Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Froome is always ready in July.

Most Tour winners are ready in July until the day they are not ...and alot dont see that day coming
"Indurain lache"

Of course. He has to have a mediocre performance some time. But are the non Sky rivals better than last year ? I still think the biggest rival will probably be on his own team riding for him. Dumoulin doing the Giro along with Yates and Roglic. Who is left as a major rival ? At this stage it's more about Froome deteriorating. Too many of the best rivals backing up from the Giro can only help Froome.

My guess is that a lot depends on the TTT *puke*. Adam Yates and Enric Mas may be close in that too. But then Yates just managed to drop 25s in a 10km TT.

But really if Dumoulin or Roglic would've fully gone for the Tour they would've been the #1 favorite in my opinion.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Froome is always ready in July.

Most Tour winners are ready in July until the day they are not ...and alot dont see that day coming
"Indurain lache"

Of course. He has to have a mediocre performance some time. But are the non Sky rivals better than last year ? I still think the biggest rival will probably be on his own team riding for him. Dumoulin doing the Giro along with Yates and Roglic. Who is left as a major rival ? At this stage it's more about Froome deteriorating. Too many of the best rivals backing up from the Giro can only help Froome.

My guess is that a lot depends on the TTT *puke*. Adam Yates and Enric Mas may be close in that too. But then Yates just managed to drop 25s in a 10km TT.

But really if Dumoulin or Roglic would've fully gone for the Tour they would've been the #1 favorite in my opinion.

Dumolin may have been co favourite with Froome, Roglic a little lower. Bardet and Quintana are too inconsistent and Thomas will be Sky's back up I suppose. Yates and Mas will be podium possibilities. Pinot will probably look good for 2.5 weeks. Porte may be top five again if he stays upright.

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

Meanwhile on planet earth Froome almost completed the Giro Tour double last year, had his most convincing GT win ever, and has guys like Dumo literally sh*tting in their bibs. We should be talking about Bernal being his biggest competition not Dumo or TFMGT

 

[Red Rick]

Most convincing GT win is crashing twice, being 3 minutes down with 2 stages to go and winning by 40 seconds?

 

[yaco]

Posted last year that Froome could suffer from riding four consecutive GT's - The jury is out.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Posted last year that Froome could suffer from riding four consecutive GT's - The jury is out.

I don't think the jury is out by any stretch of the imagination. Froome hasn't really contested the spring for a while now, and I believe he's coming off a rest period or something.

I don't think we can make any judgment until the Dauphine.

If anything I think the long lay off after the Tour may also have played a part.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Posted last year that Froome could suffer from riding four consecutive GT's - The jury is out.

I don't think the jury is out by any stretch of the imagination. Froome hasn't really contested the spring for a while now, and I believe he's coming off a rest period or something.

I don't think we can make any judgment until the Dauphine.

If anything I think the long lay off after the Tour may also have played a part.

VMT. Froome could finish well off the pace in every race until the end of June, and he'd still be the favourite for the Tour imo. It's pretty clear by now that he knows exactly how his body responds and how to peak when it matters most.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Posted last year that Froome could suffer from riding four consecutive GT's - The jury is out.

I don't think the jury is out by any stretch of the imagination. Froome hasn't really contested the spring for a while now, and I believe he's coming off a rest period or something.

I don't think we can make any judgment until the Dauphine.

If anything I think the long lay off after the Tour may also have played a part.

VMT. Froome could finish well off the pace in every race until the end of June, and he'd still be the favourite for the Tour imo. It's pretty clear by now that he knows exactly how his body responds and how to peak when it matters most.

Lol. He is not Andy Schleck.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Posted last year that Froome could suffer from riding four consecutive GT's - The jury is out.

I don't think the jury is out by any stretch of the imagination. Froome hasn't really contested the spring for a while now, and I believe he's coming off a rest period or something.

I don't think we can make any judgment until the Dauphine.

If anything I think the long lay off after the Tour may also have played a part.

VMT. Froome could finish well off the pace in every race until the end of June, and he'd still be the favourite for the Tour imo. It's pretty clear by now that he knows exactly how his body responds and how to peak when it matters most.

Lol. He is not Andy Schleck.

Well, no. He's almost certainly not going to do a mini-peak for the Ardennes, finish 2nd in the Tour and then flunk the Vuelta. So no, he's not Andy Schleck.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Posted last year that Froome could suffer from riding four consecutive GT's - The jury is out.

I don't think the jury is out by any stretch of the imagination. Froome hasn't really contested the spring for a while now, and I believe he's coming off a rest period or something.

I don't think we can make any judgment until the Dauphine.

If anything I think the long lay off after the Tour may also have played a part.

VMT. Froome could finish well off the pace in every race until the end of June, and he'd still be the favourite for the Tour imo. It's pretty clear by now that he knows exactly how his body responds and how to peak when it matters most.

Being gruppetto in Dauphine would definitely be unpredented if we are to ignore the days he carried water bottles for 3rd rate sprinters.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Posted last year that Froome could suffer from riding four consecutive GT's - The jury is out.

I don't think the jury is out by any stretch of the imagination. Froome hasn't really contested the spring for a while now, and I believe he's coming off a rest period or something.

I don't think we can make any judgment until the Dauphine.

If anything I think the long lay off after the Tour may also have played a part.

VMT. Froome could finish well off the pace in every race until the end of June, and he'd still be the favourite for the Tour imo. It's pretty clear by now that he knows exactly how his body responds and how to peak when it matters most.

