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One thing is almost certain: Froome riding this years Tour with a team other than Ineos will be a more interesting spectacle than Froome riding this years Tour with Ineos.
Whether they destroyed him (most likely), or he actually challenged them (and Jumbo) for the top step (less likely, though not impossible) in Paris, it would be fascinating viewing imo.
Whether they destroyed him (most likely), or he actually challenged them (and Jumbo) for the top step (less likely, though not impossible) in Paris, it would be fascinating viewing imo.
Look at that, they misunderstood the "cobertura" thing too.
Movistar one of the teams apparently interested in signing Chris Froome, according to reports
Rumours emerged yesterday that the four-time Tour champion could be considering a mid-season transferwww.cyclingweekly.com
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I had a feeling they misunderstood deliberately (or did not care). I still find it hard to believe it could be Movistar.
Reasons why Movistar makes zero sense for Froome. Froome was to be sole leader at the Tour and likely multiple other races. That right there won't happen at Movistar as they already have 3 leaders. Next Movistar's DS's are really not going to do anything to have other riders co operate if they don't want to. Did Froome miss the entire 6 part documentary? The team is currently building a very young team around Mas and Soler with the expectation that they will prove they can lead this team AND they have basically rider, leader, coach in Valverde for likely 2 more years (after this one) to help them out and provide a safety net for them. Mas and Soler get along with each other and trust Valverde. Is Froome willing to go to a team in which another rider has control of the team, gets his calendar first, will race wherever he wishes, including making last minute changes to his calendar and will never be asked to ride for anyone else unless he wants to. Plus he's literally said he recently talked with Unzue about racing an extra year and Unzue not only confirmed this but said Valverde just needs to tell him to change the contract to reflect racing in 2022 and it's done. In this case it's a little different that not commenting on who they are negotiating with or talking to simply because Valverde has a 5 year contract with 2022 through 2024 listed on the contract as to be determinate later and that includes him racing if he wishes to.
One more thing, money to re-sign Carapaz would be around 1 million or less. Froome's current salary is higher than Valverde's, that's a huge difference.
One more thing, money to re-sign Carapaz would be around 1 million or less. Froome's current salary is higher than Valverde's, that's a huge difference.
I think there must be a part of Froome thinking,: “ if I lose time first week to Bernal and Thomas, even if it’s 30-45 seconds, I can’t attack them and I need to hope they get dropped or I beat them in the final stage TT.” But if he is on another team he can throw the kitchen sink at yellow, regardless. He might be thinking, time is running out for him now and he wants to retire knowing he tried to win Number 5, and not have regrets sitting in as a teammate won.
From Ineos perspective, they’ll be thinking he is 34, he is coming back from breaking about 200 bones, and there are big question marks about if he is same rider, there would be for a younger man, never mind a mid 30’s man. Then you throw in the fact he is on about £4.5m, and Ineos will be wondering if they can justify offering a new contract in the Covid era when they already have Bernal, Thomas, Carapaz as proven GT winners, and potential winners like Sivakov and Sosa coming through.
We will know soon, but I think if he doesn’t leave this season, he will leave next season, but who knows in this sport.
I agree and would like to see it. I mentioned Trek as a landing spot half in jest but it actually could be a good spot for him. He's be getting way less money.
I'm a bit biased, evidently, but I don't think it's that bad of a miss. I thought they meant media coverage at first but that didn't quite make sense and then I thought it must be some kind of pun on team support when Juanjo replied with this:
View: https://twitter.com/juanjolobato/status/1261034597065936902
What I was missing was actually the Naranja = Orange wordplay there.
Valverde. Obviously, I'm being a bit theatrical. Froome's crash was quite likely far worse. But his 2017 Tour crash did look absolutely awful at the time.
There were other things going on last year, like losing Quintana, Landa, Amador and Carapaz, the waiting for Roglic imbroglio and their general Tour antics. And I'm sure within the team they consider 2019 and 2016 Vuelta as successful seasons. But at the same time Unzue clearly rues missing out on a Tour win with Quintana the last five years. And like everyone else who understands the business of the sport, he sees the Tour as by far the biggest race in the calendar.So by that logic last successful season for them was 2006, right? And before that 1995?
https://www.sport.es/es/noticias/to...-imaginar-una-temporada-cero-sin-tour-7952648
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The suggestion is that it would be new money from Liberty Global following their Virgin Media brand merging with Telefonica's 02 brand.
Still doesn't make sense from a practical point of view but the cash side could well work.
There's no guarantee of an expanded budget. They are basically lucky they are one of the few teams that haven't had to cut salaries during this.
Even if they could pay him his current salary that would NOT go over well in the team as Froome makes more currently than Valverde. That would already put Froome in a very bad starting point. Then if he wants to be a sole leader, Movistar is likely the last place on the planet he would want to go as he'll never get that. Plus he'll have riders actively riding against him on the team. The reality there is a very, very, very long list of why Froome to Movistar is a bad to horrible idea and not really any good reason at all for him to go there unless he wants a team that won't work for him, he'll have to share leadership with, he will have no say on which riders go to what races. He won't have his choice of races in the first place and there are already a long list of races that Valverde, Mas, and Soler will be leaders for.
