If he gets 2 minutes? Boy, I would love to see that..

As much as you'd like... This is serious business going on here. Landa won't be allowed to go in breaks,regardless of whether Sky wants him to go in breaks or not.
Astana, Quickstep, Trek, And most importantly movistar WILL chase him down. Period.
And no matter how big of a fan favourite Landa might be on this forum Froome is still the big favourite to win his 4th title..
Sky know that, Froome knows that, Landa knows that.

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Would be really funny if they call Froome's bluff and he ends up having to chase Landa down himself at some point.

There is the small matter of the stage 20 time trial. And I'm not saying that because Landa is a terrible TTer, though he is, but because Dave Brailsford will both metaphorically and practically let the air out of his tires on that stage if he is trying to be a jihadist. You can lose an insane amount of time on mechanicals in these time trials..

oh please do give it up, Landa riding for himself is nothing more than a wet dream