Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Valv.Piti]

I can see Nibali only losing 30 seconds in the time trial. But no matter what Niba will try until its proven once and for all he cant win and that is likely to be just after finishing Angliru.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

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.

The Giro is by far the least suited to Froome. Him winning is far from a certainty

 

[Singer01]

Re:

I can see Nibali only losing 30 seconds in the time trial. But no matter what Niba will try until its proven once and for all he cant win and that is likely to be just after finishing Angliru.

Wanna bet? Froome put 1,24 into everyone other than Castroviejo last year on similar length course, and seems to have prepared far better this year. I hope it is only 30 seconds to keep Sky honest, but i can't see it at all.

 

[Matteo.]

At the end only 20s lost. It could end up much worse. By taking the race, I expected at least 40s-50s.
Finally mark these words: he will seek revenge on Saturday. That's for sute

 

[bigcog]

Re:

At the end only 20s lost. It could end up much worse. By taking the race, I expected at least 40s-50s.
Finally mark these words: he will seek revenge on Saturday. That's for sute

Depends on how bad he is banged up, Nieve said he was ok afterwards, hopefully that is the case. If it he did do damage then I wouldn't be surprised if he loses time as he has done in past, he doesn't recover quickly from crashes.

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

Re: Re:

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.

The Giro is by far the least suited to Froome. Him winning is far from a certainty

Everyone else would target the Tour and he would have an easy time.

 

[LaFlorecita]

The crash didn't look that bad, but you just never know. He could be hurt.
Anyway, managed to limit his losses quite well today.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

I can see Nibali only losing 30 seconds in the time trial. But no matter what Niba will try until its proven once and for all he cant win and that is likely to be just after finishing Angliru.

Wanna bet? Froome put 1,24 into everyone other than Castroviejo last year on similar length course, and seems to have prepared far better this year. I hope it is only 30 seconds to keep Sky honest, but i can't see it at all.

It will be around 1:30, maximum 2 minutes I reckon. No less than 1:15 barring technical issues, both bike and Froome wise.

A let off today all in all, but he had to work hard.

 

[Matteo.]

Re: Re:

At the end only 20s lost. It could end up much worse. By taking the race, I expected at least 40s-50s.
Finally mark these words: he will seek revenge on Saturday. That's for sute

Depends on how bad he is banged up, Nieve said he was ok afterwards, hopefully that is the case. If it he did do damage then I wouldn't be surprised if he loses time as he has done in past, he doesn't recover quickly from crashes.

I do not think there will be consequences. He crashed at a fairly low speed, hitting a bit the shoulder. Legs and back seem ok. During the case he pushed very strong, was not suffering. For me he is fine

 

[Climbing]

He had two crashes though, the first one not on screen, similar to the second one as he said.

 

[Matteo.]

source? news are discordant.

 

[Matteo.]

Mechanical + crash

http://cyclingpub.com/article/2913/Vuelta+a+Espa%C3%B1a+-+Chris+Froome%3A+I%27m+grateful+that+I%27m+not+injured

 

[Climbing]

Re:

source? news are discordant.

The man himself said that in the interview post stage:

"I'm doing OK, thankfully. I'm just grateful they weren't more serious. It's never nice to crash, but in the end I had two teammates with me, they were fantastic - Mikel Nieve and Wout Poels - they helped me all the way to the finish and helped me to limit the losses to the Vincenzo Nibali group. I just slipped, I lost my front wheel in a corner. Same for the second one. Really dry, slippery corners and I just lost my front wheel."

"Of course I don't like to give away time, but I'm grateful it's 20 seconds and not one minute."

 

[GraftPunk]

At least tomorrow could be considered something of a rest day for GC, though low speed crashes, from my experience, are worse the second or third day after for whatever reason. maybe he'll get lucky and the high pace out of the gate we've seen all Vuelta will calm down. I wouldn't count on it though.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

2nd/3rd day after a crash are usually worse than the 1st day. So the weekend could come at an unfortunate time. Race wide open again

 

[deValtos]

AH damn just heard he crashed. Any crash will take a little bit out of you but hopefully what he says is true and he's fine. Usually it's his bike trying to sabotage him but this time it's himeself.

 

[Urbi27]

It wasn't look so bad. I think it won't change anything in next few days. Nibali gain 20 sek, but still hard to believe that someone else then Froome could win this race.

 

[huge]

I think there will be zero consequences for Froome from those two crashes.

He jumped immediately back on the bike and didn't seem to have any difficulties chasing down.

 

[Red Rick]

This is pretty bad for Froome. He's at the point where fading can cost him the race, and fatigue is starting to build up. The crash cost him 3 thigns

Physical harm, he may be hurt and his performance might be affected. My favorite excuse for Contador the last few years, it can happen to Froome too.

He spent a bunch of energy, at a point in the race where you don't want to spend it unnecessarily, especially in your 2nd consecutive GT

He lost time. 20 seconds is unlikely to make the difference, and it might be the least of the problems of what happened today.

But you don't want Nibali close. You don't want to look vulnerable when Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali are there. The 2 riders who give no fucks about 2nd places. He can't fade. Not now.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

2nd/3rd day after a crash are usually worse than the 1st day. So the weekend could come at an unfortunate time. Race wide open again

It honestly looked worse than Quintana's crashes in the Giro. And he was definitely affected.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Pro is ofcourse Froome still has a very strong team

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re:

At the end only 20s lost. It could end up much worse. By taking the race, I expected at least 40s-50s.
Finally mark these words: he will seek revenge on Saturday. That's for sute

I do hope so.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re:

I think there will be zero consequences for Froome from those two crashes.

He jumped immediately back on the bike and didn't seem to have any difficulties chasing down.

This.
Froome: “I think all in all I’m just grateful I’m not more seriously injured and just lost a bit of skln."

 

[Tank Engine]

Re:

At the end only 20s lost. It could end up much worse. By taking the race, I expected at least 40s-50s.
Finally mark these words: he will seek revenge on Saturday. That's for sute

I wouldn't call it revenge, but if he's feeling good on Saturday he will want to impose himself in the finale.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

This is pretty bad for Froome. He's at the point where fading can cost him the race, and fatigue is starting to build up. The crash cost him 3 thigns

Physical harm, he may be hurt and his performance might be affected. My favorite excuse for Contador the last few years, it can happen to Froome too.

He spent a bunch of energy, at a point in the race where you don't want to spend it unnecessarily, especially in your 2nd consecutive GT

He lost time. 20 seconds is unlikely to make the difference, and it might be the least of the problems of what happened today.

But you don't want Nibali close. You don't want to look vulnerable when Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali are there. The 2 riders who give no **** about 2nd places. He can't fade. Not now.

The "mental damage" could be a problem as well. Of course he won't drop on every descent because he is so afraid, but I think if Nibali attacks downhill the insecurity in his head that he crashed twice on a descent could make a little difference.