Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[bigcog]

If I remember the whole saga correctly, didn't he have a high VO2 max when tested at UCI training centre in Switzerland in 2008 , although I remember various people trying to rubbish that at the time. Anyway presumably he could get it back up to about 80 when at his current peak, so that's about a 10% decrease. I think people underestimate the serious of his crash so I wouldn't be surprised at all if it had dropped by that much, you still have to push the peddles when doing the test so any reduction in efficiency due to muscle, ligament and bone damage presumably would impact it.

 

[gillan1969]

Chris really is an outlier Talking of which, does anybody have his CQ points tally when he won Spain in '11? I'm postulating he must be the lowest ranked rider to ever win a GT and it would be nice to know the scale of that incredible achievement by comparing that to the next lowest and/or average?

 

[tonymikejoe]

Chris really is an outlier Talking of which, does anybody have his CQ points tally when he won Spain in '11? I'm postulating he must be the lowest ranked rider to ever win a GT and it would be nice to know the scale of that incredible achievement by comparing that to the next lowest and/or average?

Well, I don't think this is quite what you're looking for, but when Chris Froome entered the 2011 Vuelta he had one solitary UCI point to his name for that season.
It was awarded for finishing twelfth (he was the last of a dozen breakaway riders to cross the line) in Stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Well, I don't think this is quite what you're looking for, but when Chris Froome entered the 2011 Vuelta he had one solitary UCI point to his name for that season.
It was awarded for finishing twelfth (he was the last of a dozen breakaway riders to cross the line) in Stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse.

Like I said before, at the time Team GB was happy about the 1 point he earned as it helped their quest to 9 riders at WC but they weren’t expecting any more from him.

 

[Squire]

Chris really is an outlier Talking of which, does anybody have his CQ points tally when he won Spain in '11? I'm postulating he must be the lowest ranked rider to ever win a GT and it would be nice to know the scale of that incredible achievement by comparing that to the next lowest and/or average?

Froome started the 2011 Vuelta with a total of 688 CQ points accumulated throughout his career.

Damiano Cunego had scored 685 CQ points in his career when he started the 2004 Giro, which he won.

When Froome actually won his first GT on the road he had 4303 CQ points to his name pre-race, so in terms of being an un-asterisked GT winner with a low CQ points tally, he is beaten by quite a number of riders. Most notably Aitor Gonzalez, who comes closest to Cunego in this respect by starting the 2002 Vuelta with a total of 1327 CQ points.

Froome is also not the GT podium finisher with the lowest amount of CQ points. Aru had 629 points before the 2014 Giro. Andy Schleck had 526 points before the 2007 Giro. José Rujano had 409 points before the 2005 Giro. Santiago Perez had 478 points before the 2004 Vuelta. Yaroslav Popovych had 601 points before the 2003 Giro.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Froome started the 2011 Vuelta with a total of 688 CQ points accumulated throughout his career.

Damiano Cunego had scored 685 CQ points in his career when he started the 2004 Giro, which he won.

When Froome actually won his first GT on the road he had 4303 CQ points to his name pre-race, so in terms of being an un-asterisked GT winner with a low CQ points tally, he is beaten by quite a number of riders. Most notably Aitor Gonzalez, who comes closest to Cunego in this respect by starting the 2002 Vuelta with a total of 1327 CQ points.

Froome is also not the GT podium finisher with the lowest amount of CQ points. Aru had 629 points before the 2014 Giro. Andy Schleck had 526 points before the 2007 Giro. José Rujano had 409 points before the 2005 Giro. Santiago Perez had 478 points before the 2004 Vuelta. Yaroslav Popovych had 601 points before the 2003 Giro.

Where does Vingegaard stack up?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Froome started the 2011 Vuelta with a total of 688 CQ points accumulated throughout his career.

Damiano Cunego had scored 685 CQ points in his career when he started the 2004 Giro, which he won.

When Froome actually won his first GT on the road he had 4303 CQ points to his name pre-race, so in terms of being an un-asterisked GT winner with a low CQ points tally, he is beaten by quite a number of riders. Most notably Aitor Gonzalez, who comes closest to Cunego in this respect by starting the 2002 Vuelta with a total of 1327 CQ points.

Froome is also not the GT podium finisher with the lowest amount of CQ points. Aru had 629 points before the 2014 Giro. Andy Schleck had 526 points before the 2007 Giro. José Rujano had 409 points before the 2005 Giro. Santiago Perez had 478 points before the 2004 Vuelta. Yaroslav Popovych had 601 points before the 2003 Giro.

Cunego was 22 and had done 1 GT, in his third season on a pro team.
Aru was 23 and had done 1 GT, in his second season on a pro team.
Andy Schleck was 21 in his debut GT, in his third season on a pro team.
Rujano was 23 in his debut GT, had barely raced outside South America and was on his third season on a ProConti team.
Popovych was 23 and had done 1 GT, in his second season on a pro team.
Pérez is the outlier, 27 and in his 5th GT, although in fairness he had crashed out of his first two by half distance.
Froome was 26, in his 4th GT, in his fifth pro season and fourth in a higher level team.

For the earlier guys like Aitor González it's a bit more difficult to gauge accurately because of the lack of scores from 1998 back, although I don't think that would change too much in his particular case.

The other thing you could look at is the number of points that year prior to the GT, obviously bearing in mind when in the season those races are too.

