Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Richeypen]

I think in the valley and on the decent, Froome rode a pretty smart race. However seeing him talking to the radio every 30s is pretty disturbing. I think for him, a headset would come in handy by now.

 

[Poursuivant]

Anyone who has spent days camping out on the climb waiting for this stage and then when it comes, feels that booing a rider is a good idea, needs to give their head a severe wobble. Di*kheads.

 

[wwabbit]

Not the first time Froome lost time to a hunger knock at Alpe d'Huez in a TDF, apparently. This was back in 2008 with Barloworld http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/riders/2008/interviews/?id=chris_froome_nov08

"One moment, during the Alpe d'Huez stage, Corti called me back to the car to get more gels. I said, 'No, no. I am fine.' I just had one gel in my pocket. About four kilometres into Alpe d'Huez I blew completely and lost a hell of a lot of time. That hit home how important energy is, that showed me a lesson. He said, 'Why did you not come back? You needed about 10 gels, not one!'"

Of course, the situation this time was different. Apparently they sent Kennaugh back to the car to get gels but the car was held up way behind with a mechanical and Kennaugh couldn't get back on.


Apart from the hunger knock, I thought it was a good strategy from Froome and Sky. Initially I was with everyone thinking WTF is he doing attacking from so far out, and when Purito and Quintana joined him and (sort of) worked together, it started to make sense.

 

[del1962]

Looks like Chris wants to be GB Leader for the Worlds RR

 

[Gloin22]

Well of course, GB don't have much better option than him..

 

[JimPanzen]

The question is....will he peak for a second time for the WCs or will he just maintain the steady peak level he has since february

However, I think it'll be hard for him but I won't rule him out. He's not the favorite though imo.

 

[maxmartin]

The question is....will he peak for a second time for the WCs or will he just maintain the steady peak level he has since february

However, I think it'll be hard for him but I won't rule him out. He's not the favorite though imo.

he has not demonstrated anything yet in one day race, but who knows, this is alien we are talking about

 

[Netserk]

he has not demonstrated anything yet in one day race, but who knows, this is alien we are talking about

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=10914

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=10559

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=8201

 

[JRanton]

The question is....will he peak for a second time for the WCs or will he just maintain the steady peak level he has since february

However, I think it'll be hard for him but I won't rule him out. He's not the favorite though imo.

Definitely not the favourite! Not even an outside chance really. He was nowhere in LBL and really struggled in that brutally hilly Tirreno stage. Bare in mind that his form was obviously very good for these races so it's clear that he's just not suited to them. He's not explosive enough on hills to realistically have any chance at the worlds. GB have nobody else though so they might as well create a bit of hype by having Froome as leader.

 

[airstream]

Froome has all qualities to show a very good result. Surely he didn't show anything in classics for last years because he doesn't practise them.

 

[ultimobici]

Looks like Chris wants to be GB Leader for the Worlds RR

Please God, No. Two jerseys I hope to never see ruined by that gawky Kenyan are the Arc-en-Ciel & Maglia Rosa.

 

[SiAp1984]

Even if I don’t think that the course really suits him as the hills are not long enough, I would love to see him win this- would be great to see the world champ winning the first MTF of next year’s Tour- solo, of course. And such scenario becomes more likely in case Froome wears this jersey.

 

[will10]

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=10914

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=10559

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=8201

We've been reliably informed that the Froome in those results is not the one we've seen since Sept '11.

 

[Afrank]

Froome has all qualities to show a very good result. Surely he didn't show anything in classics for last years because he doesn't practise them.

The qualities he would need to win worlds would be being punchy and explosive rider and good on short but steep hills. We haven't really seen these qualities as of yet. Granted that if there is one rider that could suddenly do something they have never been able to do before, it would be Froome. But I don't expect him to be anywhere at worlds, same as with LBL earlier this year.

 

[airstream]

The qualities he would need to win worlds would be being punchy and explosive rider and good on short but steep hills. We haven't really seen these qualities as of yet. Granted that if there is one rider that could suddenly do something they have never been able to do before, it would be Froome. But I don't expect him to be anywhere at worlds, same as with LBL earlier this year.

