Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Oliwright]

Also with Ettix and other teams imo having a weaker team of domestiques than usual and with Sky having so much more Firepower on the flat than Movistar, Tinkoff and Astana. I think in terms of controlling the race in the flat areas with G, Rowe, Stannard and Kiri they will be unchallenged. Then with Landa, Nieve, Henao, Poels, Kiri and G on the uphill stages their team has such pedigree that even if 1-2 riders crash or get ill they still have too much strength. IMO Landa will be the strongest Climbing dom at the race, Valverde always looks for his chances and will be tired from the Giro and Nibali wont pull for Aru.

I just can't see Sky cracking unless a big crash takes them out.

 

[LaFlorecita]

How does Sky have "so much more firepower on the flat" than Tinkoff?
Thomas, Rowe, Kiryienka and Stannard vs. Sagan, Tosatto, Valgren, Bodnar and Gatto
(plus Kreuziger who is also a beast on the flat)

 

[Oliwright]

Re:

How does Sky have "so much more firepower on the flat" than Tinkoff?
Thomas, Rowe, Kiryienka and Stannard vs. Sagan, Tosatto, Valgren, Bodnar and Gatto
(plus Kreuziger who is also a beast on the flat)

I don't remember Sagan doing that much domestic work last year, Stannard 3rd in Rounbaix, Rowe 5th Flanders, G won E3 top 10s in Roubaix and RVV and Kiri ITT world champion.

Tosatto is 42 and not at his peak, Bodnar is decent but not on world class level, Valgren is a good rider, Gatto is a good classics rider but on a level below stannard and rowe and Sagan will be looking after himself as he always does.

How can you say Tinkoff is stronger? They have more riders for the flat stages, but in terms of quality of rider Sky are miles ahead imo.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

How can you say Tinkoff is stronger? They have more riders for the flat stages, but in terms of quality of rider Sky are miles ahead imo.

We will have to disagree on that. We shall see during the Tour .

Top results in cobbled classics do not equate with "top domestique on the flat", as in, it is very much possible to be a brilliant domestique without having any amazing results. See for example Tosatto.
Oh and about Sagan, he closed 2 crucial gaps with Contador on his wheel, 1 on the echelon stage, which allowed Contador to make it into the decisive echelon, and one on the cobbles stage.

 

[Oliwright]

Re: Re:

How can you say Tinkoff is stronger? They have more riders for the flat stages, but in terms of quality of rider Sky are miles ahead imo.

We will have to disagree on that. We shall see during the Tour .

Top results in cobbled classics do not equate with "top domestique on the flat", as in, it is very much possible to be a brilliant domestique without having any amazing results. See for example Tosatto.
Oh and about Sagan, he closed 2 crucial gaps with Contador on his wheel, 1 on the echelon stage, which allowed Contador to make it into the decisive echelon, and one on the cobbles stage.

Agreed we will find out, personally i'm happy with Sky's squad. We can agree that both are stronger than Movistar on the flat, and if Movistar find themselves leading the Tour I think they will struggle.

 

[ferryman]

Re:

How does Sky have "so much more firepower on the flat" than Tinkoff?
Thomas, Rowe, Kiryienka and Stannard vs. Sagan, Tosatto, Valgren, Bodnar and Gatto
(plus Kreuziger who is also a beast on the flat)

First off, bless you Flo for not saying the juvenile 'G'! Secondly, I agree with you, although I doubt Thomas and Kreuziger will be needed for action unless the proverbial hits the fan...

 

[Oliwright]

Well imo I'd much much rather have Sky's flat domestiques than Tinkoff's. We'll agree to disagree

 

[barmaher]

Yeah, I would think Sky's domestiques are better than Tinkoff's. If Sagan were to forego stage wins and green jersey and fight for Contador's yellow push, I might change my mind.

But he won't.

 

[Vasilis]

Re: Re:

Hypothetically: if Froome wasn't on the same team in 2012, do you think he would have beat Wiggins at TDF? He was clearly a better climber, but an inferior TT'er in a race that had over 100km of TT. I was just wondering what people thought after reading Cyclingquotes preview of this years tour, they mentioned that "Wiggins would probably have beaten Froome anyway." What do you think?

Froome lost 2 minutes on 100 km ITT, Im sure he would've found a way to distance him with +2 minutes in the mountains even tho they were truly anaemic

Agree.

This was then and now is now. It's 2016 and he's the man to beat. Millar is right in his blog. And so was Bertie in his interview published in today's l'Equipe: it's more than Froome that you need to beat. It's Sky.

Until proven otherwise, he's the favorite. But destroy Sky, and you have a shot. And maybe not you, but someone will. That's the kicker: are the other favorites ready to lose the Tour while (and/or by) ensuring that Froome doesn't win it?

Well maybe they need to work together to defeat Sky, although Sky have managed a lot of situations where they were put under pressure very well, but personnaly I would consider it a little unsporting if their aim isn't to win, but just to make Sky lose. Of course devising plans together to ambush Sky or something will be fun to watch, however if they rather have Sky lose than win themselves, I think it's been taken a step too far. Judging from previous years though, that's unlikely to happen.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

How can you say Tinkoff is stronger? They have more riders for the flat stages, but in terms of quality of rider Sky are miles ahead imo.

