Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[therealthing]

So we might have to wait till next Saturday to see if his form is any better now, whereas if we only had to wait till Tuesday he might have pulled out if his form is still terrible. Will he wait it out till Zoncolan?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Froome was getting outclimbed by Rohan Dennis.

I mean cmon... he's done for

 

[Brullnux]

I genuinely think it's not form. He was fine at Trentino, and on track. It's not like sky to mess up their prep so badly that he actually gets worse in those two weeks. He isn't at his best, no, but it's the crashes which have brought him low. I mean, we all knwo how badly he reacts to crashing.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Quintana was way, way better than this.

Anyway, it's striking that no one's moving a finger to eliminate Froome once and for all. Part of me wants that to be everyone's undoing later on.

The wind looked pretty strong but i'm surprised that Froome only dropped a minute because he lost the first 30 seconds pretty quickly.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

I genuinely think it's not form. He was fine at Trentino, and on track. It's not like sky to mess up their prep so badly that he actually gets worse in those two weeks. He isn't at his best, no, but it's the crashes which have brought him low. I mean, we all knwo how badly he reacts to crashing.

I agree,and he did look slightly better on Etna, but either way I think his Giro is done for after today. He could come good in the final week and be one of the strongest, but he hasn’t shown the form to put massive time into anyone uphill for a while now.

 

[Red Rick]

Just looking at Froome tells you he's too chubby to win the Giro. He can't win. He can't top 3.

For him the decision is drop a load of time and go for stages or or step off the bike before Rome.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Just looking at Froome tells you he's too chubby to win the Giro. He can't win. He can't top 3.

For him the decision is drop a load of time and go for stages or or step off the bike before Rome.

He should step off tomorrow and prepare for the Tour unless he really thinks he can retrieve something from the race and he just had an off day.

 

[Carols]

I don't think he'll quit. Definitely not my favorite but the guy isn't a quitter, I'll say that for him. If he has a broken bone he'll quit but otherwise I think he has the guts to keep riding. Now he just needs to decide what he's riding for, as the win seems to be slipping away. There is still a podium or stages as possibilities.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Wouldn't write off Froome yet. He needs to make about 2 mins on Dumoulin and 2.30 on Yates with a TT to go. Dumo isn't looking great and Yates will lose 1-1.30 in the TT. Today was the day after a crash on the exact same side he already crashed on and he's proven himself over 3 weeks multiple times along with being the only true stellar climber in this field.

Not looking good but would still give him similar chance of winning overall as Pinot personally

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Wouldn't write off Froome yet. He needs to make about 2 mins on Dumoulin and 2.30 on Yates with a TT to go. Dumo isn't looking great and Yates will lose 1-1.30 in the TT. Today was the day after a crash on the exact same side he already crashed on and he's proven himself over 3 weeks multiple times along with being the only true stellar climber in this field.

Not looking good but would still give him similar chance of winning overall as Pinot personally

Dumoulin would have to crack in the mountains and Froome would have to win a stage and put time into Yates and co which is currently looking unlikely. Be interesting to see what Froome says after the stage about his effort today.

 

[46&twoWheels]

Winning this Giro would be his most impressive GT-win imho (weak team, minutes behind, outside-of-his-peak period, Italian appenninic crazy weather) and would definitely make me reconsider his likeability

Hopefully he's not thinking about doing an inverse Kittel or better..Quittel

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re:

Wouldn't write off Froome yet. He needs to make about 2 mins on Dumoulin and 2.30 on Yates with a TT to go. Dumo isn't looking great and Yates will lose 1-1.30 in the TT. Today was the day after a crash on the exact same side he already crashed on and he's proven himself over 3 weeks multiple times along with being the only true stellar climber in this field.

Not looking good but would still give him similar chance of winning overall as Pinot personally

Unfortunately not. It's not a result of crashes. Why? Look at a shape of the whole team.
Something went wrong in the whole traininig period. Poels&de la Cruz&Henao - with no shape. All of them should be at (or nearby) top10 at a stage like today's. Ellisonde was superb at Trentino but not now.
He should quit tomorrow, as well as Poels.

