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Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

Page 629 - 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
Guys, can you imagine if Froome is realy acting and comes to Tour smashing everybody. People's head would explode. I need to refill my popcorn stock for summer.
Can you imagine if Froome was acting and had been browsing this forum under the alias @LaFlorecita for years pretending to be a Contador fan. People's heads would explode. I totally don't need to refill my popcorn stock for the summer cause it's not gonna happen.

Seriously, there is "not as good as he used to be" and there is this. You don't perform this way for one and a half years after coming back from a horrible injury and then find your old shape again out of nowhere. It's not gonna happen and people shouldn't pretend it will. And there is nothing shameful about that btw. He returned. He managed to ride gt's again after a life threatening injury and that's incredible. He'll never win a gt again, so what? He has been the dominant gt force for a decade, a legend of cycling and nobody will ever take that away from him (hopefully). He can retire in grace.

Although actually he can keep riding, laughing his ass off that someone pays him 5 million dollars for it. Let's be real, that is the genuinely legendary part.
 
Did you hear the Eurosport commentators (including Dan Lloyd) wetting themselves today when they thought it was Chris Froome leading the second group on the road as it approached the final climb.
"Is that Chris Froome! Is that Chris Froome!" they shrieked. "That elbows out action has to be Chris Froome! That's why he deliberately lost time yesterday and didn't make the effort! He was saving it for today's stage!
"Hang on a minute..........it's Dan Martin.....er....yeah.....it's Martin......er.....similar elbows out style.....er....okay.....yeah...."
They were gutted.
Froome eventually finished 14 mins 19 secs after the stage winner.
 
Did you hear the Eurosport commentators (including Dan Lloyd) wetting themselves today when they thought it was Chris Froome leading the second group on the road as it approached the final climb.
"Is that Chris Froome! Is that Chris Froome!" they shrieked. "That elbows out action has to be Chris Froome! That's why he deliberately lost time yesterday and didn't make the effort! He was saving it for today's stage!
"Hang on a minute..........it's Dan Martin.....er....yeah.....it's Martin......er.....similar elbows out style.....er....okay.....yeah...."
They were gutted.
Froome eventually finished 14 mins 19 secs after the stage winner.

Cue Phil Liggett doing his Stephen Roche call and imagine the disappointment in realizing it was Urs Zimmerman or Erich Maechler and not Roche on La Plagne.
 
It is unbelievable the way people speak disrespectfully about froome in this forum, as if he had been a loser in his career. I don't realize this hatred for him, even if he doesn't even return to what he was, he deserved a little more respect.
I've read the last couple of pages and I just don't see the disrespect you mention.

Is saying he was 106th of 140 riders and calling the result abysmal disrespect? I don't think so. Those are facts.
Is saying he won't win another Tour disrespectful? I think that's a realistic prediction.
Is saying he doesn't deserve to be the most paid cyclist in the world disrespect? It's an opinion that's close to a fact.
Is saying he isn't improving the way he and some expected him to disrespect? Again, we watch the races, we see the results. He isn't improving, that's a fact. Now does it mean he won't improve at all. We don't know. I think he'll improve some, but not enough to be a factor for top placings in stage races.

Maybe you expected everybody to say things like "Come on Froome, you are the best ever! You're gonna win 2 more Tours! You deserve every penny of your 5million € and some more!"
That'd be fanboy/fangirl talk. It only means there are not many Froome fanboys on this forum at the moment. But disrespect? I don't see it at all. On the contrary, I see a lot of posters who originaly don't like Froome, that want him to come back on top and fight with the top GC riders.
 
I've read the last couple of pages and I just don't see the disrespect you mention.

Is saying he was 106th of 140 riders and calling the result abysmal disrespect? I don't think so. Those are facts.
Is saying he won't win another Tour disrespectful? I think that's a realistic prediction.
Is saying he doesn't deserve to be the most paid cyclist in the world disrespect? It's an opinion that's close to a fact.
Is saying he isn't improving the way he and some expected him to disrespect? Again, we watch the races, we see the results. He isn't improving, that's a fact. Now does it mean he won't improve at all. We don't know. I think he'll improve some, but not enough to be a factor for top placings in stage races.

