Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Pricey_sky]

Chapeau, Andy Murray, for winning this award and winning Wimbledon

Andy Murray deserved it, he pretty much had the nation stopped on that Wimbledon Sunday. Nearly everyone I know was watching the final even the ones that don't usually watch the tennis.

Cyclist's in Britain have had a lot of recognition recently with Wiggins and Cav winning the SPOTY award in the last 3 years. Not suprising Froome didn't get close to be honest. Wiggins got a huge reception (much bigger than Froome) when he did his interview and also presented this years award.

 

[Amsterdam]

Will Froome improve in the one day races in 2014? Will he perform better after the Tour in 2014? Or can we expect a similar season as last season?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Will Froome improve in the one day races in 2014? Will he perform better after the Tour in 2014? Or can we expect a similar season as last season?

I think he will be on a similar program as in 2013. Perhaps even more focused on TdF.

 

[del1962]

Will Froome improve in the one day races in 2014? Will he perform better after the Tour in 2014? Or can we expect a similar season as last season?

I can't really see him doing much better in one day races, his strengths are long climbs and time trials

 

[Netserk]

I think he will be on a similar program as in 2013. Perhaps even more focused on TdF.

I thought there were talks about tweaking his program for next year, to get a better peak.

You know; doing some different races etc.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

Froome wont't perform in the Classics like in the GT's... Froome clearly has an advantage at aerobic power and recovery, but this margin come into nothing in one day races.

I expect Froome going a little bit down this next season... though he'll probably win Oman or Catalunya being the Top favourite for July.

 

[TANK91]

I think maybe he should do Pais Vasco instead of Romandie then stop then i no its a big gap from Pais Vasco till the Dauphinee but surely he will be in better shape in 3rd week? Or maybe dont go all out this year in races even Dauphinee, who else thinks he went bit over the top in Dauphinee? I dont think he should have tried so hard getting Porte the stage win he should focus on using less energy, ride the races like Oman, Tirreno and and Pais Vasco(i think he will do Romandie though) normal so go for the win then go Altitude then Dauphinee do what Nibali done in 2012 maybe, do you even think if Froome did not make any effort in Dauphinee will it help in July in final week? Or dont you think it makes much difference.

 

[TANK91]

I can see Froome doing well in something like LBL guys also Lombardia maybe. If he is in good enough shape and is in a small group he can drill it diesel style on that hill and blow people to bits imo. Infact want Lombardy suit him the most i dont no the exact route each year but aslong as its not raining lol on descents surely if Froome made it with a small group he will win the sprint, he is a better sprinter than a few of the GC guys, not Valverde level but he has a tidy sprint also again i its dry on the descent his pure power could bring back someone like Purito who more than likely would always have atleast 5 secs on Froome minimum on the steep hill?

 

[karlboss]

I can see Froome doing well in something like LBL guys also Lombardia maybe. If he is in good enough shape and is in a small group he can drill it diesel style on that hill and blow people to bits imo. Infact want Lombardy suit him the most i dont no the exact route each year but aslong as its not raining lol on descents surely if Froome made it with a small group he will win the sprint, he is a better sprinter than a few of the GC guys, not Valverde level but he has a tidy sprint also again i its dry on the descent his pure power could bring back someone like Purito who more than likely would always have atleast 5 secs on Froome minimum on the steep hill?

Do people confuse Froome with Wiggins or is there evidence for Froome being a poor descender in rain?

 

[TANK91]

Do people confuse Froome with Wiggins or is there evidence for Froome being a poor descender in rain?

No i think Froome could descend well but for some reason i think in pooring rain most classic guys could put him in trouble, i dont think he would be good in a wet Lombardy descent i really dont. He will be scared i thin hence why i said if its dry i think he would have a chance.

 

[greenedge]

Who will challenge Froome in Catalunya? If Quintana, JROD and Martin did it again they definitely could- but i don't know who is riding the event.

 

[BigMac]

Who will challenge Froome in Catalunya? If Quintana, JROD and Martin did it again they definitely could- but i don't know who is riding the event.

Quintana, Contador, Dan Martin and Basso are scheduled to ride Catalunya.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

Who will challenge Froome in Catalunya? If Quintana, JROD and Martin did it again they definitely could- but i don't know who is riding the event.

Quintana and Pinot will challenge Froome in Catalunya.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Quintana and Pinot will challenge Froome in Catalunya.