 

[Robert5091]

So will SDB pull the plug on the Giro & let Dawg recover for TdF?

 

[Parker]

Re: Re:

Wouldn't write off Froome yet. He needs to make about 2 mins on Dumoulin and 2.30 on Yates with a TT to go. Dumo isn't looking great and Yates will lose 1-1.30 in the TT. Today was the day after a crash on the exact same side he already crashed on and he's proven himself over 3 weeks multiple times along with being the only true stellar climber in this field.

Not looking good but would still give him similar chance of winning overall as Pinot personally

Unfortunately not. It's not a result of crashes. Why? Look at a shape of the whole team.
Something went wrong in the whole traininig period. Poels&de la Cruz&Henao - with no shape. All of them should be at (or nearby) top10 at a stage like today's. Ellisonde was superb at Trentino but not now.
He should quit tomorrow, as well as Poels.

Henao looks in decent shape to me. And Poels broke his collarbone at Paris-Nice so it's hardly surprising he's off form.

 

[Red Rick]

Chris Froome is spending this rest day trying to reach Vincenzo Nibali for private Voodoo lessons.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Wouldn't write off Froome yet. He needs to make about 2 mins on Dumoulin and 2.30 on Yates with a TT to go. Dumo isn't looking great and Yates will lose 1-1.30 in the TT. Today was the day after a crash on the exact same side he already crashed on and he's proven himself over 3 weeks multiple times along with being the only true stellar climber in this field.

Not looking good but would still give him similar chance of winning overall as Pinot personally

Agree. I wouldn't rule out him attempting an ambush style move as well on a flatter stage. And it could work. The team may not be at its best in the mountains, but it still has some very strong rouleurs. And Froome has shown before (e.g. 2016 tour) that he can be opportunistic and find different ways to make time.

Of course, if his form doesn't improve, then he'll get dropped like a stone on Zoncolan and Finestre anyway. But, he's still got a week or so to sort himself out before then. I feel the other GC riders really should have done more to absolutely put him out of contention by now.

 

[Bolder]

Re:

I genuinely think it's not form. He was fine at Trentino, and on track. It's not like sky to mess up their prep so badly that he actually gets worse in those two weeks. He isn't at his best, no, but it's the crashes which have brought him low. I mean, we all knwo how badly he reacts to crashing.

I tend to agree with this analysis. Hitting the deck twice -- and the first crash was harder than he let on, I think -- in the first week has got to have an effect.

I am not writing him off at all. But right now you'd have to say he's an outside shot for the podium, let alone finishing. Realistically, he's 6th or 7th in the GC standings ATM -- I assume at some point Chaves or Yates will have to be sacrificed, Woods, Dennis and Bilbao will fade, and I'm not convinced that Pozzovivo at age 35 is a GC contender. Froome is ahead of MAL and Aru, and normally you'd say he's pretty well placed.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

I genuinely think it's not form. He was fine at Trentino, and on track. It's not like sky to mess up their prep so badly that he actually gets worse in those two weeks. He isn't at his best, no, but it's the crashes which have brought him low. I mean, we all knwo how badly he reacts to crashing.

I tend to agree with this analysis. Hitting the deck twice -- and the first crash was harder than he let on, I think -- in the first week has got to have an effect.

I am not writing him off at all. But right now you'd have to say he's an outside shot for the podium, let alone finishing. Realistically, he's 6th or 7th in the GC standings ATM -- I assume at some point Chaves or Yates will have to be sacrificed, Woods, Dennis and Bilbao will fade, and I'm not convinced that Pozzovivo at age 35 is a GC contender. Froome is ahead of MAL and Aru, and normally you'd say he's pretty well placed.

I think this is a good analysis. He is in a decent position in the standings; considering he can gain over a minute on those above him (apart from Dumoulin) in the TT.

The problem is that he just looks awful right now. If his struggles are mainly a result of the crashes - muscle soreness and swelling - then I think he is still a real danger overall. Because he could easily be recovered from that by Zoncolan. If it is mainly because he doesn't have the form and is building towards a third week peak, then he's done for I think. He's not going to improve his conditioning enough in such a short time.

