Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Matdum94]

He is still a favourite to win Romandie though

 

[Jelantik]

it's certainly interesting year for sky. From being so unbeatable in the last 2 years to being lots of sickness, DNF, crashes. Froome wasn't racing that much 2012, and he was so strong at TDF. So, I don't count him out for TDF. Considering him as being in a smoking break . He is still the defending champs and he still got the bragging rights. B/c TDF is still far away. (I was hoping that with Contador's good performance, he can achieve his 2011 Giro or if he can achieve more )

On the other hand, wiggins is quietly have been building his form and stay away from sickness and crashes. Will be interesting, if in the cobble stage Wiggins finishes 1 minute ahead of Froome.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Don't worry they will have the program right by July!

Oh for sure. Froome is the favorite. Just thinking about Froome's health in general. He might have to super peak like Schleck, Basso etc in the future.

 

[Jelantik]

well his team are so excited that he looked ripped for supposedly his start for LBL His vein is bulging everywhere.. even his vein is ready to race

Ripped: Chris Froome showed off his athletic legs in this snap ahead of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2612191/Chris-Froome-shows-lean-legs-training-Liege-Bastogne-Liege.html#ixzz306gbBpi6

 

[Non Grimpeur]

I wonder just how long Froome and some of the Sky team can keep up the very aggressive training under Tim Kerrison. Kennaugh saying he feels empty is a worrying sign. Porte has not really looked good all year and was struggling at the back in today's LBL.

There's only so much hard training that athletes can mentally and physically cope with and Kerrison's plan looks to be full on most of the time. It seems to work well for one year as with Wiggins in 2012 and Froome last year but two years in a row? We'll see.

Even in the last year's TDF Froome look tired in the last week and was under pressure at Alpe d'Huez and Semnoz. His accelerations in Catalunya seemed to lack the ferocity of last year's efforts.

Maybe a cold is just being over analysed and Froome will bounce back? As others have already said here, he did nothing until the Dauphine in 2012 and was great in the TDF.

 

[Jelantik]

I wonder just how long Froome and some of the Sky team can keep up the very aggressive training under Tim Kerrison. Kennaugh saying he feels empty is a worrying sign. Porte has not really looked good all year and was struggling at the back in today's LBL.

There's only so much hard training that athletes can mentally and physically cope with and Kerrison's plan looks to be full on most of the time. It seems to work well for one year as with Wiggins in 2012 and Froome last year but two years in a row? We'll see.

Even in the last year's TDF Froome look tired in the last week and was under pressure at Alpe d'Huez and Semnoz. His accelerations in Catalunya seemed to lack the ferocity of last year's efforts.

Maybe a cold is just being over analysed and Froome will bounce back? As others have already said here, he did nothing until the Dauphine in 2012 and was great in the TDF.

maybe there's something to what you said. Kerrison is a swimming coach. And rumors said that he is applying some techniques from swimming to help rider peak all year long (ex. froome and wiggins) just like how swimmer does. In my opinion as a non sport expert, of course , swimming isn't really an endurance sport like cycling. Sure michael Phelps was dominating in the his 2/3 olympics. But he achieved that in a span of 4 years. Not every years.

So, Maybe that type of hard training bounds to take its toll eventually. Last year, i remembered I heard that former ex sky coach Sean Yates was labeling the sky coaching staff of doing stupid thing because they were grinding the team too hard on the training camp before TDF to the point that the team came to TDF tired.

or.. ... it could be simply just.... we're reading it too much. Come TDF, everyone in sky team are flying and they are in the verge of the most memorable demolishing derby ever happen in the history of cycling

 

[Butterhead]

well his team are so excited that he looked ripped for supposedly his start for LBL His vein is bulging everywhere.. even his vein is ready to race

It´s not Froome, that is an alien.

 

[Jspear]

It´s not Froome, that is an alien.

Yes, that is an alien and it's disgusting! Is that even healthy? What is it anyway with this dude doing these weird poses? This isn't the first one.

 

[maxmartin]

well his team are so excited that he looked ripped for supposedly his start for LBL His vein is bulging everywhere.. even his vein is ready to race

OMG this is kinda of disturbing, what "scientific" training is sky doing? On the other hand, they do train with legs, I want to see how the veins look on his arm? That is a more telling indication.

 

[Tournesol]

I wonder just how long Froome and some of the Sky team can keep up the very aggressive training under Tim Kerrison. Kennaugh saying he feels empty is a worrying sign. Porte has not really looked good all year and was struggling at the back in today's LBL.

There's only so much hard training that athletes can mentally and physically cope with and Kerrison's plan looks to be full on most of the time. It seems to work well for one year as with Wiggins in 2012 and Froome last year but two years in a row?

