Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

Beaten by Majka, Bardet, Yates and even Morabito in a TT. Not the super-Froome we saw in 13' and 14'.

Good job there's no TT at the Tour then.

Maybe his weight loss have weakened his TT. Or maybe it's just the rain. He has mentioned that he doesn't like the rain. That's why he skips a race as The Tour of Basque Country.

Yes that's a possibility and with such a climb-heavy Tour it's not surprising his TT performances have dropped. He also is nowhere near peak form which explains his average performance today. Still a decent week for him, he podiumed and is improving, I expect another step forward come Dauphine.

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

Beaten by Majka, Bardet, Yates and even Morabito in a TT. Not the super-Froome we saw in 13' and 14'.

Or... just not taking any risks whatsoever in the rain.

Nah, that was definitely not the case here.

 

[ray j willings]

Froome like a lot of sky riders is not a good bike handler.
This is not a good sign . Nothing good for him to take away from. This race. All good news for. Bertie.

 

[Vino's Mum]

Re: Re:

Or... just not taking any risks whatsoever in the rain.

Nah, that was definitely not the case here.

Ok, thanks. I didn't see it.

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

Beaten by Majka, Bardet, Yates and even Morabito in a TT. Not the super-Froome we saw in 13' and 14'.

Good job there's no TT at the Tour then.

Maybe his weight loss have weakened his TT. Or maybe it's just the rain. He has mentioned that he doesn't like the rain. That's why he skips a race as The Tour of Basque Country.

Yes that's a possibility and with such a climb-heavy Tour it's not surprising his TT performances have dropped. He also is nowhere near peak form which explains his average performance today. Still a decent week for him, he podiumed and is improving, I expect another step forward come Dauphine.

Yep. He also said that he doesn't need to win all the stage races he enters anymore. It's all about the Tour.

 

[jens_attacks]

nothing to worry
see the beast in july

 

[ray j willings]

Re:

nothing to worry
see the beast in july

See the beast now as he heads back to his hotel after todays race

 

[Eagle]

Re: Re:

Beaten by Majka, Bardet, Yates and even Morabito in a TT. Not the super-Froome we saw in 13' and 14'.

Good job there's no TT at the Tour then.

Maybe his weight loss have weakened his TT. Or maybe it's just the rain. He has mentioned that he doesn't like the rain. That's why he skips a race as The Tour of Basque Country.

Has he lost weight since last year?

 

[ray j willings]

Re: Re:

Beaten by Majka, Bardet, Yates and even Morabito in a TT. Not the super-Froome we saw in 13' and 14'.

Good job there's no TT at the Tour then.

Maybe his weight loss have weakened his TT. Or maybe it's just the rain. He has mentioned that he doesn't like the rain. That's why he skips a race as The Tour of Basque Country.

Has he lost weight since last year?

See photo above.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Yes Eagle and apparently still has 2kg's to lose!

 

[deValtos]

Froome will be fine come July, his up&down performances are being echoed by everyone else atm anyhows.

It's been a strange year so far for all the big 4 (Froome,Conti,Quintana,Nibs), they've all had flashes of great from but more often than not they have also struggled. We've been so used to seeing someone crushing the whole year, but not this time. Could mean everyone's worried about the competition and want to make sure they peak absolutely perfectly in the TDF.

 

[FCKAC]

Froom never rides well in the rain. He better hope Tour has good weather this year.

 

[Eagle]

Re:

Yes Eagle and apparently still has 2kg's to lose!

Wow, anyone know how much he has lost?

 

[ppanther92]

Re: Re:

Has he lost weight since last year?

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Froom never rides well in the rain. He better hope Tour has good weather this year.

Luckily for him the Tour usually had good weather. Although regardless he has done well in the rain before...just look at previous editions of this race.