 

[Red Rick]

He came into the Giro underprepared, and is now wasting excess energy on recovering from multiple crashes and and hanging on for dear life. He's much more likely to get worse than he is to get better.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

Wouldn't write off Froome yet. He needs to make about 2 mins on Dumoulin and 2.30 on Yates with a TT to go. Dumo isn't looking great and Yates will lose 1-1.30 in the TT. Today was the day after a crash on the exact same side he already crashed on and he's proven himself over 3 weeks multiple times along with being the only true stellar climber in this field.

Not looking good but would still give him similar chance of winning overall as Pinot personally

Agree. I wouldn't rule out him attempting an ambush style move as well on a flatter stage. And it could work. The team may not be at its best in the mountains, but it still has some very strong rouleurs. And Froome has shown before (e.g. 2016 tour) that he can be opportunistic and find different ways to make time.

Of course, if his form doesn't improve, then he'll get dropped like a stone on Zoncolan and Finestre anyway. But, he's still got a week or so to sort himself out before then. I feel the other GC riders really should have done more to absolutely put him out of contention by now.

Don't usually agree with these two, but do here. Obviously a bit of a disaster so far for Froome, but he's not out of it yet. An excellent ITT could see him recoup all of his losses on all but TD. The stage 8 crash may have cost him most of his stage loss yesterday. IF he is aiming for a third week peak then there is still hope for Sky fans.

But did I read that right? "Ambush", in association with Froome?

Though if he attacks on Finestre and takes back minutes he might even win some of us Contador fans over

 

[Robert5091]

Last year at the TdF we had the nutrition excuse, now it's ...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/portal-chris-froomes-battle-to-win-the-giro-ditalia-continues/

"His legs aren't as strong as they could be, and he's had the crashes, too."

Bad/wrong/insufficient preparation (hubris creeping in?) plus now a seemingly very dodgy knee etc. Froome needs to take back 2 minutes on TommyD, beat him in the ITT, and hold off/wheel suck the climbers. Likely?

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Last year at the TdF we had the nutrition excuse, now it's ...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/portal-chris-froomes-battle-to-win-the-giro-ditalia-continues/

"His legs aren't as strong as they could be, and he's had the crashes, too."

Bad/wrong/insufficient preparation (hubris creeping in?) plus now a seemingly very dodgy knee etc. Froome needs to take back 2 minutes on TommyD, beat him in the ITT, and hold off/wheel suck the climbers. Likely?

Tour of South Africa at the beginning of the year takes its toll and we still haven't found out how's his asthma, maybe a problem too?

 

[brownbobby]

Re: Re:

Last year at the TdF we had the nutrition excuse, now it's ...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/portal-chris-froomes-battle-to-win-the-giro-ditalia-continues/

"His legs aren't as strong as they could be, and he's had the crashes, too."

Bad/wrong/insufficient preparation (hubris creeping in?) plus now a seemingly very dodgy knee etc. Froome needs to take back 2 minutes on TommyD, beat him in the ITT, and hold off/wheel suck the climbers. Likely?

Tour of South Africa at the beginning of the year takes its toll and we still haven't found out how's his asthma, maybe a problem too?

Are we not just seeing the normal May version of Froome?

To me, it was a massive shock that he elected to ride the Giro, i never thought he would let anything get in the way of going for TDF no. 5. Obviously the money on offer was too good to resist.

But was he ever really commited to trying to win the Giro....he was never going to say it publicly was he, but it looks increasingly like he never prepared himself for a serious tilt at this race, and his annual training is still built around peaking in July.

I really hope he gets to ride the Tour, just so that we can get some answers to the numerous questions that arise from the lacklustre showing at the Giro.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Plus the Giro is simply a different race than the Tour. More explosiveness because riders are fresher, and less controlled. Sky are struggling to control the race as well

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

He just proved that Giro-Tour double great perfomance is almost impossible. The same was with Quintana last year, but he was much more better at Giro and with no shape at TdF. For Chris Tour is much more important so we have Quintana-Tour2017 version now performed by CF-Giro2018.