Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[carton]

It's the same jersey with which Froome destroyed everyone and won the Tour. And, as burning said, they're likely both going to be wearing it.

In all seriousness, "Marginal gains" is a truly brilliant marketing coup. You can't say they're lying, because the word marginal is right there on the tin.

 

[DanielSong39]

Re: Re:

Contador and Quintana never did the Vuelta after winning the tour, so compared to them, Froome is really really special.

I must have missed Quintana winning the Tour...

Let's wait for clinic shenanigans before throwing Froome under the bus. Until then, Quintana officially has two runner-up finishes.

 

[Durden93]

When was the last time that Froome and Quintana went head to head in a long-ish, flat TT? The first tour TT this year was relatively flat, but not pan flat like this. Hard to judge, but I think Froome will take big time (but not enough to put himself into contention).

 

[JRanton]

Re:

When was the last time that Froome and Quintana went head to head in a long-ish, flat TT? The first tour TT this year was relatively flat, but not pan flat like this. Hard to judge, but I think Froome will take big time (but not enough to put himself into contention).

I expect Quintana to significantly improve on the time trial he rode at the Tour and for Froome to do slightly worse. 30-45 seconds gap is my guess.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

When was the last time that Froome and Quintana went head to head in a long-ish, flat TT? The first tour TT this year was relatively flat, but not pan flat like this. Hard to judge, but I think Froome will take big time (but not enough to put himself into contention).

This TT isn't pan-flat. Not even close. It's pretty much rolling the whole way.

 

[pastronef]

Re: Re:

Froome I think is saving it all for the ITT. He has around a 30W advantage not wearing the official Le Coq Sportive standard skinsuit Quintana will wear (Unless Movistar do a deal with ASO to wear a Bioracer branded as Le Coq) and I notice Sky who used to use the Bioracer skinsuits which were said to be fastest are now using the even faster Rapha skinsuit which is wind tunnel tested to 15-30 seconds faster over 30 mins compared to the Bioracer, so Froome could be seeing 2 minutes for free over the hours ride just from the skinsuit alone because he's not in red. If he can ride 2 minutes faster which is expected as well, it might get him back within touching distance in the TT leaving a big showdown on Saturday to gain the rest. Gonna be fascinating either way.

Aboslute nonsense. Perhaps 2-3 watts. 30 watts, at the speeds they will be going, would be the difference between a rider wearing the best skinsuit and one wearing a poorly fitting normal jersey.

3 Watts you can get just using a nopinz speedpocket. It's been measured in Wolfson. Why do you think British Cycling & Sky spend so much money there? The Bioracer speedsuit gains around 30s per 30mins over a standard skinsuit at around 30mph and measured to about a 30W difference. Why do you think Cancellera, Wiggins & Martin always wore Bioracer or others speedsuits even though they were sponsored by other clothing manufacturers. Crikey, Sky even have a clause in their clothing sponsorship that the only item of clothing they didn't have to wear was the skinsuits because they wore Bioracer and other custom suits. Why do you think Sky made all that fuss during Wiggins Tour de France refusing to wear Le Coq Sportive skinsuits and then ASO changed the rules saying you must wear Le Coq Sportive?

Sam, take it easy, enjoy the TT. as previously posted Froome will wear the white combined LeCoqSportif jersey, tranquilo
if you focused on Froome, and the race, a bit more, you would have noticed he´s been wearing the white jersey for a few stages now.
you could do better

 

[Durden93]

Re: Re:

When was the last time that Froome and Quintana went head to head in a long-ish, flat TT? The first tour TT this year was relatively flat, but not pan flat like this. Hard to judge, but I think Froome will take big time (but not enough to put himself into contention).

This TT isn't pan-flat. Not even close. It's pretty much rolling the whole way.

Those hills gain 100m in elevation each at most, though. My point is it's not like tdf 2013 where there were two cat 2 climbs which could help Quintana. I highly doubt that a few 2km climbs at a 5% gradient will create too much of a difference between the big names.

 

[scurrrr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jANaYBMrifM

20 watts just from fitting
15 from material, dimpels, all that fancy stuff.

they are comparing the castelli suit vs a normal or cheap one i guess, so not sure in which category the lecoq sportife one is but it looks cheap.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jANaYBMrifM

20 watts just from fitting
15 from material, dimpels, all that fancy stuff.

they are comparing the castelli suit vs a normal or cheap one i guess, so not sure in which category the lecoq sportife one is but it looks cheap.