Ryo mentioned this in another thread earlier today.One of the Saxo coaches believes Sky/Kerrison are guilty of "roofbauw" which translates from Dutch as overcropping.

Quite what that means i am unsure,could be something perfectly innocuous or something more sinister.If i was taking a punt on its innocent meaning i'd say its having your riders peak repeatedly in the same calendar year to enable constant high performance in races,the Saxo coach says the riders are burnt out after two seasons of this type of training and this will happen to Sky if it isn't happening to them already.

All a bit vague but interesting nonetheless.

 

[maxmartin]

Ryo mentioned this in another thread earlier today.One of the Saxo coaches believes Sky/Kerrison are guilty of "roofbauw" which translates from Dutch as overcropping.

Quite what that means i am unsure,could be something perfectly innocuous or something more sinister.If i was taking a punt on its innocent meaning i'd say its having your riders peak repeatedly in the same calendar year to enable constant high performance in races,the Saxo coach says the riders are burnt out after two seasons of this type of training and this will happen to Sky if it isn't happening to them already.

All a bit vague but interesting nonetheless.

nothing new at all, former chinese women distant running used this method. It is based on so called "super responsive" theory, there is no real science behind it at all. Basically you treat a human being like an animal, ask them to run A marathon per day, hopefully some of them will be super respondent and will improve the result dramatically, but the majority will burn out. And even those who are "super respondent" will resist (like Wiggins), because the training is boring and inhumane!

 

[Jelantik]

nothing new at all, former chinese women distant running used this method. It is based on so called "super responsive" theory, there is no real science behind it at all. Basically you treat a human being like an animal, ask them to run A marathon per day, hopefully some of them will be super respondent and will improve the result dramatically, but the majority will burn out. And even those who are "super respondent" will resist (like Wiggins), because the training is boring and inhumane!

i guess that's probably the reason why wiggin isn't interested in winning any GT anymore. He just can't repeat the same sacrifice day in and day out.

 

[red_flanders]

well his team are so excited that he looked ripped for supposedly his start for LBL His vein is bulging everywhere.. even his vein is ready to race

I'd rather riders "showed their legs" in the race. That was pointedly absent today. Mr. Legs didn't even bother to show up. Except on Twitter.

 

[Tournesol]

nothing new at all, former chinese women distant running used this method. It is based on so called "super responsive" theory, there is no real science behind it at all. Basically you treat a human being like an animal, ask them to run A marathon per day, hopefully some of them will be super respondent and will improve the result dramatically, but the majority will burn out. And even those who are "super respondent" will resist (like Wiggins), because the training is boring and inhumane!

Yeah,training with Kerrison doesn't sound much fun,he basically works the riders all day like cart horses.

Wasn't overly familiar with "super responsive" theory,so thanks for the explanation.

 

[Jelantik]

nothing new at all, former chinese women distant running used this method. It is based on so called "super responsive" theory, there is no real science behind it at all. Basically you treat a human being like an animal, ask them to run A marathon per day, hopefully some of them will be super respondent and will improve the result dramatically, but the majority will burn out. And even those who are "super respondent" will resist (like Wiggins), because the training is boring and inhumane!

interesting explanation. I've never heard about responsive training. I guess if at romandie Froome's is the same as in catalunya, sky's bell might be ringing really loud. Could be like what you are saying... everyone is burning out.

 

[veganrob]

nothing new at all, former chinese women distant running used this method. It is based on so called "super responsive" theory, there is no real science behind it at all. Basically you treat a human being like an animal, ask them to run A marathon per day, hopefully some of them will be super respondent and will improve the result dramatically, but the majority will burn out. And even those who are "super respondent" will resist (like Wiggins), because the training is boring and inhumane!

Never heard the Super Responder term but in essece you are correct. Here is an example I am familiar with. In the 70's I worked at thoroughbred tracks. Some "supposedly" great trainers would get a barn full of two year olds with the best breeding in the world. They would train the *** out of them and break nearly all of them down. But occasionally one gets lucky like Lucien Laurin did and got Secretariat.

 

[Sky High]

Ryo mentioned this in another thread earlier today.One of the Saxo coaches believes Sky/Kerrison are guilty of "roofbauw" which translates from Dutch as overcropping.

Quite what that means i am unsure,could be something perfectly innocuous or something more sinister.If i was taking a punt on its innocent meaning i'd say its having your riders peak repeatedly in the same calendar year to enable constant high performance in races,the Saxo coach says the riders are burnt out after two seasons of this type of training and this will happen to Sky if it isn't happening to them already.

All a bit vague but interesting nonetheless.

