• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

Page 381 - 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
A strong team would've been able to pull back that kind of gap, or at least maintain a bridgeable gap. Instead Sky riders got dropped from the peloton and formed a grupetto.

Based on the footage the gap grew gradually from 10 seconds to 1 minute - no sudden 30 second jump. Even if Froome got shuffled to the back of the second group, teammates should have been able to pace him back, while other teammates forced the pace at the front. The fact they couldn't tells you everything you need to know.
 
Aug 15, 2016
225
0
0
Visit site
i find this thing interesting

Only Boswell from this Vuelta 7 man team (except Froome) has a contract with Sky for the next year (according to PCS)

they either don't have resigned contracts with Sky (and i doubt that maybe except Puccio and Lopez they will get a renewal offer) or they already signed with other teams in which case they don't give a crap

i think it's a manager mistake to bring, at a grand tour, 2/3 of the team that has no contract with Sky for the next year
 
Re:

Amnes2015 said:
i find this thing interesting

Only Boswell from this Vuelta 7 man team (except Froome) has a contract with Sky for the next year (according to PCS)

they either don't have resigned contracts with Sky (and i doubt that maybe except Puccio and Lopez they will get a renewal offer) or they already signed with other teams in which case they don't give a crap

i think it's a manager mistake to bring, at a grand tour, 2/3 of the team that has no contract with Sky for the next year

PCS isn't accurate. Golas, Knees, Kennaugh and Boswell all signed two year contracts (for 2016 and 2017) last year. Puccio and Lopez are strongly rumoured to have already signed extensions before the Vuelta. So eight out of the nine riders including Froome and Kwiato already had contracts for next year. The only one who is likely to be leaving is Konig. Sky confirm who has existing contracts, extensions and who is leaving in one announcement.

The idea that they are lacking motivation to support Froome is frankly absurd. Just a very bad day after working very hard on the previous day's stage. It happens!
 
Re: Re:

red zone said:
dusty red roads said:
And, according to Valverde, it was Valverde who let go of the wheel in front of him and let the break go away without him and everyone behind him.

which sounds a lot more realistic than blaming a mystery crash considering the gap opened very gradually

It wasn't a mystery crash. You can see the damage that Van der Sande suffered on his twitter account and the crash causing the split has been confirmed by two different teams.
 
Re:

huge said:
A bit of lame excuses with that mysterious crash now. A crash nobody even mentioned yesterday. Too hard admitting they f***ed it up?

There's no mystery to the crash. It's confirmed by the rider who crashed and the riders caught out behind. Nobody is suggesting that Froome and Sky shouldn't have been far more attentive and in Froome's case he should have been on Quintana's wheel, but clearly the crash was a decisive factor. All part of racing of course, no moaning from Froome or Sky, but it happened nonetheless.
 
Re: Re:

snccdcno said:
JRanton said:
TomLPC said:
A fine second today from Chris, who knew he was such a classy sprinter

Did I miss some more nonsense from Kirby who seems to think Froome is a contender for bunch sprints?

He was second behind Chaves sans those were OTL yesterday.

Oh right. :lol:

I forgot that the forum is still obsessed with yesterday's time cut despite a great day of racing. Sad, really.
 

snccdcno

BANNED
Aug 22, 2014
389
0
9,280
Visit site
Re: Re:

JRanton said:
snccdcno said:
JRanton said:
TomLPC said:
A fine second today from Chris, who knew he was such a classy sprinter

Did I miss some more nonsense from Kirby who seems to think Froome is a contender for bunch sprints?

He was second behind Chaves sans those were OTL yesterday.

Oh right. :lol:

I forgot that the forum is still obsessed with yesterday's time cut despite a great day of racing. Sad, really.

Think it was just a joke tbh
 
Re: Re:

bambino said:
red zone said:

wheel sucking would have been a clever plan for what purpose exactly ? he wasn't going to win the stage and why let the gap get to close to 3 mins before they decide to work to protect Scarponi's top 10 ?

you're spinning yourself silly trying to come up with reasons why Astana started to pull and you're making yourself look foolish

When your arguments ends, you will attack the writer behind opinions, classy.

Maybe you should ask Scarponi himself who apparently (stage thread) gave an interview saying he ordered Astana to pull to get the break back and gain places. Oh well, I'm the silly and foolish anyway.

Scarponi actually dropped a spot in the overall GC .

The question isn't why they pulled to protect Scarponi's top 10 but why wait so long if that was they goal ?[/quote]

No clue mate, go and ask them. The whole argument tho wasn't that. The argument was about Astana apparently should feel ashamed driving for Scarponi's 9th place. I think they are still allowed by the rules of cycling to do that, and Scarponi said himself that was why they pushed. Whether they did that earlier or later is not the point and was probably bad tactics.

Why is it so hard for people to believe that Top 10 spot could actually hugely matter for a guy who is very soon 37 year old and as been by surprise granted his potentially last chance in his remaining career to drive as the leader of the team in GT?

Really OT for Froome's thread, stopping here and now.[/quote]

The actual placement isn't as important as the time separating each position. I haven't looked at the positions and times of 5-10 but Scarponi could have close to advancing several spots making it that much more important for Astana to attempt to protect or advance their leader's position. The fact that it failed is not the point.
 
