Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Angliru]

It's all academic, Froome obviously wants to win the tour as many time as possible or at least join the elite 5 club and he's getting older so time is running out. I wouldn't be surprised if he just does the tour next year if he does win the vuelta this year. Can't ever see him attempting the giro-tour double unless he does win a fifth tour and is content with that and takes the risk the following year.

I think froome will never win the giro. If he gets his fifth tour next year, he will be back to win his sixth, his seventh, he wants LA's record

Lance has not got any record, you cant compare that fraud with the level of Froome.

..and of course Froome is the real deal? Do you really believe that?

 

[movingtarget]

Froome will be favorite to win the next Tour whatever the parcours but this year's result will give riders some hope, More than usual especially with his performance in the mountains. The TT is his big advantage of course. I'm not entirely convinced that Froome will win next year. If Froome was in Bardet's position he would be testing in the wind tunnel and doing more work on his TT bike. Would it still be enough to win the Tour ? Probably not but Bardet is not a good enough climber to win the race on his climbing same with Uran and Uran rode a very defensive race anyway. He rode a smart race but was never going to win. The real danger for Froome next year will be Aru and Quintana being more aggressive in the mountains, Dumoulin and his ability to limit his losses and do a great TT and then you have the continual ability of Richie Porte to find ways of killing off his race or making it harder for himself. I see Nibali pretty much past his best but along with Froome, knows how to win a three week race better than anyone else.

 

[TMP402]

It's all academic, Froome obviously wants to win the tour as many time as possible or at least join the elite 5 club and he's getting older so time is running out. I wouldn't be surprised if he just does the tour next year if he does win the vuelta this year. Can't ever see him attempting the giro-tour double unless he does win a fifth tour and is content with that and takes the risk the following year.

I think froome will never win the giro. If he gets his fifth tour next year, he will be back to win his sixth, his seventh, he wants LA's record

Lance has not got any record, you cant compare that fraud with the level of Froome.

..and of course Froome is the real deal? Do you really believe that?

Wrong forum.

 

[dacooley]

It's all academic, Froome obviously wants to win the tour as many time as possible or at least join the elite 5 club and he's getting older so time is running out. I wouldn't be surprised if he just does the tour next year if he does win the vuelta this year. Can't ever see him attempting the giro-tour double unless he does win a fifth tour and is content with that and takes the risk the following year.

I think froome will never win the giro. If he gets his fifth tour next year, he will be back to win his sixth, his seventh, he wants LA's record

Lance has not got any record, you cant compare that fraud with the level of Froome.

..and of course Froome is the real deal? Do you really believe that?

what do people should believe? disliking froome has pretty much nothing to do with him not being a legendary rider. whilst reading these posts I ofter feel like Froome stole one's victories rather than worked hard for years to reach them.

 

[Bolder]

It's all academic, Froome obviously wants to win the tour as many time as possible or at least join the elite 5 club and he's getting older so time is running out. I wouldn't be surprised if he just does the tour next year if he does win the vuelta this year. Can't ever see him attempting the giro-tour double unless he does win a fifth tour and is content with that and takes the risk the following year.

I think froome will never win the giro. If he gets his fifth tour next year, he will be back to win his sixth, his seventh, he wants LA's record

I cannot see Froome not riding the Tour unless he's seriously injured beforehand.

He certainly CAN win the Giro but he won't make it his main objective, not as long as he's riding for Sky. I don't think it's a question of parcours or weather, but of priorities.

FWIW I agree that doing a Giro/Tour double would be harder than a Tour/Vuelta. The main reason being, as elaborated so eloquently above, is that the Tour is always going to be the main focus of the best riders, and teams will put their strongest squads together. That's not the case with the Giro, so anyone foolish enough to try the double would be running into a buzzsaw of fresh, hungry riders and teams.

Whereas with a Tour/Vuelta double, as also noted, almost every rider has a GT in the legs, whether Giro or Tour, so the overall racing days are about the same for everyone.

My impression is that all 3 races can be equally hard, but maybe for different reasons. Giro: brutal mountains, bad roads, dodgy weather; Tour: hypercompetitive; Vuelta: heat, crazed fans, sadistic parcours.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

The problem most certainly is the giro-tour double. 2011 Contador failed as well, and Quintana fell at the first hurdle. It's much, much harder than a Tour-Vuelta double. Landa was able to rest up quite a few days, he didn't go all out every day as he wasn't fighting for GC, and a lot of the days when he was in the break he had a teammate to do the work for him.

Landa was in long breaways lot of days what is harder than to be on GC And he was damaged for a crash.

Landa finished at 36 minutes on GC and he lost 28 on Blockhaus, so he wanst resting any day.

