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Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

Page 303 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Is Froome over the hill?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 26 35.1%
  • No, the GC finished 40 minutes ago but Froomie is still climbing it

    Votes: 42 56.8%
  • No he is totally winning the Vuelta

    Votes: 17 23.0%

  • Total voters
    74
Re: Re:

pink_jersey said:
hayzer114 said:
Any thoughts on Froomes potential tour team. Procyclingstats have already half of the roster. 1-Froome 2 - Thomas - 3 Poels - 4 - Kwiatowski 5 - Nieve. I would imagine that Roche, Stannard, Rowe and maybe Henao as an explosive option to cause a bit of damage in the mountains would make up the team although Kennaugh may be there or there abouts even though he didnt have the best time last year and perhaps Intauxti if he doesnt recover on time to do the Giro.

Froome, Thomas, Poels, Nieve, Kennaugh, Roche, Kwiatkowski, Stannard, Rowe. More or less. Maybe Intxausti(he will skip the Giro) in and Nieve out(to replace Intxausti in Giro). Or maybe Henao will ride this.
I think Thomas will be a liability to Froome. He isn't as good as Porte was. In fact, I think he's worse than other domestiques like Majka. Or he isn't at the level of Valverde and Nibali(second bests in theirs teams). Poels is inconsistent.

I think this will be the team too. If I was Froome, I would want Henao there.
 
Re: Re:

Brullnux said:
pink_jersey said:
Brullnux said:
pink_jersey said:
hayzer114 said:
Any thoughts on Froomes potential tour team. Procyclingstats have already half of the roster. 1-Froome 2 - Thomas - 3 Poels - 4 - Kwiatowski 5 - Nieve. I would imagine that Roche, Stannard, Rowe and maybe Henao as an explosive option to cause a bit of damage in the mountains would make up the team although Kennaugh may be there or there abouts even though he didnt have the best time last year and perhaps Intauxti if he doesnt recover on time to do the Giro.

Froome, Thomas, Poels, Nieve, Kennaugh, Roche, Kwiatkowski, Stannard, Rowe. More or less. Maybe Intxausti(he will skip the Giro) in and Nieve out(to replace Intxausti in Giro). Or maybe Henao will ride this.
I think Thomas will be a liability to Froome. He isn't as good as Porte was. In fact, I think he's worse than other domestiques like Majka. Or he isn't at the level of Valverde and Nibali(second bests in theirs teams). Poels is inconsistent.

This Thomas is more consistent than Porte ever was. Maybe he isn't as good a climber in high mountains, but he has a very strong engine. Nibali is not second best on his team, yet.

In general, of course he's not. But in Tour, Aru will be the leader.
Thomas isn't more consistent than Porte. Remember how bad he faded last year?

I guess, but he was very good from stage 1 - 17, then he crashed on 16 which probably didn't do him any good. Porte has never strung three mountain stages together. I don't think Thomas is as good at climbing as LRP but he has a huge engine and Froome still has Poels if he does badly. Thomas will be more widely used this year, too.

And I misunderstood the Nibali bit :)
What's the point if Thomas is going to crack after an acceleration by Contador/Quintana. Porte has been with Froome for most of the critical moments. In fact he has helped to drop the peloton on a number of occasions. Henao, Landa are much better as seen in PN.
 

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I think that Froome will suffer a little bit from not having Porte. On his day I think that Porte is a better climber than G. Thomas in the high mountains. Poels/Nieve/Roche are very inconsistens in the moutains, and neither of them are good enough to drop everybody like Porte have done several times. I don't think that Thomas can make Quintana and Contador suffer so much as Porte either.

It'll be very interesting to see Froome without a bullet proof SKY train in the mountains. But it wouldn't surprise me to see those riders hit levels that we havent seen before on a regular basis.

Nieve and Poels have always been inconsistent, and Roche always sucked in the Tour. G. Thomas faded last year in the last week. And he's riding very hard this spring. Will he be used on some flat stages too? I think they have to save him.
 