Froome is more explosive than Nibali who is one of the main favorits... And them there's always a chance of going solo. Froome can not beat Rodriguez or Valverde in sprint (more precisely he can but it's not very likely). All the rest options are vacant and can work for him. I try not to overevaluate general classic background because it's only part of success. The main thing is overall level and Froome has an absolutely cosmic one.

 

[Afrank]

Not on short and steep hills he isn't. See Tirreno.

 

[airstream]

Not on short and steep hills he isn't. See Tirreno.

1 bad day is the reason to bury one's chances? Oh...



You know Afrank... it's from seria of Froome who allegedly couldn't stand proper mountain stages as it wa noted many times before the Tour..

 

[Afrank]

1 bad day is the reason to bury one's chances? Oh...

It's a combination of things, that day in Tirreno, never having shown anything in big one day races (like LBL for example), and I can't recall a time when Froome ever did anything on a short steep climb.

He's a GT rider, not a classics rider. Best suited to the long climbs. If he worked on it, he could probably become a decent classics rider. But I don't expect him to go from GT rider suited to long climbs to a punchy classics rider in the short time between now and worlds. Then again, this is Froome we're talking about.

 

[Pentacycle]

It's a combination of things, that day in Tirreno, never having shown anything in big one day races (like LBL for example), and I can't recall a time when Froome ever did anything on a short steep climb.

He's a GT rider, not a classics rider. Best suited to the long climbs. If he worked on it, he could probably become a decent classics rider. But I don't expect him to go from GT rider suited to long climbs to a punchy classics rider in the short time between now and worlds. Then again, this is Froome we're talking about.

Froome was pretty good to Chieti, he beat a certain Vincenzo Nibali there. I agree his endurance is still a mystery, but who knows what he can do when he actually peaks for a classic, which he's never done since his breakthrough.

 

[airstream]

It's a combination of things, that day in Tirreno, never having shown anything in big one day races (like LBL for example), and I can't recall a time when Froome ever did anything on a short steep climb.

He's a GT rider, not a classics rider. Best suited to the long climbs. If he worked on it, he could probably become a decent classics rider. But I don't expect him to go from GT rider suited to long climbs to a punchy classics rider in the short time between now and worlds. Then again, this is Froome we're talking about.

The man has an outstanding individual engine. He sprinted on PdBF and Cabarga as though it was flat. And you are saying that he's not very good just base on the fact he did badly at Tirreno and rode LBL in a training non-ftw mode? I assure you Froome's classics success is a matter of the nearest future.

 

[roundabout]

Froome was pretty good to Chieti, he beat a certain Vincenzo Nibali there. I agree his endurance is still a mystery, but who knows what he can do when he actually peaks for a classic, which he's never done since his breakthrough.

Chieti wasn't really a constant up and down course.

 

[del1962]

He did win the stage in Oman with Contador and Purito though, out sprinting them both.

I think in the T-A stage he was adversly effected by the cold though.

We will see how he does, though someone like G may be better suited for this course.

 

[maxmartin]

He did win the stage in Oman with Contador and Purito though, out sprinting them both.

I think in the T-A stage he was adversly effected by the cold though.

We will see how he does, though someone like G may be better suited for this course.

Extremely low body fat is extremely sensitive to cold temperature, what will be normal temp around that time in that region in Italy?

 

[Pentacycle]

Extremely low body fat is extremely sensitive to cold temperature, what will be normal temp around that time in that region in Italy?

Normally between 20 and 25 degrees C. Very little chance of bad weather.

 

[MatParker117]

Froome is more explosive than Nibali who is one of the main favorits... And them there's always a chance of going solo. Froome can not beat Rodriguez or Valverde in sprint (more precisely he can but it's not very likely). All the rest options are vacant and can work for him. I try not to overevaluate general classic background because it's only part of success. The main thing is overall level and Froome has an absolutely cosmic one.

He beat Purito in a Sprint at the Tour of Oman this year (Contador had Purito in the same sprint as well) .