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Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

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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
It's just that GT's are 3 weeks long, thing that many seem to forget. Too high at the beginning and chances are you're out before the end. Goes for both captains and doms, now to find rythm between different roles, we'll see if Ineos have a plan for this.
Froome has thrice crushed the first big mountain stage, which happened at the end of the first week.
Those laid the groundwork for Tour victories, and were the result of being in peak form from the start of the race. I think for his Giro win he started the race while still rounding into top form, but that’s because he was doing the Tour afterwards.
 
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The fact that neither Froome nor Thomas was used as a leader in these first two stage races is certainly telling. If Froome is again asked to work for Bernal in the Dauphine, doesn't it strongly suggest that he will go into the TDF (assuming he does make the Tour team) as a dom, rather than co-leader?

Maybe Ineos will start the Dauphine with all three as leaders, but at some point one of them will emerge, and if it isn't Froome, how will his co-leadership at the Tour be rationalized? It seems to me that Froome is under great pressure to out-perform Bernal at the Dauphine, which means he's going to resist being asked to work for him. At best, he could be competing with Thomas for no. 2.

I think you also have to worry about how much time Froome lost at the end of the critical stages. Yes, he burned a lot of matches pulling Bernal, and maybe he felt it wasn't worth pushing for a relatively low position in an unimportant race, but Jumbo had riders working for Roglic, and three of them finished in the ten slots behind him. Sivakov worked for Bernal at Occitanie, and still finished a close second behind him. Froome worked for Wiggins in the 2011 Vuelta (up to a point), and in the 2012 Tour (some might call that up to a point, too), but still managed to finish on the podium. It's possible to work for a leader and still finish high.
 
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The fact that neither Froome nor Thomas was used as a leader in these first two stage races is certainly telling. If Froome is again asked to work for Bernal in the Dauphine, doesn't it strongly suggest that he will go into the TDF (assuming he does make the Tour team) as a dom, rather than co-leader?

Maybe Ineos will start the Dauphine with all three as leaders, but at some point one of them will emerge, and if it isn't Froome, how will his co-leadership at the Tour be rationalized? It seems to me that Froome is under great pressure to out-perform Bernal at the Dauphine, which means he's going to resist being asked to work for him. At best, he could be competing with Thomas for no. 2.

I think you also have to worry about how much time Froome lost at the end of the critical stages. Yes, he burned a lot of matches pulling Bernal, and maybe he felt it wasn't worth pushing for a relatively low position in an unimportant race, but Jumbo had riders working for Roglic, and three of them finished in the ten slots behind him. Sivakov worked for Bernal at Occitanie, and still finished a close second behind him. Froome worked for Wiggins in the 2011 Vuelta (up to a point), and in the 2012 Tour (some might call that up to a point, too), but still managed to finish on the podium. It's possible to work for a leader and still finish high.


You have to remember that this is not a season like any other. No-one is getting to the Tour with more than a dozen days racing in their legs.

Right now it seems that riders who were allowed to train outside throughout the summer are going well - Belgium, Slovenia, Colombia, and maybe Netherlands (not sure about them) are going well (of course there are exceptions). Was Bennett in New Zealand? Roglic was probably hammering it up Slovenian climbs while Froome was racing a Spice Girl on Zwift

Froome especially is doing what he has done before - domestique riding to build form. Making every race day count for something. He's done this before - last year the Tours of the Alps & Yorkshire, but especially the 2012 Tour of Romandie. He looks like he's getting close and that should worry the rest. There's no way he won't be on the team.
 
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IMO, Froome showed enough to warrant a Tour spot, though not enough to be considered a contender. He put in some big turns at the front on multiple climbs during multiple stages, burned himself out for the team, showed he can still maintain a very high, consistent pace, critical to participate in the Ineos train, and a team first attitude.

I disagree that there was anything inappropriate about him nearly dropping Bernal. He was trying to drop the 4 TJV riders that remained.

I think there is a <10% chance he rides himself into podium condition but a >50% chance that he is in good enough shape to help Bernal and a 100% chance that the interest he brings enough value to Ineos to be worth the opportunity cost of a different rider and the small potential for enhanced intra-team conflict.

Yes I think Froome was much improved. He could be a very important mountain domestique already in the current shape. I believe he will improve still a bit before the Tour and there is no reason to leave him out. But no way he will be a leader or a co leader, if that is what he wants probably his best bet is to skip the Tour and wait for the Vuelta or Giro instead.
 

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