Re:

hayzer114 said:
Any thoughts on Froomes potential tour team. Procyclingstats have already half of the roster. 1-Froome 2 - Thomas - 3 Poels - 4 - Kwiatowski 5 - Nieve. I would imagine that Roche, Stannard, Rowe and maybe Henao as an explosive option to cause a bit of damage in the mountains would make up the team although Kennaugh may be there or there abouts even though he didnt have the best time last year and perhaps Intauxti if he doesnt recover on time to do the Giro.

Too early to say really given that the Giro team is in a state of flux at the moment. I think Froome, Thomas, Poels, Nieve, Roche, Kwiatkowski, Stannard and Rowe were eight riders who were ''pencilled in'' to ride the Tour during pre-season but it can all change depending on the situation with the Giro team.
 
Re: Re:

TMP402 said:
hayzer114 said:
Any thoughts on Froomes potential tour team. Procyclingstats have already half of the roster. 1-Froome 2 - Thomas - 3 Poels - 4 - Kwiatowski 5 - Nieve.

Maybe Nieve is ill like other Spanish cyclists, but he looked pretty poor at P-N. Yes, he was in the group of the final 25 or so but he was struggling at the back.

I know Nieve often struggles at this time of the year due to the high pollen count but not sure if that was the issue at Paris-Nice. I think that he re-signed with Sky on the condition that he rides the Tour with Froome because he was very disappointed not to ride it last year. He should be good in the third week in July when some of the diesels like Thomas and Kwiatkowski might be struggling. Ideally you'd also like a fresh Henao or Landa in that Tour team in order to replace Porte with another elite climber.
 
Re: Re:

pink_jersey said:
hayzer114 said:
Any thoughts on Froomes potential tour team. Procyclingstats have already half of the roster. 1-Froome 2 - Thomas - 3 Poels - 4 - Kwiatowski 5 - Nieve. I would imagine that Roche, Stannard, Rowe and maybe Henao as an explosive option to cause a bit of damage in the mountains would make up the team although Kennaugh may be there or there abouts even though he didnt have the best time last year and perhaps Intauxti if he doesnt recover on time to do the Giro.

Froome, Thomas, Poels, Nieve, Kennaugh, Roche, Kwiatkowski, Stannard, Rowe. More or less. Maybe Intxausti(he will skip the Giro) in and Nieve out(to replace Intxausti in Giro). Or maybe Henao will ride this.
I think Thomas will be a liability to Froome. He isn't as good as Porte was. In fact, I think he's worse than other domestiques like Majka. Or he isn't at the level of Valverde and Nibali(second bests in theirs teams). Poels is inconsistent.

Ah come on. He might not be there in the last couple of mountain stages like last year (we shouldn't forget he had a very heavy crash a few days before he cracked) but his all round domestique performance was incredible in 2015. Some liability.
 
Re:

Zinoviev Letter said:
Whatever about Thomas' possible frailties in the high mountains, I suspect that Froome will be feeling more than satisfied that one of his two biggest rivals has gone up against one of his domestiques in two stage races so far this season and lost on both occasions.

I still think his weakness on Col d'Eze is being overplayed a bit. Sure, Contador and Porte (and Henao) were obviously stronger than him but the mistake he made was trying to go with the Majka-Contador acceleration for too long. Even Porte didn't initially respond to that acceleration, instead he calmly rode across once the initial burst had ended. If Thomas had been a little bit more careful then he likely comes over the top with Henao in that 2nd group with the other GC guys and then it's much easier to control the front 3.

I do think there are genuine reasons to be concerned about Thomas in the third week though. He's a diesel climber and the chances of him blowing in a Tour route as hard as this year are quite high.
 
Re: Re:

staubsauger said:
JRanton said:
staubsauger said:
There's still Pete Kennaugh, pals!

He's doing the Giro. He didn't want to ride the Tour again this year.

He has been re-scheduled already. He ain't in the provisional Giro line-up anymore. Boswell is.

Or is he re-re-scheduled again!? Sky begins to piss me off with that **** to be honest!

