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Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

Page 368 - 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
Apr 15, 2016
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Froome has shown once again he isn't anything special without a dominate team . Q left him for dead and then he was dropped by an injured declining Contador , his only hope slim as it may be is to try to limit his loses and try to win it in the tt .

or maybe his power meter was on the fritz which caused him to blow up
 
Re: Re:

El Pistolero said:
PremierAndrew said:
El Pistolero said:
PremierAndrew said:
Nah, Bardet is at a similar level to Kruijswijk, and wouldnt crash out with a 3 minute lead

Take a look at the 2014 Tour de France.

My bad, it's not like a 23 year old would have improved in the last two years

He hasn't. Outside of the one stage where he managed to get away on a descent (because Froome crashed) he did nothing he hadn't done before in 2014. Nibali even beat him at Oman this year.

Bardet is still on the same level he was since 2014, barely winning races.
Didn't know Bardet was 2nd in both Dauphiné and Tour back in 2014.
 
Froome lost his shot at the Tour-Vuelta double when he crashed out last year

Podium is still realistic, but if he's losing 30 seconds to Quintana on a steep climb after 165km of flat in ridiculous heat, he's not got much chance of winning overall barring the possibility that Quintana's form drops off even worse than his own form towards the end and he managed to defend that 1 minute lead on Contador
 
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red zone said:
Froome has shown once again he isn't anything special without a dominate team . Q left him for dead and then he was dropped by an injured declining Contador , his only hope slim as it may be is to try to limit his loses and try to win it in the tt .

or maybe his power meter was on the fritz which caused him to blow up
Really? You're certainly in a very small minority of people that think that way unless your just coming into this thread to get a rise out of everyone. Even most of the Froome haters would disagree with your assessment, me being one of them.

Froome is a great rider with a team that makes him dominant.
 
Jul 16, 2010
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Re:

PremierAndrew said:
Froome would be a lot more popular if he wasn't at Sky. Even I for example strongly dislike Sky (well the team that kills the stage races, not the team that is great to watch during the classics season) but really like Froome, who is a very exciting and attacking rider

Froome doesn't have the charisma, looks or attractive riding style to be well liked. It's one thing to attack in the final 5 km, it's another thing to attack 50-60 km from the finish-line like some others have done.
 
Re: Re:

El Pistolero said:
PremierAndrew said:
Froome would be a lot more popular if he wasn't at Sky. Even I for example strongly dislike Sky (well the team that kills the stage races, not the team that is great to watch during the classics season) but really like Froome, who is a very exciting and attacking rider

Froome doesn't have the charisma, looks or attractive riding style to be well liked. It's one thing to attack in the final 5 km, it's another thing to attack 50-60 km from the finish-line like some others have done.

And that's your opinion. Others have a different opinion

Apart from the 2014 Vuelta, Froome's never been in a position where he's needed to attack, and he still continues to do so
 
Only logical thing for Froome I can come up with for today is that he thought couldn't push the watts for the duration he thought he could push them. But then he probably also looks at his heart rate, so I dunno. Quintana taking off into the distance was somehow more interesting than his stem :eek:
 
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Re: Re:

Irondan said:
red zone said:
Froome has shown once again he isn't anything special without a dominate team . Q left him for dead and then he was dropped by an injured declining Contador , his only hope slim as it may be is to try to limit his loses and try to win it in the tt .

or maybe his power meter was on the fritz which caused him to blow up
Really? You're certainly in a very small minority of people that think that way unless your just coming into this thread to get a rise out of everyone. Even most of the Froome haters would disagree with your assessment, me being one of them.

Froome is a great rider with a team that makes him dominant.

A great rider doesn't need his team to control the entire race for him to win . Vuelta 14 showed an on form Froome couldn't win against good competition on an even playing field (team wise) and he owes his tour wins to his team .
 
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Re:

PremierAndrew said:
Froome would be a lot more popular if he wasn't at Sky. Even I for example strongly dislike Sky (well the team that kills the stage races, not the team that is great to watch during the classics season) but really like Froome, who is a very exciting and attacking rider

without Sky few would even know who Froome is
 
Re: Re:

red zone said:
PremierAndrew said:
Froome would be a lot more popular if he wasn't at Sky. Even I for example strongly dislike Sky (well the team that kills the stage races, not the team that is great to watch during the classics season) but really like Froome, who is a very exciting and attacking rider

without Sky few would even know who Froome is
With this logic we could plug Darwin Atupuma into the Team Sky TDF team and Darwin would have won the yellow jersey? OR maybe we plug in Chavito in the Sky squad and he's now a GT winner? I don't buy that logic.

The strongest riders win the hardest races, that's cycling 101. There's an occasional caveat but generally the strongest always win.

Period.
 
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Red Rick said:
Only logical thing for Froome I can come up with for today is that he thought couldn't push the watts for the duration he thought he could push them. But then he probably also looks at his heart rate, so I dunno. Quintana taking off into the distance was somehow more interesting than his stem :eek:

Today it was the first half-real test and he failed, the TTT and the murito were irrelevant (only Bertie managed to screw up). The Vuelta Froome is different from TdF Froome especially if it comes after a win in France. No amount of TT will save him if Movistar will play their cards right. Also, apparently Contador is back.
 
