Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[miguelindurain111]

Re:

Going through his results, I see Froome finished 17th in Chrono des Nations just five years ago. 6:36 behind a certain Tony Martin. Pretty odd. Porte even managed to do worse at 8:00 minutes behind.

In 2012 he would have win Tour if he was allowed to and came third in the olympics ITT losing only some 20 secs to Martin...

 

[rick james]

porte would've won this race given the level of competition as it stands out. so would valverde. dimoulin and quintana in their 2017 giro fit would've demolished this field as well. I have a feeling all the 2015 grand tours winners could've comfortably taken this tour. in short froome is really incredibly lucky to have a chance to grab fourth tour win

I'm go to start a campaign, all of Froome tour wins should have a big black mark with the words FROOME WAS LUCKY written on it

 

[Angliru]

porte would've won this race given the level of competition as it stands out. so would valverde. dimoulin and quintana in their 2017 giro fit would've demolished this field as well. I have a feeling all the 2015 grand tours winners could've comfortably taken this tour. in short froome is really incredibly lucky to have a chance to grab fourth tour win

I don't see it. While Valverde has had a phenomenal season, I don't think that he would've been able to hang on every mountain pass when the pace picked up. He would've picked up a few bonus seconds, out sprinting his rivals but that would've been counter balanced by his losses when he was dropped by Froome, Bardet, Uran, Landa and occasionally Aru. The speculation about Porte persists but the fact remains that he has yet to show that he can make it to the end of a grand tour in contention. He finds a way to muck it up via crashing and injury or simply one or two bad days that ruin his chances. Plus the entire constitution of the Tour would be different with the rider's you mentioned in different phases of elite form. Froome out of fear of losing time in the itt to Dumoulin would've raced more aggressively, forcing everyone else's strategies and outcomes to be altered.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Going through his results, I see Froome finished 17th in Chrono des Nations just five years ago. 6:36 behind a certain Tony Martin. Pretty odd. Porte even managed to do worse at 8:00 minutes behind.

Tony Martin came 2nd on Ventoux once, what's your point caller?

 

[silvergrenade]

porte would've won this race given the level of competition as it stands out. so would valverde. dimoulin and quintana in their 2017 giro fit would've demolished this field as well. I have a feeling all the 2015 grand tours winners could've comfortably taken this tour. in short froome is really incredibly lucky to have a chance to grab fourth tour win

I'm go to start a campaign, all of Froome tour wins should have a big black mark with the words FROOME WAS LUCKY written on it

Yeah.
2013: Won because Contador wasnt in top form. Movistar hedged their bets on the wrong guy. Cadel was declining.
2015: Won because Contador wasnt fresh. Movistar didnt protect Quintana well enough
2016: Won because Contador crashed. Quintana wasnt in his best shape. Nibali wasnt in the best shape.
2017: Won beacuse Contador crashed. Everybody crashed.

:lol: :lol:

 

[Angliru]

porte would've won this race given the level of competition as it stands out. so would valverde. dimoulin and quintana in their 2017 giro fit would've demolished this field as well. I have a feeling all the 2015 grand tours winners could've comfortably taken this tour. in short froome is really incredibly lucky to have a chance to grab fourth tour win

I'm go to start a campaign, all of Froome tour wins should have a big black mark with the words FROOME WAS LUCKY written on it

Yeah.
2013: Won because Contador wasnt in top form. Movistar hedged their bets on the wrong guy. Cadel was declining.
2015: Won because Contador wasnt fresh. Movistar didnt protect Quintana well enough
2016: Won because Contador crashed. Quintana wasnt in his best shape. Nibali wasnt in the best shape.
2017: Won beacuse Contador crashed. Everybody crashed.

:lol: :lol:

...and just when I took you off of "Ignore".

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Going through his results, I see Froome finished 17th in Chrono des Nations just five years ago. 6:36 behind a certain Tony Martin. Pretty odd. Porte even managed to do worse at 8:00 minutes behind.

Tony Martin came 2nd on Ventoux once, what's your point caller?

What are you on about? I'm not trying to make any point.

 

[rick james]

Exactly

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

Exactly

Had no idea I was stepping on your toes by just posting a statistic. My sincere apologies.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Exactly

Lol what he/she was just pointing out an interesting stat

 

[Frihed89]

This is just a sign of the new "play it safe" era, as when base-lining replaced the serve and volley game in tennis, but even that era has taken a step forward or two. Breed some Valverde into the future Froome(s).

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

Exactly

Lol what he/she was just pointing out an interesting stat

Some create drama where there is none. Mary Jane sees foes of Froome everywhere and he must react.

 

[miguelindurain111]

porte would've won this race given the level of competition as it stands out. so would valverde. dimoulin and quintana in their 2017 giro fit would've demolished this field as well. I have a feeling all the 2015 grand tours winners could've comfortably taken this tour. in short froome is really incredibly lucky to have a chance to grab fourth tour win

I'm go to start a campaign, all of Froome tour wins should have a big black mark with the words FROOME WAS LUCKY written on it

Yeah.
2013: Won because Contador wasnt in top form. Movistar hedged their bets on the wrong guy. Cadel was declining.
2015: Won because Contador wasnt fresh. Movistar didnt protect Quintana well enough
2016: Won because Contador crashed. Quintana wasnt in his best shape. Nibali wasnt in the best shape.
2017: Won beacuse Contador crashed. Everybody crashed.