Being high in the GC for entire race is way, way harder than being in the break for 3 days. You should know that.

 

[Attilaz]

I like Froome and I think he is a very nice fella, but I highly doubt he and team sky can win or even podium the Giro (if he does not race the Tour).
Giro has much harder course and requires good improvisation skills and be able to adapt quickly. Can not control it from a car 100%.
This year Giro course was tailored for him because the organizers wanted him there, and he did not show up.
Don't forget that he–as an English racer–moves the interest/fans of US and UK markets.
Froome winning the Vuelta, Tour or Giro means more $ for the organizers. Therefore they have no problem make a race suit him somehow–like this year Vuelta with the hard start. And the Tour is the biggest commercial event, therefore Sky wants to win it.

I hope he will win the Vuelta, then he has to attempt the Giro if he wants to be up there with the best.
On todays interview he said "I am not sure why people are racing so hard". And Nibali interview "harder the race, the better for me".
It sounds like Froome may be afraid of the natural tiredness from the Tour. I don't think the Vuelta is 100% over, but I hope he can win.

 

[dacooley]

unless some sensational revelations as dumoulin and landa spoil the party, froome with assistance of sky A team would've swept the average giro field away. mortirolo, zoncolan forcing him to go backwards and bad weather compromising his chances look more like wishful-thinkings. on top of that, froome showed himself as a very teachable all-rounder who's always willing to extend the set of racing skills. in 2012 everything he had was the necessary power output in his legs. as of today he has watts, experience, composure, descending skills, but what's most imortant is he knows a limit of his own abilities. yes, he'll never win the giro but stating he has no capacity to win it is a bit harsh.

 

[dastott]

Possibly Froome might target the Giro after he is finally defeated by a stronger rider at the TdF.

 

[Attilaz]

Re:

unless some sensational revelations as dumoulin and landa spoil the party, froome with assistance of sky A team would've swept the average giro field away. mortirolo, zoncolan forcing him to go backwards and bad weather compromising his chances look more like wishful-thinkings. on top of that, froome showed himself as a very teachable all-rounder who's always willing to extend the set of racing skills. in 2012 everything he had was the necessary power output in his legs. as of today he has watts, experience, composure, descending skills, but what's most imortant is he knows a limit of his own abilities. yes, he'll never win the giro but stating he has no capacity to win it is a bit harsh.

In 2013 SKY with Wiggins and their "A-team" (Henao, Urán, Cataldo etc.) tried to win the Giro.
They were the big favorites.
The course was made to suit him.
They did not swept the average field away. They did not even finish.
Every Giro is the same story.
Considering they have a rooster easily 2x better than the best second team, they should be able to podium easy.
But they lack the tactical ability to do so. And they are well aware of it.

 

[oldcrank]

Very intelligent and beautifully measured rides
these last two days. Lots of racing still to come,
but at the moment CF seems to be in a very good
place physically and mentally. I'm looking forward to
the last half of the race, in large part, to witness how
well Tim Kerrison's training regime has equipped Chris
to handle the challenges over the next week and a half.

 

[Richeypen]

Re: Re:

unless some sensational revelations as dumoulin and landa spoil the party, froome with assistance of sky A team would've swept the average giro field away. mortirolo, zoncolan forcing him to go backwards and bad weather compromising his chances look more like wishful-thinkings. on top of that, froome showed himself as a very teachable all-rounder who's always willing to extend the set of racing skills. in 2012 everything he had was the necessary power output in his legs. as of today he has watts, experience, composure, descending skills, but what's most imortant is he knows a limit of his own abilities. yes, he'll never win the giro but stating he has no capacity to win it is a bit harsh.

In 2013 SKY with Wiggins and their "A-team" (Henao, Urán, Cataldo etc.) tried to win the Giro.
They were the big favorites.
The course was made to suit him.
They did not swept the average field away. They did not even finish.
Every Giro is the same story.
Considering they have a rooster easily 2x better than the best second team, they should be able to podium easy.
But they lack the tactical ability to do so. And they are well aware of it.

You what?

 

[deValtos]

Hahahah ok that was pretty funny. Top post!

 

[Ruby United]

Re: Re:

unless some sensational revelations as dumoulin and landa spoil the party, froome with assistance of sky A team would've swept the average giro field away. mortirolo, zoncolan forcing him to go backwards and bad weather compromising his chances look more like wishful-thinkings. on top of that, froome showed himself as a very teachable all-rounder who's always willing to extend the set of racing skills. in 2012 everything he had was the necessary power output in his legs. as of today he has watts, experience, composure, descending skills, but what's most imortant is he knows a limit of his own abilities. yes, he'll never win the giro but stating he has no capacity to win it is a bit harsh.