 

[HelloDolly]

I got the impression from Froome that he wan't too pushed about Romandie ...SKY team yes ...but not Froome

SKY came out in February firing on all cylinders and now are maybe paying the price a bit ...with injuries & some sickness

Froome knows what he needs to do and where he needs to be by July ...but I guess like Nibali he is not prepared to do it too early for reasons of health and sustainability...I guess once you have won the Tour and proven your worth then 1. you can set your own agenda somewhat and 2. wining stages races can become no big deal

I mean Quintana nor Nibali didn't kill themselves and Contador doesn't bother too much with stage race wins

Porte on the other hand has tried to win all stages races he has entered...he has still to prove his worth as a GT contender and maybe when he does he won't be too pushed about winning Paris Nice

Its so different now than say in the 1980s where all races were raced by team leaders
But i guess the competition is now so intense and what you have to do to win is so strenuous that riders can be forgiven for not going all out all year ....Only Valverde seems to want to do this and maybe Purito

 

[ray j willings]

You have to say that Froome does not look good. He was not riding at the front "TOR" and a few times his team mates had to look for him.
I think his overall fitness is not good. He always has a day or 2 where he struggles but he could lose unexpected time i.e. a flat stage etc at the tour.
With Nibs riding and always looking to gain time Froome will need to be on the ball ,he cannot ride to far back.
" He got dropped twice when winning his tour" If Bertie is not tired he will take advantage.

Last year at the vuelta Froome rode a very smart race IMO. if Valverde etc had stopped playing games there was a couple of stages where Froome would have lost some big time.
Froome rode smart last Saturday as well. Just looked at his stem and rode a TT up the mountain. Very astute. Froome and Sky have a nice little template in place now for the days when he is not firing on all cylinders and it's up to the other riders to take advantage and not play silly games.

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Froom never rides well in the rain. He better hope Tour has good weather this year.

Luckily for him the Tour usually had good weather. Although regardless he has done well in the rain before...just look at previous editions of this race.

well not last year. wasn't that raining on the cobble stage? that's when he abandoned too due to his injury.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

Froom never rides well in the rain. He better hope Tour has good weather this year.

Luckily for him the Tour usually had good weather. Although regardless he has done well in the rain before...just look at previous editions of this race.

well not last year. wasn't that raining on the cobble stage? that's when he abandoned too due to his injury.

He got his injuries in the crash the day before the cobbled stage though, he tried to carry on however having crashed again before the cobbles started he realised it was pointless.

 

[ray j willings]

Re: Re:

Froom never rides well in the rain. He better hope Tour has good weather this year.

Luckily for him the Tour usually had good weather. Although regardless he has done well in the rain before...just look at previous editions of this race.

well not last year. wasn't that raining on the cobble stage? that's when he abandoned too due to his injury.

He got his injuries in the crash the day before the cobbled stage though, he tried to carry on however having crashed again before the cobbles started he realised it was pointless.

He injured his wrist. I think he was hoping it would be OK. You just cannot control your bike and he fell off a few times. Really Sky/DB should not have not let him start could have had a major crash.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Agree, although I respect Froome for trying all he could despite being injured, he certainly cannot be called mentally weak. I think by that point Sky had realised the writing was on the wall as they already instructed G to look after plan B Porte on the cobbles.

 

[Dedelou]

a long long way before TDF and much can happen in between to improve or undermine his current level

 

[ray j willings]

Froome is a top rider but I think you have to consider the opposition when he won the tour.

I think last year and this year proved that against riders in top form like Bertie and Quintana etc Froome can not dominate like he did his tour winning year. It has to be put in perspective. He has an awful lot of pressure to contend with and it can affect riders mentally although in Froome's case he has been unfortunate with injuries the last year or so. I think expecting him to repeat the dominance of 2013 is a bit much to expect.

 

[The Hitch]

right cos Contador and Quintana weren't there when Froome won the Tour.

Oh wait.

 

[Miburo]

I really don't know if the best contador can follow the best Froome. I've never seen it. I would give the edge to Froome, i hope i'm wrong though.