We will have to disagree on that. We shall see during the Tour .

Top results in cobbled classics do not equate with "top domestique on the flat", as in, it is very much possible to be a brilliant domestique without having any amazing results. See for example Tosatto.
Oh and about Sagan, he closed 2 crucial gaps with Contador on his wheel, 1 on the echelon stage, which allowed Contador to make it into the decisive echelon, and one on the cobbles stage.

Agreed we will find out, personally i'm happy with Sky's squad. We can agree that both are stronger than Movistar on the flat, and if Movistar find themselves leading the Tour I think they will struggle.

Struggle when/if they get the jersey - have you actually looked at the team? Its the second strongest and the strongest I can ever remember Movistar has sent to France. Please, drop those black/blue glasses for once, Movistar WILL be a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Red Rick]

One stem to rule them all
One stem to catch them
One stem to drop them all
And in agony bind them

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

One stem to rule them all
One stem to catch them
One stem to drop them all
And in agony bind them

Keeps getting better

 

[Oliwright]

Re: Re:

How can you say Tinkoff is stronger? They have more riders for the flat stages, but in terms of quality of rider Sky are miles ahead imo.

We will have to disagree on that. We shall see during the Tour .

Top results in cobbled classics do not equate with "top domestique on the flat", as in, it is very much possible to be a brilliant domestique without having any amazing results. See for example Tosatto.
Oh and about Sagan, he closed 2 crucial gaps with Contador on his wheel, 1 on the echelon stage, which allowed Contador to make it into the decisive echelon, and one on the cobbles stage.

Agreed we will find out, personally i'm happy with Sky's squad. We can agree that both are stronger than Movistar on the flat, and if Movistar find themselves leading the Tour I think they will struggle.

Struggle when/if they get the jersey - have you actually looked at the team? Its the second strongest and the strongest I can ever remember Movistar has sent to France. Please, drop those black/blue glasses for once, Movistar WILL be a force to be reckoned with.

Which classics riders in the movistar team are on the level of Stannard, Rowe, Kiri and Thomas. & Tossato, Sagan, Gatto etc?

 

[aarononymous]

Re: Re:

Which classics riders in the movistar team are on the level of Stannard, Rowe, Kiri and Thomas. & Tossato, Sagan, Gatto etc?

this year at least

 

[LaFlorecita]

Erviti and Oliveira. Doesn't look that impressive compared to other teams though.

 

[Kwibus]

Well Erviti was incredible this year, but you have to take into account that he performed from the breakaway. That's something else compared to battle for positions.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

How can you say Tinkoff is stronger? They have more riders for the flat stages, but in terms of quality of rider Sky are miles ahead imo.

We will have to disagree on that. We shall see during the Tour .

Top results in cobbled classics do not equate with "top domestique on the flat", as in, it is very much possible to be a brilliant domestique without having any amazing results. See for example Tosatto.
Oh and about Sagan, he closed 2 crucial gaps with Contador on his wheel, 1 on the echelon stage, which allowed Contador to make it into the decisive echelon, and one on the cobbles stage.

Agreed we will find out, personally i'm happy with Sky's squad. We can agree that both are stronger than Movistar on the flat, and if Movistar find themselves leading the Tour I think they will struggle.

Struggle when/if they get the jersey - have you actually looked at the team? Its the second strongest and the strongest I can ever remember Movistar has sent to France. Please, drop those black/blue glasses for once, Movistar WILL be a force to be reckoned with.

Which classics riders in the movistar team are on the level of Stannard, Rowe, Kiri and Thomas. & Tossato, Sagan, Gatto etc?

You are talking of defending the jersey - Nairo won't get the jersey on the first couple of days. They are super strong in the mountains.

 

[rick james]

First day done and dusted.

 

[PremierAndrew]

How good actually is Erviti on the flat? Good results in classics =/= good rouleur necessarily. Mr Vanmarcke is one example of that

 

[SeriousSam]

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 04:02:51
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange
6 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
8 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky


I hope Quintana is ready come the first MTF.

 

[pastronef]

Re:

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 04:02:51
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange
6 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
8 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky


I hope Quintana is ready come the first MTF.

he gains 10 seconds on Nibali and Pinot

 

[Põhja Konn]

Re:

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 04:02:51
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange
6 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
8 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky


I hope Quintana is ready come the first MTF.

If anything, Quintana's performance today was more impressive than Froome's, given what both of them had shown in similar kind of stages previously. Froome ending up in the lower half of top 10 was very much expected, but Quintana matching him pound for pound in an explosive finale not so much.

 

[JRanton]

Pleased with the team work for Froome today. It's like night and day compared to the protection that Landa had in the first week at the Giro.

 

[rick james]

Good day for the dawg

 

[TMP402]

Froome might have had more luck attacking in the finale if he hadn't been near the front and looking like he was on the verge of sprinting for most of the last 10km.