:lol: :lol:

 

[Angliru]

Re:

This is just a sign of the new "play it safe" era, as when base-lining replaced the serve and volley game in tennis, but even that era has taken a step forward or two. Breed some Valverde into the future Froome(s).

I can see it from both sides. Uran was seen as playing it safe but his team was looking at potential collapse and he had had 2 off years and now in fine form he had the potential for a Tour podium, something that was unimaginable for him since less than stellar 2015 & 2016. With minimal support he almost had to play it safe when faced with the might of the Sky juggernaut. He almost had to be wondering how long this stretch of good form would last. To throw caution to the wind and go for broke, attacking Froome when Landa was still there to mark him and Froome apparently not necessarily showing weakness would've been foolish.

Froome had such a strong team especially with Landa and Kwiatkowski, that he could afford to follow wheels and keeping in mind his second goal of the season, he appeared to be purposely leaving something in the tank for Spain.

It would've been entertaining for the fans but that doesn't always translate into a strategy that compliments the rider and his team's goals and ambitions.

 

[Jspear]

Froome thoroughly deserves this win. He didn't appear to be as strong in the mountains this year, but he was always paying attention and alert. That said, things definitely would have been harder if Porte hadn't crashed. He was in great form. That doesn't mean there's an asterisk next to Froome's win....just an interesting "what if" to consider.

 

[lenric]

porte would've won this race given the level of competition as it stands out. so would valverde. dimoulin and quintana in their 2017 giro fit would've demolished this field as well. I have a feeling all the 2015 grand tours winners could've comfortably taken this tour. in short froome is really incredibly lucky to have a chance to grab fourth tour win

I'm go to start a campaign, all of Froome tour wins should have a big black mark with the words FROOME WAS LUCKY written on it

Yeah.
2013: Won because Contador wasnt in top form. Movistar hedged their bets on the wrong guy. Cadel was declining.
2015: Won because Contador wasnt fresh. Movistar didnt protect Quintana well enough
2016: Won because Contador crashed. Quintana wasnt in his best shape. Nibali wasnt in the best shape.
2017: Won beacuse Contador crashed. Everybody crashed.

:lol: :lol:

2018: Won because Contador chose the Giro/Vuelta double/retired.

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Exactly

Lol what he/she was just pointing out an interesting stat

and Tony Martin 2nd on Ventoux isn't interesting :surprised:

 

[silvergrenade]

CF not to use his Vortex suit which apparently gave him 30 secs on his rivals.

Froome brushed of any polemic about being obliged to use the yellow skinsuit provided by Le Coq Sportif.


“It’s an honour to be in yellow at this point in the race. I wouldn’t want to be in any other position and be trying to make up time on leader of race,” he said.

“I’ve ridden in the skinsuit provided by race organisers almost every year and it’s not been a problem. At the end of the day it’s all about the legs.”

 

[rick james]

Heard him say he's not going for the win tomorrow and will just mark the other GC guys times.....believe that at your pearl

 

[SeriousSam]

porte would've won this race given the level of competition as it stands out. so would valverde. dimoulin and quintana in their 2017 giro fit would've demolished this field as well. I have a feeling all the 2015 grand tours winners could've comfortably taken this tour. in short froome is really incredibly lucky to have a chance to grab fourth tour win

I'm go to start a campaign, all of Froome tour wins should have a big black mark with the words FROOME WAS LUCKY written on it

Yeah.
2013: Won because Contador wasnt in top form. Movistar hedged their bets on the wrong guy. Cadel was declining.
2015: Won because Contador wasnt fresh. Movistar didnt protect Quintana well enough
2016: Won because Contador crashed. Quintana wasnt in his best shape. Nibali wasnt in the best shape.
2017: Won beacuse Contador crashed. Everybody crashed.

:lol: :lol:

Good post, an underappreciated insight regarding the nature of asteriskes. Whilst our cognitive limitations often have us add asteriskes to races as if they were discrete objects that should be added or not, the underlying reality they are supposed to measure is in fact continuous. So, rather than crudely adding an asterisk to races if the underlying asteriskiness exceeds a certain subjective threshold, we should add an asterisk to all race results but use grayscale, a continuous measure ranging from white to black, to visually represent the asteriskiness; the extent to which a victory was affected by lucky circumstances not originating within the characteristics of the winning rider.

 

[Frihed89]

Re:

Froome thoroughly deserves this win. He didn't appear to be as strong in the mountains this year, but he was always paying attention and alert. That said, things definitely would have been harder if Porte hadn't crashed. He was in great form. That doesn't mean there's an asterisk next to Froome's win....just an interesting "what if" to consider.

No doubt about that. But I am a spectator, too...since the era of Virenque.

 

[TMP402]

Dumoulin not going to the Vuelta...

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Dumoulin not going to the Vuelta...

Froome only has to turn up now to do the double. Don't see who could even remotely challenge him. Unfortunately.

 

[deValtos]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin not going to the Vuelta...

Froome only has to turn up now to do the double. Don't see who could even remotely challenge him. Unfortunately.

If only it were so simple.

You don't just turn up to a 2nd GT in a row with a few weeks recovery only and pick up a free win.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin not going to the Vuelta...

Froome only has to turn up now to do the double. Don't see who could even remotely challenge him. Unfortunately.

If only it were so simple.

You don't just turn up to a 2nd GT in a row with a few weeks recovery only and pick up a free win.

Who is going to beat him? No one is fresh at this point. Nibali is the only possible rival I see and he hasn't exactly been very impressive this year.