I don't believe PCS ever had Kennaugh listed in the Giro team even though he stated very clearly in an interview that he's riding it and doesn't want to ride the Tour.
 
Re: Re:

JRanton said:
staubsauger said:
JRanton said:
staubsauger said:
There's still Pete Kennaugh, pals!

He's doing the Giro. He didn't want to ride the Tour again this year.

He has been re-scheduled already. He ain't in the provisional Giro line-up anymore. Boswell is.

Or is he re-re-scheduled again!? Sky begins to piss me off with that **** to be honest!

I don't believe PCS ever had Kennaugh listed in the Giro team even though he stated very clearly in an interview that he's riding it and doesn't want to ride the Tour.

Sky announced a provisional Giro long-list later on. Without Kennaugh!
 
Froome, Thomas, Poels, Kwaitkowski, Roche, Nieve, Stannard, Kennaugh, Rowe.

I'd love for Landa to be in there, just to do the job that Porte done last year, Hide for the first week and when they real mountains come then he starts pulling for the Dawg, the Sky mountain train would amazing with Landa in it
 
Re: Re:

Taxus4a said:
MatParker117 said:
Froome, G, Poels, Intxausti, Roche, Landa, Kwaitkowski, Rowe, Stannard would be nearly impossible for his rivals to deal with.

If everybody in good shape, no crashes,... yes, it is maybe the best team.. but the rest are very good as well, and if they try to controrl all the ays up the front, they will fade at the end, at least a little, as Saxo in last Giro.

Poels Roche (and Koenig) contracts are up at the end of this year.
let´s see what happens with the usual Tour de France early transfers pre-season
 
Landa is not down to ride the Tour. He is supposed to do the Giro/Vuelta...of course that could change
Kennaugh is not riding the Tour ... He has said he is riding the Gior ...last year performance at the Tour wasn't great
Nieve has been promised a Tour place when he renewed contract ...

IMO team will be Froome , Thomas, Roche, Poels, Nieve, Kwait, Stannard & Rowe....if all fit & in form
There will be one place up for grabs and I would bring Henao ...but that would mean him not riding the Giro which he is down to ride

Henao & Poels are great climbers but have not been consistent over 3 weeks ...but they can rotate days
Nieve is good on the long climbs
Thomas will be last man
Roche & Kwait for the middle mountains & hills...but maybe can step up some days if others MIA
Stannard & Rowe for the flat stages

If Landa were to ride then it would be in place of Nieve for the long climbs or Henao who lacks experience

Remember it not just who is good a climber , but how much experience you have in all situations and how well you can recover
 
Re:

HelloDolly said:
Landa is not down to ride the Tour. He is supposed to do the Giro/Vuelta...of course that could change
Kennaugh is not riding the Tour ... He has said he is riding the Gior ...last year performance at the Tour wasn't great
Nieve has been promised a Tour place when he renewed contract ...

IMO team will be Froome , Thomas, Roche, Poels, Nieve, Kwait, Stannard & Rowe....if all fit & in form
There will be one place up for grabs and I would bring Henao ...but that would mean him not riding the Giro which he is down to ride

Henao & Poels are great climbers but have not been consistent over 3 weeks ...but they can rotate days
Nieve is good on the long climbs
Thomas will be last man
Roche & Kwait for the middle mountains & hills...but maybe can step up some days if others MIA
Stannard & Rowe for the flat stages

If Landa were to ride then it would be in place of Nieve for the long climbs or Henao who lacks experience

Remember it not just who is good a climber , but how much experience you have in all situations and how well you can recover


it is going to be a good team, but Contador has people as Majka or kreuziger.

Even a team with Valverde, Quintana, Cancellara, Tony Martin, Pinot, Nibali.. working for Froome cant controle a race every day, at the end the team will fade and others will be strongers.

Some people think Astana was clearly stronger than Saxo in last Giro, but that is not true, Saxo worked more. Astana was an stronger team but with little difference.

People just only see in key moments Saxo fading and astana superstrong and forget all the work done.
 

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