The skinsuit for a leaders jersey would be one of the absolute top shelf skinsuits available commercially, while the GCN video you linked compares it to a bog standard cheap one

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

When was the last time that Froome and Quintana went head to head in a long-ish, flat TT? The first tour TT this year was relatively flat, but not pan flat like this. Hard to judge, but I think Froome will take big time (but not enough to put himself into contention).

This TT isn't pan-flat. Not even close. It's pretty much rolling the whole way.

Those hills gain 100m in elevation each at most, though. My point is it's not like tdf 2013 where there were two cat 2 climbs which could help Quintana. I highly doubt that a few 2km climbs at a 5% gradient will create too much of a difference between the big names.

True, it's certainly not a hilly course. But I think it's still a huge difference than a pan flat one. A steady effort won't be the best strategy here; it will be more like an interval ride - pushing hard over threshold on the uphills and recovering slighlty on downhill sections. Still favours Froome I guess, but not so much as if it were a dead flat 50km/h+ the whole way route.

 

[samhocking]

ASO rules says only the yellow jersey has to be official. The Le Coq Sportive skinsuit is just traditionally stictched lycra with long arms. You get a choice of off-the-shelf of small, medium or large and Le Coq Sportive skinsuits all made before the race and they will take it in where you want to remove any wrinkles because it's not fitted to you like a proper speedsuit is. Froome will be in Rapha's new skinsuit that isn;t even available to the public, letalone Le Coq Sportive lol unless the rules have changed again for all jersey wearers.

Endura might do a deal with ASO for Quintana to use a Le Coq Sportive branded skinsuit made by Bioracer, I don;t know what skinsuit clause Movistars clothing contract has (if any). We'll soon see what Quintana is wearing. If it has stripes or little Vs on the arms he's wearing Bioracer, if smooth it's standard Le Coq Sportive go slow suit.

Bit more about Froomes switching from Bioracer to the new Rapha suit here:
http://gearpatrol.com/2016/07/15/rapha-tt-skinsuit/

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

True, it's certainly not a hilly course. But I think it's still a huge difference than a pan flat one. A steady effort won't be the best strategy here; it will be more like an interval ride - pushing hard over threshold on the uphills and recovering slighlty on downhill sections. Still favours Froome I guess, but not so much as if it were a dead flat 50km/h+ the whole way route.

What do you reckon the average speed for the winner will be?

 

[LaFlorecita]

The only issue I see with the race leaders' skinsuits is that they often do not fit perfectly. I don't believe at all that there's a 30 Watts difference between one fitted high-end skinsuit and another.

This discussion has prompted me to look at some pictures of Contador in TTs while in the leaders jersey, I was looking at 2014 races, Tirreno& Pais Vasco he clearly wears a different skinsuit than he normally would, provided by the race and they obviously don't fit as snugly, but in the final ITT of the Vuelta I'm pretty sure he wore his standard Sportful skinsuit rebranded as a le Coq Sportif

Compare to this photo earlier in the same race:

I'm sure if the race organizers would make an exception for Contador, they'd do the same for a Movistar rider.

 

[Amnes2015]

not that it matter anyway

Quintana has to have a very very bad ITT day in order for Froome and/or Contador to have hopes for stage 20

 

[samhocking]

Endura's team skinsuit for Movistar is actually made by Bioracer. It depends if Endura want everyone to see Quintana in a skinsuit you can buy from Endura or from Bioracer. I think with the headwind increase thoughout the day, aerodynamics are going to be a bigger factor than people realise. It's only this year Sky stopped wearing the Bioracer speedsuits and seem to have done a lot of windtunnel work with Rapha with something that in the windtunnel at least is faster than the previous Bioracer suit by 30s every 30 minutes. I think the new skinsuits fopr Sky was a big factor in winning the TTT as the team has often been second best or much worse to a Movistar TT squad.

 

[memyselfandI]

Re: Re:

When was the last time that Froome and Quintana went head to head in a long-ish, flat TT? The first tour TT this year was relatively flat, but not pan flat like this. Hard to judge, but I think Froome will take big time (but not enough to put himself into contention).

This TT isn't pan-flat. Not even close. It's pretty much rolling the whole way.

Those hills gain 100m in elevation each at most, though. My point is it's not like tdf 2013 where there were two cat 2 climbs which could help Quintana. I highly doubt that a few 2km climbs at a 5% gradient will create too much of a difference between the big names.

