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even most wonderful fairytales sooner or later end. congrats to those who feel kinda relief about froome's streak finally getting interrupted. 
rick james
BANNED
he won't go to the podium too much boo , for him a ban for the vuelta AAF was going to be better than this deserved boo
Not been a great couple of days for the French police. Violent and incompetent is not a great combination.
Froome is finished as a Tour contender. Thomas sure as Hell won't be leaving Sky now. He'll be team leader for next year's Tour and Froome will have the same unenviable choice Wiggins had - either be prepared to play a support role or lump it. I can't see a four time Tour/six time GT winner being prepared to play second fiddle to anyone so I guess he'll do the latter.
Either way I suspect this is the end for Froome as a serious Tour contender, even if he joins a new team, which will inevitably be weaker. I doubt Froome will do a Wiggins and spend four years generally poncing about on the bike doing lucrative but, with the odd exception, mainly meaningless stuff, content to pick up fat appearance fees. Froome is better than that.
Either way I suspect this is the end for Froome as a serious Tour contender, even if he joins a new team, which will inevitably be weaker. I doubt Froome will do a Wiggins and spend four years generally poncing about on the bike doing lucrative but, with the odd exception, mainly meaningless stuff, content to pick up fat appearance fees. Froome is better than that.
Re:
Yeah, it's a bit premature to write him off. The guy is holding all three titles right now, and it's not like he's done an Indurain on Port Larrau to suggest his legs have suddenly gone.MuskyOurSaviour said:
i don't believe for a second Froome is finish, this is his 4th GT in a row and he's still 3rd (might finish 4th, but still). If he focusses on Tour completely next year you can pretty much believable he'll be winning or close to winning.
Expect next year he will concentrate on tour, dual leadership again, but no Giro in his legs
I think that's a bit premature. In the Giro he destroyed the second best GT rider at the moment, and he's on his way to the best double attempt in 20 years. That said, Sky do have a bit to think about for next year's GT's.mr61% said:
You would be FOOL if you count the magic Kenyan out!!
remember when everybody said he was done during Il Giro?
then on the 3rd week, the magic Kenyan "pulled a Finestre" .......
that "Finestre" might come disguised in the last ITT, if not before.....
remember when everybody said he was done during Il Giro?
then on the 3rd week, the magic Kenyan "pulled a Finestre" .......
that "Finestre" might come disguised in the last ITT, if not before.....
Doing four GT’s on the bounce (and winning three of them), was always a big ask.
As for him being done, as others have said, this has been getting put forward year on year. His time will end eventually, but I think he still has a good few years left in him. I think he will be back in 2019 to target the Tour.
As for him being done, as others have said, this has been getting put forward year on year. His time will end eventually, but I think he still has a good few years left in him. I think he will be back in 2019 to target the Tour.
mr61% said:
Wiggins won the World ITT, an Olympic Gold and took the hour record. Furthermore, he tried (albeit failing miserably) to win the Giro. Hardly meaningless stuff.
And not forgetting the greatest of all his post 2012 achievements, his Knowsley Safari Park ITT triumphKing Of The Wolds said:
, which is what the joke 2013 Tour of Britain effectively came down to.Froome has conceded, FWIW:
https://www.velonews.com/2018/07/tour-de-france/froome-concedes-tour-vows-to-support-thomas_473160
But I wouldn’t write him off yet. Winning the Tour is not likely, but the odds against it are not as great as they appeared before that Giro stage. Since the leader is his teammate, he can attack at any time, and Thomas won’t follow unless Dumo does. And judging from Roglic’s attack today, Dumo might let Froome get well up the road before responding.
Froome doesn’t need to gain three minutes on stage 19. One minute on Dumo and Thomas might be enough going into the ITT. They both look very strong now, but so did Simon Yates until near the end. It’s very hard to predict what a rider will have left for the next stage after a hard effort on the previous one.
I think the biggest problem for Froome is that stage 19 doesn’t lend itself well to a long-range attack. Suppose he got away on the Tourmalet. Dumo should not have to wait for support, other podium contenders like Roglic and Quintana will chase. And the final two climbs have some relatively shallow portions, where a lone rider is going to be at a big disadvantage relative to a small group of chasers.
https://www.velonews.com/2018/07/tour-de-france/froome-concedes-tour-vows-to-support-thomas_473160
But I wouldn’t write him off yet. Winning the Tour is not likely, but the odds against it are not as great as they appeared before that Giro stage. Since the leader is his teammate, he can attack at any time, and Thomas won’t follow unless Dumo does. And judging from Roglic’s attack today, Dumo might let Froome get well up the road before responding.
Froome doesn’t need to gain three minutes on stage 19. One minute on Dumo and Thomas might be enough going into the ITT. They both look very strong now, but so did Simon Yates until near the end. It’s very hard to predict what a rider will have left for the next stage after a hard effort on the previous one.
I think the biggest problem for Froome is that stage 19 doesn’t lend itself well to a long-range attack. Suppose he got away on the Tourmalet. Dumo should not have to wait for support, other podium contenders like Roglic and Quintana will chase. And the final two climbs have some relatively shallow portions, where a lone rider is going to be at a big disadvantage relative to a small group of chasers.
rick james
BANNED
Froome isn't going to win any time.
I know people will come with "but in the Giro". Yes, in the Giro Froome lost a lot of time because he was injured early on and it took a while for him to recover. Once recovered however, he was able to win back that time.
Here, it's not injury, it's clear fatigue. Fatigue built up from 4 gt's in a row. It's different, he can't magically improve or get less worse than his opponents. He isn't going to win back time on anyone ahead of him or just behind (Roglic) unless they really collapse.
I know people will come with "but in the Giro". Yes, in the Giro Froome lost a lot of time because he was injured early on and it took a while for him to recover. Once recovered however, he was able to win back that time.
Here, it's not injury, it's clear fatigue. Fatigue built up from 4 gt's in a row. It's different, he can't magically improve or get less worse than his opponents. He isn't going to win back time on anyone ahead of him or just behind (Roglic) unless they really collapse.
I dont know, we could be witnessing the end of an era. I obviously hope that to be true since Id rather see Sky support Bernal in the mountains which would mean a much more aggressive strategy in the mountains -. like using the team to absolutely blow up the race. Sky has done that exactly three times the last 5 times Froome has ridden the TdF as captain, exluding 2014: 2013 and 2015-2018. These stages have been Ax-3-Domaines and Ventoux in 2013 and LPSM in 2015. Rest of the stages they have used their team to control the race which often results in bad racing. When they blow up the race and Froome feels good, its the best TV imagineable. Yes, despite Froome winning - same with Lance. We wanna see big time gaps and riders hurting and at that point, I dont really care who wins.
Maybe its all wishfull thinking, but nobody has defeated father time. Even Valverde (lets wait for the Vuelta tho) and Michael Jordan must admit that.
Maybe its all wishfull thinking, but nobody has defeated father time. Even Valverde (lets wait for the Vuelta tho) and Michael Jordan must admit that.
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