Valverde's injury was a broken knee cap. Yes it looked horrible, but that actual injury is one that many, many, many riders have easily come back from to the form they had before the injury without any issues. The only issue with Valverde and that injury was his age, not the injury. Froome had a leg injury in which literally no one has ever successfully come back from. Even Unzue has called Valverde an outlier and talked about the fact Valverde is literally the only athlete he's seen that has had virtually no decline in his mid to late 30's.
Maybe you missed that they brought in Enric Mas and are currently building a young team around him? They have specifically been talking about going back to their roots with 3 Spanish leaders.
Pozzovivo (age 37) broke his femur a couple of months after Froome and was riding in the top 15 in GC in this season's races that we actually saw.
That's a lot less time off and also indicates a much less severe injury. Contador broke his leg at the Tour and was winning la Vuelta that same season. Much less severe injury.
Actually, he broke his tibia and fibula, not his femur. Froome broke both his femur and his hip, which I'd think are more important to riding.
Froome riding for Movistar would be like Lance riding for T-Mobile in 2005. It makes zero sense. However, in a weird wolrd where Froome is riding for Movistar, there's no way Soler and Mas are given priority ahead of Froome.
I mean, imagine Lotto Soudal telling Gilbert "no, you can't go to San Remo because Degenkolb, De Buyst and Wellens want to go there and have priority over you". Or Total not signing Van der Poel because they have Terpstra, Petit and Turgis already in their ranks.
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I feel that ATM Froome doesn't really want to leave Team Ineos. He just wants to be the captain on TDF 2020. That is what it's likely about. As for the future, Froome likely will try to race for a couple more years and he will likely do that in whatever team he will be the captain.
As for TDF 2020, Thomas might end up being OK with it, but Bernal for sure thinks otherwise. Now i guess it will be interesting to see with whom the rest of the team will side with. As that is who the captain will be and that is who has a chance for GC. Currently it looks like Froome and Bernal will race against each other. Maybe therefore one should race in another GT, this year.
As for TDF 2020, Thomas might end up being OK with it, but Bernal for sure thinks otherwise. Now i guess it will be interesting to see with whom the rest of the team will side with. As that is who the captain will be and that is who has a chance for GC. Currently it looks like Froome and Bernal will race against each other. Maybe therefore one should race in another GT, this year.
I think if Froome and Bernal are on Ineos and race against each other, Roglic will take it.
So if I had anything to say in Ineos I'd make sure that does not happen.
So if I had anything to say in Ineos I'd make sure that does not happen.
Oh, Thomas is definitely not cool with it. He just does a great job of being fairly entertaining without ruffling any feathers. But he wants another one, and he can feel he's not far off from it. He came in second last year even though he had a bad run of crashes going into and during the Tour. On a flatter route, I think he'd be the favorite. Geraint is a fairly easygoing guy who sticks to the team line and let his legs do the talking. But he kept going for it on the Alps even though Bernal was clearly stronger. I don't think they'll go out of their way to race each other, but Bernal already stated the blooming obvious: all three of them are riding their own races.
This x10. Mas and Soler are the backup plan for the Tour, and they know it. Again, don't get me wrong, they're both good plays for the future. But, for this year, I'm pretty sure they would both be more than happy to have the team fully support them at the Giro or the Vuelta.
rick james
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I’ll be shocked if ineos let the 3 of them turn up at the tour with the hope of all 3 of the winning it
Hmmm... 1 rider with 4 overall victories. + 2 riders with 0 total top 10's in GC = 3 co-leaders! (Or, 4 co-leaders if we count Valverde's celebrity appearance.)
Seriously, though. The Tour would be 100x more fun with Froome on Movistar.
As a cycling (and Roglič) fan i want to see him race the best on TDF 2020. As far as the strategy Team Ineos choose i can perfectly understand it, as there was not much to think about, after the TJV strategy was revealed.
BUT all in all if Bernal would participate in Giro 2020, that would be a move i could understand. As there is just no signs of any internal hierarchy in Team Ineos ATM and i somehow doubt they can sit down and talk it over.
BUT all in all if Bernal would participate in Giro 2020, that would be a move i could understand. As there is just no signs of any internal hierarchy in Team Ineos ATM and i somehow doubt they can sit down and talk it over.
@INRNG
L'Equipe on Chris Froome's potential team moves, interesting on the options and workplace politics, last paragraph also mentions a new British team for 2021 which plans to compete with Ineos thanks to the help of a big English sponsor
@PETERCOSSINS
Big piece in @lequipe this morning about the possibility of Chris Froome leaving Ineos. Israel Start Up, Bahrain, NTT & Movistar all cited as options, plus in the very last sentence "a new British team that will be launched next season with an English sponsor"!!!
L'Equipe on Chris Froome's potential team moves, interesting on the options and workplace politics, last paragraph also mentions a new British team for 2021 which plans to compete with Ineos thanks to the help of a big English sponsor
@PETERCOSSINS
Big piece in @lequipe this morning about the possibility of Chris Froome leaving Ineos. Israel Start Up, Bahrain, NTT & Movistar all cited as options, plus in the very last sentence "a new British team that will be launched next season with an English sponsor"!!!
Except it doesn't matter who gets priority if Valverde says Mas and Soler go to the Tour with him they go to the Tour and they won't for Froome. Froome won't have any pull in the team and won't have a team around him. They can sign Froome and tell him he's going to the Tour, but we all know in that team even being a co leader doesn't really mean much if the riders don't want to ride for you.
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