Re:

huge said:
A bit of lame excuses with that mysterious crash now. A crash nobody even mentioned yesterday. Too hard admitting they f***ed it up?

Sport director Neil Stephens believes the team has come through the Pyrenees positively and praised their efforts.

“Esteban (Chaves) and Jens Keukeleire were very close to being part of the Contador attack,” said Stephens. “But a crash happened right in front of them at the wrong moment, they got held up and by the time they were round it was too late.

“We put a lot of effort into the chase, but we obviously couldn’t commit everyone and at the end of the day there we wanted to limit the time loss and maintain our positions on the general classification.

http://www.cyclingquotes.com/news/reactions_from_stage_15_of_the_vuelta_a_espana/
 
Re:

DanielSong39 said:
Sky was tired from their Stage 14 heroics; it just wasn't strong enough to carry Froome through another stage.

Dudes were trying but they simply weren't fast enough.

Hey, it happens.

I think a Rowe or Thomas would have had Froome up near the front. Needed a couple of classics guys to watch out and anticipate for splits. They were key during the Tour.
 
Re:

TourOfSardinia said:
If watch here for a minute of so.
https://youtu.be/B0qQoy7J7zo?t=2080

Froome is on the front.
He complains. Sits up
They go through a tunnel
and miraculous
the AstanaBots are at work on the front.
It is as if he issued the command.

Yeah well I guess Scarponi is then just liar in the interview after the stage when he said he ordered the team to work to potentially gain some places in the GC.
 
Aug 15, 2016
225
0
0
Visit site
I guess Froome is more mentally broken than phisically. So close and now so far away from top spot.

I expect a similar ITT performance to Richie Porte's Giro ITT after the 2 minutes penalty , aka very bad. Anything else will be a pleasant surprise.
 
Re:

Amnes2015 said:
I guess Froome is more mentally broken than phisically. So close and now so far away from top spot.

I expect a similar ITT performance to Richie Porte's Giro ITT after the 2 minutes penalty , aka very bad. Anything else will be a pleasant surprise.

One thing for sure Froome won't be 'mentally broken'. He's proved on many occasions he has nothing wrong with his mental state, he's not Wiggins who's very fragile in that regard.

Physically perhaps, it's been a long season and every reason suggests he should fade this week.
 
Re: Re:

Pricey_sky said:
Amnes2015 said:
I guess Froome is more mentally broken than phisically. So close and now so far away from top spot.

I expect a similar ITT performance to Richie Porte's Giro ITT after the 2 minutes penalty , aka very bad. Anything else will be a pleasant surprise.

One thing for sure Froome won't be 'mentally broken'. He's proved on many occasions he has nothing wrong with his mental state, he's not Wiggins who's very fragile in that regard.

Physically perhaps, it's been a long season and every reason suggests he should fade this week.
One can ofc argue the problems were his legs, but he actually was in a comparable situation in the Vuelta 2012. Only slightly weaker than the best but shortly after he started to lose time he was completely done. As I said thats partly because he got worse later in the race, but I don't think thats the reason for the amount of time he lost in a few stages. I mean he only lost 30 seconds to Contador on Bola del Mundo, while he lost 5 minutes in Fuente De and 2 and a half minutes in Cuitu Negru.
 
People forget just how much Astana hate Tinkoff and Tinkoff hate Astana. That goes back a long way and alliances are formed, that's how it's worked since the good old days. Not everything you see on TV can describe why it happens. Astana chasing was simply raw hate coming out and the alliance with Sky. Scarponi also shouldn't be underestimated either.
 
Re:

Amnes2015 said:
i find this thing interesting

Only Boswell from this Vuelta 7 man team (except Froome) has a contract with Sky for the next year (according to PCS)

they either don't have resigned contracts with Sky (and i doubt that maybe except Puccio and Lopez they will get a renewal offer) or they already signed with other teams in which case they don't give a crap

i think it's a manager mistake to bring, at a grand tour, 2/3 of the team that has no contract with Sky for the next year

True, however one year Sky took a non-renewed rider to the Vuelta to help Wiggins and he transformed into the greatest GT rider of all time, who's to say it wasn't going to happen again? :lol:
 
Re: Re:

thehog said:
Amnes2015 said:
i find this thing interesting

Only Boswell from this Vuelta 7 man team (except Froome) has a contract with Sky for the next year (according to PCS)

they either don't have resigned contracts with Sky (and i doubt that maybe except Puccio and Lopez they will get a renewal offer) or they already signed with other teams in which case they don't give a crap

i think it's a manager mistake to bring, at a grand tour, 2/3 of the team that has no contract with Sky for the next year

True, however one year Sky took a non-renewed rider to the Vuelta to help Wiggins and he transformed into the greatest GT rider of all time, who's to say it wasn't going to happen again? :lol:

:rolleyes:
 
Re:

IndianCyclist said:
Based on Stage 15 and Froome's comments after that about DSQ, none are going to get renewed.

Sky's hiring policy mean means they are now going to have a lot of riders getting poor race selection who are not so happy riding for Froome. These guys won't have a hope in hell matching their Sky's salary so they have to show all they can for a contract that might just get there. Boswell will probably get to stay on though, he was training with Froome in South Africa and rode the Giro.
 

TRENDING THREADS