Maybe you expected everybody to say things like "Come on Froome, you are the best ever! You're gonna win 2 more Tours! You deserve every penny of your 5million € and some more!"
That'd be fanboy/fangirl talk. It only means there are not many Froome fanboys on this forum at the moment. But disrespect? I don't see it at all. On the contrary, I see a lot of posters who originaly don't like Froome, that want him to come back on top and fight with the top GC riders.
You speak a lot of truth here. I will say as an aside, that I don't have respect for Froome. I don't want to see him at the top competing any more, and I have my reasons. I think the sport is much better without him.

So posters are out there who may feel this way. But I haven't been commenting on his performance in the Tour of the Alps either, and again I think you're spot on, what we're seeing here is just factual.
 
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It is unbelievable the way people speak disrespectfully about froome in this forum, as if he had been a loser in his career. I don't realize this hatred for him, even if he doesn't even return to what he was, he deserved a little more respect.

If he'd been a loser in his career, the fact he was 20 minutes off the pace after two stages of the Alps wouldn't be remarked on would it?
 
I've read the last couple of pages and I just don't see the disrespect you mention.

Is saying he was 106th of 140 riders and calling the result abysmal disrespect? I don't think so. Those are facts.
Is saying he won't win another Tour disrespectful? I think that's a realistic prediction.
Is saying he doesn't deserve to be the most paid cyclist in the world disrespect? It's an opinion that's close to a fact.
Is saying he isn't improving the way he and some expected him to disrespect? Again, we watch the races, we see the results. He isn't improving, that's a fact. Now does it mean he won't improve at all. We don't know. I think he'll improve some, but not enough to be a factor for top placings in stage races.

Maybe you expected everybody to say things like "Come on Froome, you are the best ever! You're gonna win 2 more Tours! You deserve every penny of your 5million € and some more!"
That'd be fanboy/fangirl talk. It only means there are not many Froome fanboys on this forum at the moment. But disrespect? I don't see it at all. On the contrary, I see a lot of posters who originaly don't like Froome, that want him to come back on top and fight with the top GC riders.
It's disrespectful in this forum when someone says that froome should be re-infeted with bilharzia, when people say that he is a sucker born because israel pays 5 millions per year, or when people say in tour of alps forum "froometto". Yes, i'm a big fan of froome, and i agree with everybody that he isn't improving, and i respect if people here say that he will not be competitive again or he is being overpaid. We can all give our opinions with respect for the rider.
 
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Froome was at the drop off age for grand tour riders anyway. I was surprised how quickly he was back on the bike considering his injuries and he's returning at a point where the generational change is in full swing. Even so he must be frustrated with his form as reasonable improvement seems to be a long time coming. Whether the return to competition was rushed before his body had recovered enough, who knows ? He probably goes one more season then retires unless he wants to be a domestique which is unlikely. Nibali probably isn't too far off retirement either.
 
I've read the last couple of pages and I just don't see the disrespect you mention.

Is saying he was 106th of 140 riders and calling the result abysmal disrespect? I don't think so. Those are facts.
Is saying he won't win another Tour disrespectful? I think that's a realistic prediction.
Is saying he doesn't deserve to be the most paid cyclist in the world disrespect? It's an opinion that's close to a fact.
Is saying he isn't improving the way he and some expected him to disrespect? Again, we watch the races, we see the results. He isn't improving, that's a fact. Now does it mean he won't improve at all. We don't know. I think he'll improve some, but not enough to be a factor for top placings in stage races.

Maybe you expected everybody to say things like "Come on Froome, you are the best ever! You're gonna win 2 more Tours! You deserve every penny of your 5million € and some more!"
That'd be fanboy/fangirl talk. It only means there are not many Froome fanboys on this forum at the moment. But disrespect? I don't see it at all. On the contrary, I see a lot of posters who originaly don't like Froome, that want him to come back on top and fight with the top GC riders.
we have all that on eurosport
 
It's disrespectful in this forum when someone says that froome should be re-infeted with bilharzia, when people say that he is a sucker born because israel pays 5 millions per year, or when people say in tour of alps forum "froometto". Yes, i'm a big fan of froome, and i agree with everybody that he isn't improving, and i respect if people here say that he will not be competitive again or he is being overpaid. We can all give our opinions with respect for the rider.