Apr 15, 2016
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Re: Re:

Irondan said:
red zone said:
PremierAndrew said:
Froome would be a lot more popular if he wasn't at Sky. Even I for example strongly dislike Sky (well the team that kills the stage races, not the team that is great to watch during the classics season) but really like Froome, who is a very exciting and attacking rider

without Sky few would even know who Froome is
With this logic we could plug Darwin Atupuma into the Team Sky TDF team and Darwin would have won the yellow jersey? OR maybe we plug in Chavito in the Sky squad and he's now a GT winner? I don't buy that logic.

The strongest riders win the hardest races, that's cycling 101. There's an occasional caveat but generally the strongest always win.

Period.

what had Foome done before getting to Sky ? and who's to say another nothing rider like Froome couldn't win a GT with Sky's training program and team support ?

if the strongest racer wins , why would SKY spend the money to build a super team and then dictate they all simply ride for the benefit of the designated leader ? why not allow them to chase stage wins if you are indeed right and supporting your GT leader is not needed ?

I will agree however if a rider is of sufficient class he can indeed win without team support or maybe if the field is weak enough a good rider can also win but alas Froome isn't at that level that he can beat a good field without a dominate team .
 
Just caught up on highlights of the stage, seems obvious to me Froome made a big mistake in trying to attack and put others in difficulty, he blew himself up big time and ended up losing a little time to Contador and big time to Quintana. He should do what he's always done when not in peak shape, ride his own rhythm and not worry about anyone else. Hopefully today makes him realise that and we see a better show over the next couple of big stages.
 
Jul 8, 2015
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Re:

SeriousSam said:
"It was a tough climb, and Nairo showed he was in good condition, so chapeau to him," Froome said at the finish "Alberto did great too, particularly after yesterday's crash, that shows he's a fighter."

"As for myself - I'm surviving."

No hysterics, no excuses, refreshing.

Indeed. No bidon throwing, no complaint of allergies or of a high HR. Instead, gives credit to the riders better than him. What a novel idea.

Even though Froome lost time today, I'd say he is sitting in a good position. In the Tour, it is usually pretty easy to tell from the first week who has the legs and who does not. In the Vuelta, it is much less predictable. A rider can lose time one day and drop the same riders the next. The most important thing for Froome is to be consistent and not give away huge chunks of time.
 
Re: Re:

TI-Raleigh said:
SeriousSam said:
"It was a tough climb, and Nairo showed he was in good condition, so chapeau to him," Froome said at the finish "Alberto did great too, particularly after yesterday's crash, that shows he's a fighter."

"As for myself - I'm surviving."

No hysterics, no excuses, refreshing.

Indeed. No bidon throwing, no complaint of allergies or of a high HR. Instead, gives credit to the riders better than him. What a novel idea.

Even though Froome lost time today, I'd say he is sitting in a good position. In the Tour, it is usually pretty easy to tell from the first week who has the legs and who does not. In the Vuelta, it is much less predictable. A rider can lose time one day and drop the same riders the next. The most important thing for Froome is to be consistent and not give away huge chunks of time.

Yeah, I also like that. Its sometimes depressing reading what Contador and Quintana always say after losing time.

He is definitely still in a good position and wont make this mistake again. The loser is Chaves, not Froome.
 
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Valv.Piti said:
Yeah, I also like that. Its sometimes depressing reading what Contador and Quintana always say after losing time.

He is definitely still in a good position and wont make this mistake again. The loser is Chaves, not Froome.

Oh come on. I challenge you to design a stage with weather that suits Froome better than today's stage...

Yeah if he had paced himself properly instead of trying what in hindsight was a stupid attack, he would probably have finished with Contador (and maybe Quintana too if he didn't take initiative). But he really should have done better today. He says he's riding himself into form over the course of the three weeks, but don't really see how him being better than this towards the end of the race

He is just as big a loser today as Chaves
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Chaves definitely is the bigger loser tho, he was more or less expected to be the best uphill right about now. I don't think its that bad for Froome, yes, he was expected to do better, but he messed his go-to strategy up and payed for it.

it´s still early and maybe it´s good he messed up on the 1st test. he learned today, about his level and his rivals.
so take today and use it not to make mistake in the next stages.
I really can´t complain about his lack of attacking and will to try, even if he made a mistake.
 
Mar 12, 2009
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Re:

SeriousSam said:
"It was a tough climb, and Nairo showed he was in good condition, so chapeau to him," Froome said at the finish "Alberto did great too, particularly after yesterday's crash, that shows he's a fighter."

"As for myself - I'm surviving."

No hysterics, no excuses, refreshing.

Nice, classy.
He's riding very well, especially considered that he's barely had a break after Tour & OG.
 
Sep 29, 2013
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Froome is a fantastic rider. Sure that without the train is not the some, because he needs to expose himself and that as a price.

But, we should be fair... First he is still in a great position, even if we can imagine that he is not going to win this vuelta, and then he is the guy more tired of the contenders... So much stress and hate, it shouldn´t be like that.
 

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