Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Big Doopie]

Re: Re:

What is the longest consecutive Grand Tour GC win streak? It is hard to tell at glance from Grand Tour win tables since the dates have moved over the years, and some years when various races were not contested.

A lot longer than 2 Contador had 6 for one, 4 if you count paper victories only

10? merckx?

69 giro - dq-ed

69 tdf
70 giro
70 tdf
71 tdf
72 giro
72 tdf
73 vuelta
73 giro
74 giro
74 tdf

75 tdf - lost to thevenet

 

[roundabout]

Re:

I mean without missing a contested Grand Tour - not just ones a rider entered, for example. And not consecutive editions of a single tour. So if Froome wins this Vuelta, then the Giro next year that is 3.

Merckx had 4 then in 72-73.

 

[Tank Engine]

Re: Re:

What is the longest consecutive Grand Tour GC win streak? It is hard to tell at glance from Grand Tour win tables since the dates have moved over the years, and some years when various races were not contested.

A lot longer than 2 Contador had 6 for one, 4 if you count paper victories only

But Contador's victories were successive in GTs in which he took part. From the context, the original question referred to successive GTs. To win at least 5 in a row, you would have to win at some point all 3 GTs in a year. I don't think anybody has done that. As Rounabout states above, Merkcx won 4 in a row (Giro-Tour '72, Vuelta-Giro '73 -at that time the Vuelta was the first GT of the season).

p.s. Strictly speaking, since in some years one or more GTs did not take place, the above statement is not true. However, since these occurrences tended to coincide with wars which lasted several years,it is true for practical purposes

 

[Matteo.]

Yet another intelligent and beautifully measured ride.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Tim Kerrison's
training regime has equipped Froomey so well to attempt
the historic Tour-Vuelta double considering they almost did
it last year with a trip to Rio thrown in as well. Still some very
significant tests remaining, but I think that Froome and Team SKY
must be confident that they have done the proper training to ready
them for the monumental task at hand over the final days of this race.

Parklife

Shouldn't have read your reply whilst drinking my coffee, nearly coffee everywhere! I LOL'd :lol:

Back to Froome, gaps as expected in my opinion, it does bode well that he was so strong in the second half of the TT though, hopefully this indicates his condition is still good and he won't fade.

it's my thought. The fact that he increases the speed (And gaps) in the second part could indicate he still has a very good shape.

 

[Lv426]

You must read what I said and not put your own spin on it . Contador in 2014 was the stronger rider and don't forget before the vuelta Bertie crashed and injured his knee ,Froome had a sore wrist :lol: .
This was still not Bertie at his best . It was good enough but definitely not as strong as he had been previously. If your talking about Bertie say at discovery etc he would decimate today's field .
That's my view . I'm happy for you Froome fan boys he's a very good rider. But not that good.SImple he gets beat on climbs plenty of times never dominates like Armstrong did and Armstrong,Bertie, etc had top class rivals. Froome has none and still gets beat on climbs . He has to rely on his TT . Don't forget Quintana only lost to Froome in the tour a while back because of a wind split . He completely out climbed him . No wind split and Quintana would have been a tour winner. The competition is so poor ,it's getting weaker , Froome now gets into the 3rd week not so tired where is first few tours he got dropped in the last week. Competition is just poor nowhere near as good Landis , Hamilton ,Ulrich . Chicken, Evans, Pantani ,Schleck ,etc riders that on top form would seriously damage any train and leave Froome looking at their rear wheels going into the distance....

It's not a matter of being a fanboy, it's a matter of reality. Froome did dominate the 2013 Tour like Armstrong used to dominate is his glory days, or Contador in 2009.

Quintana did outclimb a sick Froome, while being unable to drop or match an healthy Froome for 18 stages.

