Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[pink_jersey]

On his insta, there is a pic from 7 days ago with him standing.
I'm not expert, but c'mon, his right leg is looking like the leg of an average person, compared to his left. Also, it still looks swollen I'd say. It's actually strange. I think it's more complicated than we think.

 

[ppanther92]

Not saying I had the same degree of injury as Froome had (not close fortunately) but I also had a pretty severe leg and knee injury some years ago which required two operations and a cast for 6 weeks and clutches for 10 more. Cycling was a part of recovery that was required from me by my physio, so I did that a lot (would have done it anyway though). I certainly struggled a lot the whole year with power output on my injured leg and it was even rather noticeable the next year (visually and performance wise). Then it evened out. No problems today (at least in terms of cycling).

Still I think, that Froome will not improve much. He had now focused solely on recovery and getting back in shape for almost two years with probably the best support one could think of. I am just not seeing it. At all. A bit of a shame, I agree. Never liked him (or actually actively rooted against him, tbh) but would of course now like one last big victory for him, seeing how he struggles. But in my book he is farther away from that than in 2011 before his transformation.

 

[Taxus4a]

He is predicted to be in Tour des Alps and Romandie this month.

 

[geisterhome]

There just seems to be some some permanent damage, that thing with 20% less power, it sounds like it is just not completely reversible cos I remember him saying that he will have to continue to do additional strength training for the rest of his carreer to counteract those imbalances. If he is handicaped like that I dont know how good he can become in terms of being an elite rider on WT level.

 

[Taxus4a]

He wasnt in the main group today, and he lost 5 minutes. It is hard to see no progression. Maybe he was working someway, but anyway... He said in Press conference before the race, he was feeling better.

 

[TMJ]

Unfortunately Chris Froome is not even at the level of what Lance Armstrong calls "packfill".
Today, he finished 5mins and 13secs behind the peloton on a relatively straightforward stage.
He came back to competitive cycling as long ago as February, 2020 and has not noticeably improved.
Maybe Chris can see "progression" but nobody else can.

 

[MatParker117]

If his last win is his last then it's a great one.

 

[yaco]

I posted a few months ago that Froome is barely WT standard - I have no reason to change my mind.

 

[Panda Claws]

Feels like he is sandbagging to be honest. Remember his whole career before 2011? Actor.

 

[Savant12]

Feels like he is sandbagging to be honest. Remember his whole career before 2011? Actor.

I thought Froome looked alright but not great when he last did the Alps race before his Giro win but it's really not looking good right now, in terms, of being competitive for the Tour - never mind winning the thing. I do hope he proves me wrong.

 

[Ripper]

He is not maintaining with the main group on a first and not too challenging stage. This is not progression according to any training methods known to be effective (unless he is going to ride long slow distance all the way to victory). If he suddenly progresses we will not be able to have an honest conversation about it on this thread. He could make a massive improvement and still be nowhere close to where he needs to be.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

It is sad but I do not see any signs of him getting anywhere to his level of the past...

he is supposed to ride the tour no? Going to be humiliating again Pog and Rog.

Maybe if he would accept the old tour wins wont come back and chase stage victories? But even that seems unlikely.

 

[Rackham]

It is sad but I do not see any signs of him getting anywhere to his level of the past...

he is supposed to ride the tour no? Going to be humiliating again Pog and Rog.

Maybe if he would accept the old tour wins wont come back and chase stage victories? But even that seems unlikely.

He should have toned down the ambitious statements (i.e. saying you're going for a 5th Tour when making top 50 will be difficult isn't smart) & he should have negotiated a contract more in line with the ambitions of a recovering former champion (only because public perception is way harsher now than it could have been). But right now he's looking worse & worse to the point where making the time cut in the Tour's more demanding stages could be very difficult. Forget Pog & Rog, that would be total humiliation.

But by that point I'd expect a discrete little "Abandon Christopher Froome" to appear on screen during a stage, far away from motorcycle cameras.

Also, his problem with regards to chasing stages is the fact he never really was a "racer" like Valverde for example (who could still punch & drag himself to victories when he's nowhere near his best) & attacking in small breakaway groups doesn't seem like his specialty either. He used to win with massive watts on the hardest stages. That's cooked now.

 

[PremierAndrew]

He should have toned down the ambitious statements (i.e. saying you're going for a 5th Tour when making top 50 will be difficult isn't smart) & he should have negotiated a contract more in line with the ambitions of a recovering former champion (only because public perception is way harsher now than it could have been). But right now he's looking worse & worse to the point where making the time cut in the Tour's more demanding stages could be very difficult. Forget Pog & Rog, that would be total humiliation.