Cunego had 396 points in 2004 prior to the Giro
Aru had 78 points in 2014 prior to the Giro
Schleck had 133 points in 2007 prior to the Giro
Rujano had 273 points in 2005 prior to the Giro (helped a lot by the inflated status of Langkawi)
Pérez had 109 points in 2004 prior to the Vuelta
Froome had 62 points in 2011 prior to the Vuelta
González had 649 points in 2002 prior to the Vuelta

 

[gillan1969]

thanks to the above for the stats...interesting reading

 

[tonymikejoe]

We get this at the start of every season with Christopher Clive Froome.

Previous examples have included words to the effect of: "I'm getting back into the rhythm of the racing;" "I'm building up my form;" "I just need to get the K's in the legs;" "I still dream of winning a fifth Tour de France."

His Israel team also claimed his "numbers" were as good as ever when he signed with them.

Now here we are with 2023 approaching and Froome has just treated us to some new quotes for the New Year : "It's great to get back into regular training. My body feels so much cleaner, everything's starting to work better, I'm less sluggish, more energy. I don't know if it's just those endorphins that I really missed but it feels great to be back training."

Does anyone on here honestly believe we are truly going to see Chris Froome anywhere near his all-time best? Maybe even a little off his peak, but sufficient to at least challenge in a quality race stage?

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

I doubt there will be.
But I wouldn't be surprised if he actually believed in it himself.

 

[glassmoon]

I doubt there will be.
But I wouldn't be surprised if he actually believed in it himself.

i doubt he's really so delusional about himself... he's just peddling the same BS every year just to get some media attention/hype cause it's good for business

 

[IndianCyclist]

B for bilharzia 2011
C for Covid 2022
Waiting for the D 2033

 

[SHAD0W93]

calling the guy out by his full name.

B for bilharzia 2011
C for Covid 2022
Waiting for the D 2033

Hopefully not D for what I first thought of…

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Chris hasn't said his last word yet. He realizes that matching Pog and Vigne may be too much but he is still motivated by older guys' results i.e. G's 3rd place at the Tour.

Chris Froome says Geraint Thomas' Tour de France podium stokes his motivation: 'I haven't said the last word yet'

Four-time Tour de France winner confirms season debut at Tour Down Under, but waiting on sidelines for WorldTour status.

www.velonews.com

So see you on the Tour podium, Chris!

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Oops Chris.
no UCI WorldTour

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/israel-premier-tech-lotto-soudal-relegated-from-worldtour-uci-confirms/

 

[tonymikejoe]

Now we really see why Israeli-Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams pays Chris Froome €5m per year.
The seven-time GT winner's high-profile should secure the invites his team needs for the biggest races, now they will not enjoy automatic entry.
Pure financial genius!

 

[pastronef]

Now we really see why Israeli-Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams pays Chris Froome €5m per year.
The seven-time GT winner's high-profile should secure the invites his team needs for the biggest races, now they will not enjoy automatic entry.
Pure financial genius!

Israel won 2 stages at the TDF (cobble stage and Pyrenees stage), and Froome was 3rd on Alpe Huez.

some teams got a wild card for way less than that in the past

 

[FroomeWagon]

Doesn't the TDF typically give all but one wildcard to French teams? So who would be the non-french teams under consideration for an invite? Furthermore, I wonder if a team from the Basque country might be given special consideration given the TDF start next year?

 

[yaco]

It's a no-brainer that a team that won two stages in the last TDF will get an invite.

 

[tobydawq]

Doesn't the TDF typically give all but one wildcard to French teams? So who would be the non-french teams under consideration for an invite? Furthermore, I wonder if a team from the Basque country might be given special consideration given the TDF start next year?

Who would be the French teams?

 

[tonymikejoe]

Christopher Clive Froome is scheduled to participate in 2023's Tour Down under.
The 5.5K prologue will give us an early indication as to his form.
There will be no hiding for Froome and I feel the result will give us a good indication as to his form for the entire season.
As brutal as that sounds that is the reality.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Christopher Clive Froome is scheduled to participate in 2023's Tour Down under.
The 5.5K prologue will give us an early indication as to his form.
There will be no hiding for Froome and I feel the result will give us a good indication as to his form for the entire season.
As brutal as that sounds that is the reality.

Don't you ever get tired of writing the same kind of message day after day?

I know we all have different ways of getting through life sometimes, but this is beginning to feel sadder than Froome's decline.

 

[pastronef]

also, tonymikejoe, his form could change between January and the summer, so an early indication is, well... a bit early. I'd judge his form in June

 

[tonymikejoe]

also, tonymikejoe, his form could change between January and the summer, so an early indication is, well... a bit early. I'd judge his form in June

I know what you mean, but riders who have a decent Summer will probably be okay, even in a January time trial.
It is not much to go on, but I shudder at the prospect for Froome, who had no TT power earlier this year and now complains of a loss of energy post-Covid and has seen his VO2 Max collapse.
If his time trialing abilities are now further diminished from the ordinary level they were at then this Tour Down Under could be painful viewing for Froome fans.
I hope not.

 

[saunaking]

Don't you ever get tired of writing the same kind of message day after day?

I know we all have different ways of getting through life sometimes, but this is beginning to feel sadder than Froome's decline.

froome's decline is not sad, more like karmagasmic