No , it's always excuses when Froome gets beat. I make no excuses for Bertie. He is past his best and yet still can put the hurt into anyone. Rembember his attack that Froome couldn't live with and Quintana got a free ride to a grand tour win? Froome can not attack like that . He relies on his team . No team I doubt he would have any GT wins under his belt. Only recently Landa made him look like the 2nd best rider at SKY. Let's hope we get riders like Aru step up and perform like he did when he won the Vuelta and we start to see some real racing instead of bots riding bikes.

No, it's always excuses when AC gets beaten. Froome applauded Quintana in the penultimate stage of 2016 Vuelta and accepted defeat.



When AC gets dropped there's always excuses by AC the man himself.
And please don't give the Landa examples on Froome. If there's one rider Landa has humiliated on the climbs, it is AC himself in 2015 Giro.

I make no excuses . Bertie is not the rider of old. I remember when he crashed in the tour and he had scars all over his knees yet a lot of people accused him of not being that badly injured, the scars certainly tell a different story. I think the anti Bertie brigade look to pick him apart and it's very petty.

As for Landa, I recall Bertie bringing back the Astana machine on a mountain by himself. Also that was the year he tried to do the real double and only did what he needed to do to win. If you look at his performance in the tour that year it was very good considering the hurt Astana tried to put in him. Landa is on the same team as Froome, Bertie was not. Team domestic being stronger than the team leader on climbs :redface:

Froome was very good today . It's his strongest part of any GT.

 

[Lv426]

He has to rely on his TT .

He relies on his team.

Please make up your mind

This is very petty. We know Froome has a great TT and always gains time on his main rivals. That sets him up to be in a position where his team mates set the tempo and he follows. So yes to both

 

[Poursuivant]

Re:

How likely is it that he the *only* rider doing the Tour-Vuelta double that is not fading significantly?

Contador is stronger in this Vuelta that he was in Tour

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

How likely is it that he the *only* rider doing the Tour-Vuelta double that is not fading significantly?

Contador is stronger in this Vuelta that he was in Tour

We don't really know how good Contador was in the Tour. He was either affected by crashes, or attacking from a long way out.

 

[samhocking]

Yet another intelligent and beautifully measured ride.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Tim Kerrison's
training regime has equipped Froomey so well to attempt
the historic Tour-Vuelta double considering they almost did
it last year with a trip to Rio thrown in as well. Still some very
significant tests remaining, but I think that Froome and Team SKY
must be confident that they have done the proper training to ready
them for the monumental task at hand over the final days of this race.

Parklife

Shouldn't have read your reply whilst drinking my coffee, nearly coffee everywhere! I LOL'd :lol:

Back to Froome, gaps as expected in my opinion, it does bode well that he was so strong in the second half of the TT though, hopefully this indicates his condition is still good and he won't fade.

it's my thought. The fact that he increases the speed (And gaps) in the second part could indicate he still has a very good shape.

All things being typical, riding a negative split (finish last half faster than you did the first) is the faster way to ride a TT. Unless the conditions demand it, a positive split usually means you could have ridden faster. The principle is the same in the mountains. Attack the group on lower slopes and you'll ride with a positive split. Ride it more like a negative split TT (Wiggins, Froome, Indurain etc) and you should climb faster than the attacking rider all things being typical.

 

[telencefalus]

Re: Re:

i cannot understand why people say that is giro tour is more difficult than tour vuelta , there are few days for recovering just 26 against 33 and the competion at la vuelta is WAY higher in last years compare to the tour de france , you can't deny it , la vuelta is not a race for spanish guys only , maybe it's the most contested grand tour of the seasonin the last 5 years

Since you find it difficult to grasp I will give you the easy reason. Giro = everyone fresh. Tour = everyone fresh. Vuelta = nobody fresh. Level at the Tour/Giro over climbs longer than 5km = higher than Vuelta. Less form needed to win Vuelta. Everyone tired and fatigued already at Vuelta. Competition does not equal difficulty.

who tells you that at vuelta everybody are not fresh , it's pretty nonsense , Kelderman was resting , also Nibali , also Zakarin , Chaves was riding a tour with the sprint guys , Lopez not even a grand tour , i think vuelta is difficult because the giro guys that not win or underpermored wants to win as for the tour guys that not win or underperformed , so for Froome to beat those two types of riders very motivated is pretty impressive, more to me than win giro tour

 

[deValtos]

Bad day for Froome, I doubt the weather helped. What's the forecast for the rest of the week and especially Angliru stage?