Interestingly, you're not the first Froome's fan that wishes for more respect for him from other cycling fans, I remember hearing/reading a lot of "Froome deserve more respect" over the years, I don't remember much of the same thing about other rider.
 
Interestingly, you're not the first Froome's fan that wishes for more respect for him from other cycling fans, I remember hearing/reading a lot of "Froome deserve more respect" over the years, I don't remember much of the same thing about other rider.

Well, he was easily, by a good margin, the most hated rider online (and I'd assume IRL among cycling fans) for years and years without a doubt.

There are reasons, sure, some that can not be talked about here, and others that can - his riding style, his team's performance strangling race action, being british (arguably, I actually don't think it's a big factor, but it has been claimed), his somewhat lacking charisma, his wife (lol, but yeah, people hated on him for his wife's twitter comments I remember), his unquestioned dominance in some of his races, and maybe huffy attitude I'd say when things weren't going his way, his backstory which some considered self-serving und not believable, etc.

Some of the criticism against him I think was justified to a degree, he really looks like a five year old on his first bike ride, and I say that with affection, other parts really not imo. Contador, the forum's beloved, indirectly played a role (no fault of his), general hatred of Sky, their racing style and PR , etc.

I always liked him, I thought he's a friendly and authentic guy and he had more attacking spirit than most of his era and I do also think he didn't quite get the respect he would have deserved at his peak although it seems many fans warmed up to him over time.
 
It's disrespectful in this forum when someone says that froome should be re-infeted with bilharzia, when people say that he is a sucker born because israel pays 5 millions per year, or when people say in tour of alps forum "froometto". Yes, i'm a big fan of froome, and i agree with everybody that he isn't improving, and i respect if people here say that he will not be competitive again or he is being overpaid. We can all give our opinions with respect for the rider.

If you read my full post, it shows respect to what he was. I was never a Froome fan, but the only argument you could make about his palmarés is where they rank among the all time greats. It’s more along the lines of pity watching what he’s going through now and how unlike LeMond, he’s trying to come back well past his prime.

I can’t imagine how hard it is to watch him suffering like this, Michelle...
 
The only rider I can remember who looked as bad as Froome does now and then won the Tour was LeMond, and even he started to show some form in the 3rd week of the Giro in 1989 (though he was thought to be even worse off in 1990 and still won).

LeMond was in his prime though.

Everyone else usually showed at least a glimpse of form beforehand. Ullrich always looked terrible but he would still be near the front in the TTs before the Tour. Contador may have come from the beach to win the 2008 Giro, but he’d been winning all year prior to his break, and finished in the Top 10 of his only race before he won the 2012 Vuelta, and he was the dominant rider all year before is injury prior to the 2014 Vuelta. Pantani was climbing well in the 3rd week of the 2000 Giro.

This is more like Merckx in his final year or two. It would be rather pathetic if their prior results didn’t demand your respect.
Merckx never looked this bad in his last two years. He was still finishing top 10 in GTs. Froome is riding at a Continental level .
 
It's kinda sad how people like to kick badly bruised and battered racehorse. Claiming they have their reasons. Reasons?

People like to eat sausages too, but they don't like to know how they're made..Procycling is a pool of sharks. First you like to get there, then you try to stay alive there and then you try to get out there alive. And then us people by the pool shouting and spitting and kicking these people that voluntarily get there.

I hope Froome gets over this somehow. For the sake of humanity.

Each case on its own merits.
 
It's kinda sad how people like to kick badly bruised and battered racehorse. Claiming they have their reasons. Reasons?

People like to eat sausages too, but they don't like to know how they're made..Procycling is a pool of sharks. First you like to get there, then you try to stay alive there and then you try to get out there alive. And then us people by the pool shouting and spitting and kicking these people that voluntarily get there.

I hope Froome gets over this somehow. For the sake of humanity.

Each case on its own merits.
You're right about the grind of Pro Cycling. We both hope Froome gets over this but that may involve acknowledging his rebuilt form may not improve close to old form. The sake of Humanity is totally separate from the unreality of Pro Cycling, by the way. Froome should come to grips for himself, don't you think?
 

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