Tbo, route is about 320m up and down..It's decent fast flattish first, then bit slowish up to Teulada, lefthander and superfast down to Moraira through some quite tight roundabouts and after that this up and down tightish turns open seawind today 5-6 m/s from south. Road in itself is an absolut must to visit when visiting this area.

 

[DBotero]

Amazing TT today.Now let's see if he can climb as well.I don't see Quintana cracking but Froome should test him tomorrow at least.

 

[MatParker117]

What an absolute warrior, that's now very bridgeable. It's simple same gap as PSM if he does that he wins the Vuelta by two seconds. Hell with a stage win he might grab a jersey, gap to Valverde has shrunk. He has to be cursing Henao's crash, Kwait's bad back and Benat's and Roche's illness.

Depending on how Valverde rides because I don't think Sky will let a break go he should come out of this race with a jersey, don't know what colour.

 

[Ataraxus]

Herald Sun + 1 stage
Dauphine + 1 stage
TDF + 2 stages
2nd in Vuelta + 3 stages
Bronze in Rio
Velo D'or shouldn't be a problem now. Unless Sagan repeats his WC Title.

 

[tretiak]

Now it's up to Froome. He has to attack early. He will not take back that time in the last climb.

 

[Poursuivant]

I think Sky just need to drill it early as possible tomorrow, in the hope that they shed as many Movi domestiques as possible. Yes, they are stronger than Sky; but what does Froome have to lose?

 

[JRanton]

Re:

What an absolute warrior, that's now very bridgeable. It's simple same gap as PSM if he does that he wins the Vuelta by two seconds. Hell with a stage win he might grab a jersey, gap to Valverde has shrunk. He has to be cursing Henao's crash, Kwait's bad back and Benat's and Roche's illness.

Depending on how Valverde rides because I don't think Sky will let a break go he should come out of this race with a jersey, don't know what colour.

I wouldn't say very bridgeable at all. You need Quintana to have a bad day and for Froome to have a great one. Most likely scenario is that Quintana follows Froome's wheel all day.

He rode a great TT today and showed that without the mistake at the start of stage 15 he had a great chance to win the Vuelta and do the double.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

Froome is heavier than most of his GC competition which means his FTP is higher than Quintana, Valverde. He might have his threshold in excess of 50 watts over Quintana. In such a flat TT, its a huge advantage. Dont think anybody except Konig to challenge him.
If he fades then its a different story.
If we believe what he says and that he is riding himself into the race, he aint fading.
Are there any TT guys in the field?

If it would only be a matter of heavier = higher FTP, König wouldn't be able to beat Froome as he's 62kg (just like Valverde and Contador by the way)

Exactly. The weight argument is absolute nonsense. 22 years ago, Rominger smashed Indurain's hour record, despite being 15kg lighter. Way more factors go into TTing than just weight.

We'll see how much nonsense it is when we get to it mate.
I'm sure NOBODY with lesser than Froome's weight can beat him in the TT.
Nonsense or not, we'll know on Stage 19 when Froome puts 2 minutes into Quitana.

Guess the weight argument isnt nonsense. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Froome is heavier than most of his GC competition which means his FTP is higher than Quintana, Valverde. He might have his threshold in excess of 50 watts over Quintana. In such a flat TT, its a huge advantage. Dont think anybody except Konig to challenge him.
If he fades then its a different story.
If we believe what he says and that he is riding himself into the race, he aint fading.
Are there any TT guys in the field?

If it would only be a matter of heavier = higher FTP, König wouldn't be able to beat Froome as he's 62kg (just like Valverde and Contador by the way)

Exactly. The weight argument is absolute nonsense. 22 years ago, Rominger smashed Indurain's hour record, despite being 15kg lighter. Way more factors go into TTing than just weight.

We'll see how much nonsense it is when we get to it mate.
I'm sure NOBODY with lesser than Froome's weight can beat him in the TT.
Nonsense or not, we'll know on Stage 19 when Froome puts 2 minutes into Quitana.

Guess the weight argument isnt nonsense. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yep; unless the 170 riders who finished behind Quintana are all lighter than him then it's nonsense

 

[silvergrenade]

Great ride for Froome today.
Congrats to him.
He would've won this Vuelta. He is the best GT racer in this Vuelta.
Tough to be in his shoes right now, knowing and hurting for what couldve been his.