Lol. He is not Andy Schleck.

Well, no. He's almost certainly not going to do a mini-peak for the Ardennes, finish 2nd in the Tour and then flunk the Vuelta. So no, he's not Andy Schleck.

My point is that he is never usually as bad as Andy almost was outside the Ardennes and Tour. He would often be among the sprinters in the gruppetto in Tour de Suisse, and two weeks later he was the best climber in the world.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

My point is that he is never usually as bad as Andy almost was outside the Ardennes and Tour. He would often be among the sprinters in the gruppetto in Tour de Suisse, and two weeks later he was the best climber in the world.

Oh yeah, I completely agree. I don't think Froome will be that bad by the Dauphine either. But if he was, I still would expect him to be flying in the Tour. I assume he's got his eyes on another Tour-Vuelta double and has just modified his programme slightly to take into account not doing the Vuelta last year (for the first time in years).

 

[Red Rick]

Finished 26'55 down today.

 

[del1962]

If Froome is not on the top 5 in Dauphine then I don't think he will be challenging for Tour,

 

[Brullnux]

Why has Froome dropped to pre transformation form?

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Why has Froome dropped to pre transformation form?

It’s more that he’s dropped into the Nibali transformation of treating most stage races like training rides over the past few years. I expect nothing from him until the Dauphine to be honest.

 

[Sestriere]

Re: Re:

Why has Froome dropped to pre transformation form?

It’s more that he’s dropped into the Nibali transformation of treating most stage races like training rides over the past few years. I expect nothing from him until the Dauphine to be honest.

Well to be fair, Nibali might treat one weak stage races as preparation since 2014 but he does never finish in the Gruppetto. He always fights on the difficult stages (finishes usually ~ Top 20) and when there's nothing to fight for himself, he helps his team - even in the sprint train on flat stages. I have never seen Nibali ride Gruppetto except on very few occasions like Vuelta 2018 or Poland 2013 maybe.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Why has Froome dropped to pre transformation form?

It’s more that he’s dropped into the Nibali transformation of treating most stage races like training rides over the past few years. I expect nothing from him until the Dauphine to be honest.

Well to be fair, Nibali might treat one weak stage races as preparation since 2014 but he does never finish in the Gruppetto. He always fights on the difficult stages (finishes usually ~ Top 20) and when there's nothing to fight for himself, he helps his team - even in the sprint train on flat stages. I have never seen Nibali ride Gruppetto except on very few occasions like Vuelta 2018 or Poland 2013 maybe.

Yeah and I think that's much the same as many other 'GT only' dudes who don't really show up in the other stage races.

 

[Koronin]

Well one of the guys who was in the gruppetto was surprised to see Froome show up there. Surgio Samitier posted a picture of Froome near him in the gruppetto and said something about surprised to see him there.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

Why has Froome dropped to pre transformation form?

It’s more that he’s dropped into the Nibali transformation of treating most stage races like training rides over the past few years. I expect nothing from him until the Dauphine to be honest.

Well to be fair, Nibali might treat one weak stage races as preparation since 2014 but he does never finish in the Gruppetto. He always fights on the difficult stages (finishes usually ~ Top 20) and when there's nothing to fight for himself, he helps his team - even in the sprint train on flat stages. I have never seen Nibali ride Gruppetto except on very few occasions like Vuelta 2018 or Poland 2013 maybe.

Nibali finished 6 minutes ahead of Froome today...



Antonio Nibali that is.

 

[Robert5091]

Froome's still recovering from the crash yesterday and still not in shape like the guys going for the Giro. He'll ride with his ol' bud LRP and reminisce.

 

[ppanther92]

Re: Re:

My point is that he is never usually as bad as Andy almost was outside the Ardennes and Tour. He would often be among the sprinters in the gruppetto in Tour de Suisse, and two weeks later he was the best climber in the world.

That never happened though. Andy's results in his "good" Tour years (2008-2011) were 6th, 24th, 14th and 19th in the Tour de Suisse. It was usually his soft awakening result wise.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

Why has Froome dropped to pre transformation form?

It’s more that he’s dropped into the Nibali transformation of treating most stage races like training rides over the past few years. I expect nothing from him until the Dauphine to be honest.

Well to be fair, Nibali might treat one weak stage races as preparation since 2014 but he does never finish in the Gruppetto. He always fights on the difficult stages (finishes usually ~ Top 20) and when there's nothing to fight for himself, he helps his team - even in the sprint train on flat stages. I have never seen Nibali ride Gruppetto except on very few occasions like Vuelta 2018 or Poland 2013 maybe.

Yes agreed, but usually Froome is around that level too, in Romandie and Catalunya he was 18th and 30th on GC in 2017, while last year at Tirreno he was 34th, while just sneaking a top 10 in Ruta del Sol, 2 minutes back. It's difficult to read too much into it after yesterdays crash.

 

[movingtarget]

Comparing Schleck to Froome is laughable. Andy was a notorious soft pedaler outside April and July. it's like comparing a vegetarian to a carnivore. Froome wants to win most races he competes in. Froome often loses skin in crashes but compared to others he is quite lucky. No broken collarbones etc........

 

[JosephK]

Don't worry. Le Dawg will be skeleton-lean in July and will treat all rivals like he treated Contador on Mt. Ventoux in the 2013 TDF.