I haven't seen the route yet but lets hope there are no tricky descents on the route otherwise Pinot will not be challenging. I understand he has been working hard on this but I just cant see his problems going away in a few months.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

It is a climbers route. MTF's in Port Ainé and La Molina, with some hard mountain passes. I can see Quintana and Pinot shining there...

 

[greenedge]

Thanks for the answers/ sounds good in terms of competition and route.

 

[The Hitch]

Do people confuse Froome with Wiggins or is there evidence for Froome being a poor descender in rain?

His comments after Manse suggest he's not most eager descender.

Also the Tirreno stage. In both the tt and the mtf he beat Nibali so was clearly stronger, but the rain ****ed him up.

 

[The Hitch]

I can't really see him doing much better in one day races, his strengths are long climbs and time trials

And what are the strenghs that Igor Anton and Frank Schleck have then?

Pena Cabarga is not a long climb. Neither is Planche des belles filles. Those are the 2 stages Froome won as a domestique.

A tired off peak Froome also managed to come 2nd (beating Valverde) on this stage

Gt riders without 1/10th the climbing ability of Froome and 1/100th of the tt ability manage to perform in Liege and Lombardia. Considering he would consider the pace they ride up those climbs in classics to be an absolute joke, and considering he demonstrated on Ventoux he is by far the most explosive rider in the sport as well, there is no way he wouldnt be able to contend for Liege or Lombardia if he wanted to.

 

[del1962]

Andy Schleck not that impressed by Froome

He [Froome] is very strong, but he was only seven seconds quicker up Ax-3 Domaines this year than I was in 2010,” Schleck told L’Équipe. “And the previous year, on the Ventoux, I went up as quickly as he did this year, after I had attacked at the bottom and then ridden stop-start at the finish

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Andy Schleck not that impressed by Froome

So Froome plays kindergarten with everybody in TdF and Schleck is not impressed?

Are we living in a world where TTs doesn't count?

Anyway, happy with the smack talk.

 

[del1962]

And what are the strenghs that Igor Anton and Frank Schleck have then?

Pena Cabarga is not a long climb. Neither is Planche des belles filles. Those are the 2 stages Froome won as a domestique.

A tired off peak Froome also managed to come 2nd (beating Valverde) on this stage

Gt riders without 1/10th the climbing ability of Froome and 1/100th of the tt ability manage to perform in Liege and Lombardia. Considering he would consider the pace they ride up those climbs in classics to be an absolute joke, and considering he demonstrated on Ventoux he is by far the most explosive rider in the sport as well, there is no way he wouldnt be able to contend for Liege or Lombardia if he wanted to.

Perhaps when I said long, I should have said longer than the final climb in a classic, look at Froome in T-A in the Chieti stage, Purito beat him by 8 seonds.

Both climbs you mentioned are twice as long as Lombardia's final climb, I don't think that Froome is more explosive than say Rodriguez and nowhere near as explosive as Sagan or Gilbert,

I don't know what you mean by the pace they ride up those classic as a joke, the pace up the final climb at Lombardia will be faster than any pace on a climb twice as long at the end of a grand tour stage.

 

[Ferminal]

Redoute, Saint-Nicolas, Huy, whatever the finishing climb in Lombardia is - they are all more than hard enough to be aerobic climbs. It's only when up against a super climber who has the capability to dish out a lot of anaerobic power (i.e. Rodriguez) that you're at a real disadvantage. Of course you also have to compete with guys at the other end of the scale, but 2/3 minute effort is middle ground so it's not really impossible for the two different types to beat one another.

So a GT climber can by default be a hilly classics (outside The Netherlands) contender. Whether or not they do perform is to do with their commitment to the race, how they take the distance, the higher speed throughout the day, the stop-start efforts, the fighting in the pack, the spring or autumn weather. Lombardia is probably more like a GT mountain stage in this regard.

 

[Taxus4a]

Andy Schleck has said today Froome dont impress him a lot.. he is more impressed by Quintana.

He said he did best time on Ventoux attacking earlier in the climb, and that is true.

But anyway, although Froome is not vso impresive in the climbs, as Quintana or Purito beated him when the were without problems, he is consistent and very complete, so it would be very dificult for Andy to beat him on the Tour.

Andy need to have his previous level.

 

[jens_attacks]

in my opinion the full best andy can stay with froome on almost all the climbs yes. but he would get crushed in the time trials

ventoux comparison is unfortunate though. andy didn't race 220 km at 50kmph before the geant

hopefully we'll see a clash next year

 

[oldcrank]

For all Chris' fans around the world that don't have
SkySports here is the recent and excellent doco:
www1.skysports.com/news/15264/9107948