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Bad day for Froome, I doubt the weather helped. What's the forecast for the rest of the week and especially Angliru stage?

Very bad day, doesn't bode well for Saturday.

Sunny the next 2 days I believe but haven't checked the weeekend yet.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Bad day for Froome, I doubt the weather helped. What's the forecast for the rest of the week and especially Angliru stage?

Very bad day, doesn't bode well for Saturday.

Sunny the next 2 days I believe but haven't checked the weeekend yet.

17ºC, raining in Asturias on Saturday :lol:

 

[Matteo.]

looking for a bad day. bad weather gave him the final shot. after yesterday's crunch, it seems to me hard to collapse so badly.
Tomorrow will say more

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

Bad day for Froome, I doubt the weather helped. What's the forecast for the rest of the week and especially Angliru stage?

Very bad day, doesn't bode well for Saturday.

Sunny the next 2 days I believe but haven't checked the weeekend yet.

17ºC, raining in Asturias on Saturday :lol:

Just what I wanted to hear!

 

[TMP402]

I'd give him a less than 50% chance of winning at this point.

 

[bambino]

Re:

I'd give him a less than 50% chance of winning at this point.

That is a bit silly. He still is at least 80% favorite.

 

[spalco]

Re:

I'd give him a less than 50% chance of winning at this point.

I agree, couple of hard stages coming up, and then Angliru, where a minute lead means nothing if the legs are weak...

His saving grace might be that while Nibali looks strong, he doesn't look superhuman, but it will be really close.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

I'd give him a less than 50% chance of winning at this point.

I agree, couple of hard stages coming up, and then Angliru, where a minute lead means nothing if the legs are weak...

His saving grace might be that while Nibali looks strong, he doesn't look superhuman, but it will be really close.

I think everyone is tired at this point, at least he limited his losses reasonably well. He was already at least 20s behind Nibali with 5k to go, so only lost 20s over that really steep 3k section, and of course he still has by far the strongest team here.

Main thing for Froome is to not get caught out over the next 2 stages.

 

[Matteo.]

anyway be careful , froome did not cut the finish line as dead. did not seem to have gone into red so deep

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

I'd give him a less than 50% chance of winning at this point.

I agree, couple of hard stages coming up, and then Angliru, where a minute lead means nothing if the legs are weak...

His saving grace might be that while Nibali looks strong, he doesn't look superhuman, but it will be really close.

I think everyone is tired at this point, at least he limited his losses reasonably well. He was already at least 20s behind Nibali with 5k to go, so only lost 20s over that really steep 3k section, and of course he still has by far the strongest team here.

Main thing for Froome is to not get caught out over the next 2 stages.

His team help him a lot in the last kms. He would have lost more than a minute without moscon and nieve

 

[bambino]

Re:

anyway be careful , froome did not cut the finish line as dead. did not seem to have gone into red so deep

One symptom of fading is that you can't take yourself to the limit anymore...

 

[DFA123]

Looks like Froome should have followed his own advice, and not gone so hard in the TT yesterday.

 

[PremierAndrew]

I'd still say Froome is favourite, but it's going to be close. If his TT yesterday had been bad, I'd probably give him less than 50% chance, but it's possible it was just a bad day today.
That said, the placement of the Angliru couldn't be worse for Froome.

Either Nibali or Froome is going to lose their second Vuelta on the Angliru on Saturday

 

[telencefalus]

Froome has a very strong team , but i think that he will win even without it , if the fact that he was not going into red today is true