But by that point I'd expect a discrete little "Abandon Christopher Froome" to appear on screen during a stage, far away from motorcycle cameras.

Also, his problem with regards to chasing stages is the fact he never really was a "racer" like Valverde for example (who could still punch & drag himself to victories when he's nowhere near his best) & attacking in small breakaway groups doesn't seem like his specialty either. He used to win with massive watts on the hardest stages. That's cooked now.

Glad you're not my agent.

"Here's a $5M contract"
"Actually, I would prefer $1M"

 

[Rackham]

Glad you're not my agent.

"Here's a $5M contract"
"Actually, I would prefer $1M"

Within the context of Froome's career, the question is how much money did he already have & is the added responsibility, pressure & team expectation (+ public perception/expectation) worth the extra cash?

I mean from where he was (4x Tour winner with Sky) I'm going to assume $5m (or is it $6m?) might have been little more than pocket change. We're talking about someone who was really wealthy already. Sebastian Vettel in f1 is currently experiencing something a bit similar, i.e. ex-champion earning more than his teammate & performing worse (& getting ridiculed by fans).

Whatever way people spin these types of deals, it's not worth the money IMO. And the reason I mention the money here is because that's "why" Froome is getting roasted. It makes for a juicy story (i.e. overpaid ex champ who bit off way more than he could chew flops badly) & the overall mood online is "let's see where he finishes today & grab some popcorn".

All when public opinion could & should have been "I hope Froome does well because he's really trying hard & making all sorts of sacrifices to race again & get back into shape". The bad optics is all his fault.

 

[bigcog]

Glad you're not my agent.

"Here's a $5M contract"
"Actually, I would prefer $1M"

I guess when he signed the contract he still thought he could come back to his former self, now that is looking very very unlikely but if you're are being paid $5M which will be you're last big pay day what you gonna do, apart from take it while it's there.

 

[BlueRoads]

Yesterday during a broadcast they said something about the team seemingly being able to get out of that contract if he doesn't perform as well as expected. But sounded like rumours.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I am rather sure that Froome is not that bad.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

I think it would have been good if he had agreed on less salary (like 1 million). Of course he had hoped he could come back to his old self, but I am sure by the time he signed that contract he knew he would not.

But not sure he is willing to accept it himself. I saw he was visibly annoyed by the cameras staying with him when he dropped (not sure where it was, catalunya?). This is the price you pay for still being on that big of contract. The expectations are still high.

 

[kingjr]

Within the context of Froome's career, the question is how much money did he already have & is the added responsibility, pressure & team expectation (+ public perception/expectation) worth the extra cash?

I don't think these are a problem for him.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

I am rather sure that Froome is not that bad.

How exactly?

 

[Eeslliw]

Guys, can you imagine if Froome is realy acting and comes to Tour smashing everybody. People's head would explode. I need to refill my popcorn stock for summer.

 

[ppanther92]

I am rather sure that Froome is not that bad.

And I am rather sure he is. What is the point in purposefully missing the TdF team last year, losing his Ineos contract, and now getting immense pressure by the team, media and fans? The only half reasonable argument would be that he is considered an outsider with more leeway at the Tour but even if we assume this is indeed the plan, I think he would be hurting his and the team's confidence in a way that cannot be outweighed by the outsider status with getting no results at all.

 

[perico]

Guys, can you imagine if Froome is realy acting and comes to Tour smashing everybody. People's head would explode. I need to refill my popcorn stock for summer.

The only rider I can remember who looked as bad as Froome does now and then won the Tour was LeMond, and even he started to show some form in the 3rd week of the Giro in 1989 (though he was thought to be even worse off in 1990 and still won).

LeMond was in his prime though.

Everyone else usually showed at least a glimpse of form beforehand. Ullrich always looked terrible but he would still be near the front in the TTs before the Tour. Contador may have come from the beach to win the 2008 Giro, but he’d been winning all year prior to his break, and finished in the Top 10 of his only race before he won the 2012 Vuelta, and he was the dominant rider all year before is injury prior to the 2014 Vuelta. Pantani was climbing well in the 3rd week of the 2000 Giro.

This is more like Merckx in his final year or two. It would be rather pathetic if their prior results didn’t demand your respect.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Rest assured he still has something to show.