In 2013 SKY with Wiggins and their "A-team" (Henao, Urán, Cataldo etc.) tried to win the Giro.
They were the big favorites.
The course was made to suit him.
They did not swept the average field away. They did not even finish.
Every Giro is the same story.
Considering they have a rooster easily 2x better than the best second team, they should be able to podium easy.
But they lack the tactical ability to do so. And they are well aware of it.

Wow. What a bad, truly incorrect post.
And you only joined the forum yesterday! Hopefully you will learn from this post for the future.

 

[Attilaz]

Re: Re:

unless some sensational revelations as dumoulin and landa spoil the party, froome with assistance of sky A team would've swept the average giro field away. mortirolo, zoncolan forcing him to go backwards and bad weather compromising his chances look more like wishful-thinkings. on top of that, froome showed himself as a very teachable all-rounder who's always willing to extend the set of racing skills. in 2012 everything he had was the necessary power output in his legs. as of today he has watts, experience, composure, descending skills, but what's most imortant is he knows a limit of his own abilities. yes, he'll never win the giro but stating he has no capacity to win it is a bit harsh.

In 2013 SKY with Wiggins and their "A-team" (Henao, Urán, Cataldo etc.) tried to win the Giro.
They were the big favorites.
The course was made to suit him.
They did not swept the average field away. They did not even finish.
Every Giro is the same story.
Considering they have a rooster easily 2x better than the best second team, they should be able to podium easy.
But they lack the tactical ability to do so. And they are well aware of it.

Wow. What a bad, truly incorrect post.
And you only joined the forum yesterday! Hopefully you will learn from this post for the future.

I meant wiggins did not even finish, how can the whole team not finish? and their Giro contender never podium or seems to finish on the podium with a shot to first place. That is a fact, I ll eat my words back if they will do so.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

I meant wiggins did not even finish, how can the whole team not finish? and their Giro contender never podium or seems to finish on the podium with a shot to first place. That is a fact, I ll eat my words back if they will do so.

You do realise Uran finished 2nd for Sky in the 2013 Giro, right?

The Giro would be the toughest GT for Froome to win, but I think he'd have as good a chance as anyone if the weather stayed fine. The Giro routes tend to be better suited to Froome than the Tour routes in recent years.

 

[Blanco]

I think Nibali smelled blood, it's not going to be walk in the park for Froome...

 

[dacooley]

Re:

I think Nibali smelled blood, it's not going to be walk in the park for Froome...

how many extra watts can smelling blood provide?

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

I think Nibali smelled blood, it's not going to be walk in the park for Froome...

how many extra watts can smelling blood provide?

I'm not sure he needs extra power, he just needs to sustain it better than Froome over the 3 weeks. Yesterday that looked possible.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

I think Nibali smelled blood, it's not going to be walk in the park for Froome...

how many extra watts can smelling blood provide?

Cycling is not only about watts, as you will hopefully see...

 

[dacooley]

Re: Re:

I think Nibali smelled blood, it's not going to be walk in the park for Froome...

how many extra watts can smelling blood provide?

Cycling is not only about watts, as you will hopefully see...

not that I was stating cycling is purely about watts anywhere. Still winning a big race without having necessary power output is hardly achievable. though I'm suspecting one of us values guts, race-reading instincts, panache and all that a bit more than other one. froome is a walking nightmare for any cycling romantic, that's the case.

 

[Matteo.]

Re: Re:

I think Nibali smelled blood, it's not going to be walk in the park for Froome...

how many extra watts can smelling blood provide?

Cycling is not only about watts, as you will hopefully see...

What? A threat? :razz: :razz:

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Froome can most certainly win the Giro, if he focuses on it as a priority. Team Sky's dominance would be the same there as in the Tour, and so far, this Vuelta. The team is so well funded, so powerful, they have the ability to just ride most any stage as a 150km TTT, pulling along at a pace too quick for anyone to sustain a breakaway, then in the last 2km (or last 500m sometimes) the last domestique peels away, and Froome rides the last bit to the finish as quickly as he can. It's very predictable, and making stage races boring IMO, but considering how the rules, and often the course, works, they've found a strategy that works, even more refined than USPS, and Banesto before.

The only way Froome loses this Vuelta is if he tires enough in the last week, and he could. But unless a Giro course is specifically set up to stop Sky, and that won't be easy, he would win there as well, but only if it were his season priority. He also better do it next year, as he's starting to age a bit as well.

 

[hazaran]

Re: Re:

Cycling is not only about watts, as you will hopefully see...

Yes, it's also about how your body looks going into the wind :lol:

Minute 30 seconds on Nibali in the ITT at the minimum. He has no chance.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Nibali has less chance to pull an ambush with Sky there, that is true no matter how you put it