I think you'll find the opposite is true. Froome is being trained to peak once per year, during the tour. If he was trying to win multiple events during the year he would be at a far greater risk of burnout. As it is, he's only trying to win one.

 

[Jelantik]

I think you'll find the opposite is true. Froome is being trained to peak once per year, during the tour. If he was trying to win multiple events during the year he would be at a far greater risk of burnout. As it is, he's only trying to win one.

Well last year, Froome won practically every single race he enters all the way to TDF. This year he won oman, and back injury (pulled out TA), 6th in Catalunya, pulled out LBL. It's so contrast with last year. Dunno if it has anything to do with wear and tear, the body can only handle so much of stress for certain period of time. Maybe sky training regime starts to show side effect. Kenaugh just felt empty, Kiryenka pulled from Romandie, don't know what sickness? That's just the recent one.

On side note: Wiggin won most races that he entered too, then last year, he was no where near the podium. Rumours said he didn't want to put the same amount of sacrifice like he did the year before. That just shows probably not everyone can handle the same hard training like that year in year out. Not sure if that's similar to burn out. However, this year, Wiggins is the only one who stay healthy and he doesn't look anorexic.

EDIT; sorry Froome won most of his races he entered 2013 except TA.

 

[Tournesol]

I think you'll find the opposite is true. Froome is being trained to peak once per year, during the tour. If he was trying to win multiple events during the year he would be at a far greater risk of burnout. As it is, he's only trying to win one.

I was more referring to Sky in 2012 and 2013 when Wiggins/Froome have won nearly every stage race they've entered.

 

[maxmartin]

Well last year, Froome won practically every single race he enters all the way to TDF. This year he won oman, and back injury (pulled out TA), 6th in Catalunya, pulled out LBL. It's so contrast with last year. Dunno if it has anything to do with wear and tear, the body can only handle so much of stress for certain period of time. Maybe sky training regime starts to show side effect. Kenaugh just felt empty, Kiryenka pulled from Romandie, don't know what sickness? That's just the recent one.

On side note: Wiggin won most races that he entered too, then last year, he was no where near the podium. Rumours said he didn't want to put the same amount of sacrifice like he did the year before. That just shows probably not everyone can handle the same hard training like that year in year out. Not sure if that's similar to burn out. However, this year, Wiggins is the only one who stay healthy and he doesn't look anorexic.

EDIT; sorry Froome won most of his races he entered 2013 except TA.

but W gained so much weight after the tour win. Froom seemed still in an alien shape judging from those veiny legs if they were taken recently! If Froom showed up this year with those identical veiny arms of last year ToF, I doubt anyone can beat him.

 

[ILovecycling]

but W gained so much weight after the tour win. Froom seemed still in an alien shape judging from those veiny legs if they were taken recently! If Froom showed up this year with those identical veiny arms of last year ToF, I doubt anyone can beat him.

The Great One says ¡Hola!

 

[Guybrush]

there's nothing wrong with Froome, he'll performing well in about 3 hours

 

[Jelantik]

but W gained so much weight after the tour win. Froom seemed still in an alien shape judging from those veiny legs if they were taken recently! If Froom showed up this year with those identical veiny arms of last year ToF, I doubt anyone can beat him.

Does showing how much vein bulging better than show a more toned leg muscle? Last year I could have sworn that I saw more muscle on Froome's leg.(but I could've been wrong too ). Btw, his bulging veins took him only 13th place today. We shall see if his bulging vein is an indication that he will destroy everyone in the mountain ooorr.. it could be just he is too anorexic to the point it's unhealthy..

 

[rhubroma]

I wonder just how long Froome and some of the Sky team can keep up the very aggressive training under Tim Kerrison. Kennaugh saying he feels empty is a worrying sign. Porte has not really looked good all year and was struggling at the back in today's LBL.

There's only so much hard training that athletes can mentally and physically cope with and Kerrison's plan looks to be full on most of the time. It seems to work well for one year as with Wiggins in 2012 and Froome last year but two years in a row? We'll see.

Even in the last year's TDF Froome look tired in the last week and was under pressure at Alpe d'Huez and Semnoz. His accelerations in Catalunya seemed to lack the ferocity of last year's efforts.

Maybe a cold is just being over analysed and Froome will bounce back? As others have already said here, he did nothing until the Dauphine in 2012 and was great in the TDF.

What they don't contemplate is the delicate balance between ars, taken as technique, and natura, taken as inate ability.

Finding the perfect equilibrium, which is an art in itself that defies pure science and positvism, and hence enters into the realm of je ne sei pas, is a cultural factor that defies logic.

 

[Contadoraus Schlecks]

http://www.pinterest.com/shuttvelorapide/cyclists-before-they-were-famous/

Pic at the bottom of the page