He's doing a better tour romandie than in 2012, so tour france 2021 is in the bag ah ah.
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Our Chris Froome has never been one for the cold, wet conditions so finishing in the final group on the road, the Autobus if you like, 19 minutes and 1 second behind the stage winner is perfectly understandable for someone aiming to win the TdF this Summer.
Oh, did I say the 'TdF this Summer?' Sorry, but even his own Sporting Director Rik Verbrugghe is now talking about Froome's return to 'top form' being 2022.
As for the man himself he's claiming the muscle-building work on his right leg has resulted in him now carrying an excess of 3 kilos in body mass.
Maybe, this is the new Bilharzia and when rectified will be like suddenly taking the handbrake off and launching Chris Froome to the front of the peloton.
I hope so...............
Oh, did I say the 'TdF this Summer?' Sorry, but even his own Sporting Director Rik Verbrugghe is now talking about Froome's return to 'top form' being 2022.
As for the man himself he's claiming the muscle-building work on his right leg has resulted in him now carrying an excess of 3 kilos in body mass.
Maybe, this is the new Bilharzia and when rectified will be like suddenly taking the handbrake off and launching Chris Froome to the front of the peloton.
I hope so...............
Yup, especially given that he won't have to work for Sir Bradley this time.
He said it was upper body weight gain, but yes it does seem a bit odd.
Because of course you would put on upper body muscle to rehab as a world class cyclist. Makes sense.
Also makes sense that the only thing separating him from the front of the pack is a couple extra kilos. We've seen guys come in a bit overweight a hundred times, and sure, that explains 51 seconds on a 4k TT nicely.
The dude is full on comedy.
A group of people claimed yesterday he is basically obese, upper body. Froome now confirming he is a bit overweight, upper body, and the same group of people again going bonkers. You just can't make everybody happy, especially the internet mob. Remember, real life isn't an Instagram story. It takes more work.
Anyway, see you on the next races.
Anyway, see you on the next races.
He is a couple k overweight. Upper body muscle? Come on, that's laughable. And it doesn't explain his performance whatsoever. He just can't help himself, he's so used to making up reasons for his performances.
If Chris is 2-3 kg from his optimal weight then he should lose about a minute on a steep 10-km long climb, not on a few km TT.
If we all agreed yesterday he is a bit overweight, why he today admitting it is suddenly a lie?
As for having too much muscle. My idea, yesterday, he just has fat, not muscle. And he is trying to gain muscle and that is why he is not worry about the fat for now. As you normally can't burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. But if Froome already had developed some muscles on his leg(s), that is actually better. And i don't see on why he would need to lie for having too much muscle in his upper body. Or are you saying it's fat not muscle? It's perfectly possible. It looked like he was coached by a fitness or body builder coach, that is why he went to America, for muscles. It could be they put too much emphasize on his upper body and now he has too much muscle in his upper body.
As for having too much muscle. My idea, yesterday, he just has fat, not muscle. And he is trying to gain muscle and that is why he is not worry about the fat for now. As you normally can't burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. But if Froome already had developed some muscles on his leg(s), that is actually better. And i don't see on why he would need to lie for having too much muscle in his upper body. Or are you saying it's fat not muscle? It's perfectly possible. It looked like he was coached by a fitness or body builder coach, that is why he went to America, for muscles. It could be they put too much emphasize on his upper body and now he has too much muscle in his upper body.
Froome is an experienced GC rider, no way he accidentally puts on too much upper body muscle at the advise of a coach, knowing it would be detrimental to his performance.
He is for sure a bit overweight, bit more muscle plus lack of Corticos TUE and other meds for weightless that he had at Sky.
OK if you are right he lied and it is not muscle, but fat.
P.S. Sometimes that happens to the best of us.
P.S. Sometimes that happens to the best of us.
Yes, agreed it's fat, not muscle. And of course you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Generally it's called "getting fit". Burn a lot of calories every day (see: "professional cycling") and eat lean whole foods. Do weight training in addition to the huge cardio load.
I don't see why he would need to lie either. I assume it's just habit. Adding upper body muscle takes specific focus, and if he did that he's either the dumbest guy to ever throw a leg over a bike or it's BS and he's just overweight. Maybe he's trying to make it sound like part of his rehab, but it's nonsense.
I don't know why his training regimen would be any different at ISN than Sky. Once you know what your success formula is, it's not exactly hard to replicate it. I suspect he doesn't know why he's not performing any more than any of us do. Age and injury seem to be the obvious answers.
I don't see why he would need to lie either. I assume it's just habit. Adding upper body muscle takes specific focus, and if he did that he's either the dumbest guy to ever throw a leg over a bike or it's BS and he's just overweight. Maybe he's trying to make it sound like part of his rehab, but it's nonsense.
I don't know why his training regimen would be any different at ISN than Sky. Once you know what your success formula is, it's not exactly hard to replicate it. I suspect he doesn't know why he's not performing any more than any of us do. Age and injury seem to be the obvious answers.
OK then we have settled it. You claim Froome lied, because it's fat and not muscle.
If you are correct, he is still bulking, building muscles and isn't concerned about the fat just yet. If you are wrong, he will ditch some extra muscle in his upper body and that will do. Both scenarios enabling him to improve.
All in all it just confirms he is not there yet, peak form. And as he has reached the bottom this is already him bouncing back.
Just be more patient and it will come. Commercials, claiming somebody will lose 10kg in 3 days, that doesn't work either in real life.
If you are correct, he is still bulking, building muscles and isn't concerned about the fat just yet. If you are wrong, he will ditch some extra muscle in his upper body and that will do. Both scenarios enabling him to improve.
All in all it just confirms he is not there yet, peak form. And as he has reached the bottom this is already him bouncing back.
Just be more patient and it will come. Commercials, claiming somebody will lose 10kg in 3 days, that doesn't work either in real life.
I don't feel good with a skinny pro cyclist being called overweight and fat. I know how you mean it, but I still don't like it. None of those guys is anything close to that.
I guess we fatshamed Contador into retirement then....
Nah but Froome's weight shouldn't be the worry at all and it's the wrong priority. If he needs to build muscle now, I'm not even entirely sure why he's racing.
I'm pretty sure that IF he's improving the Tour would likely still be more destructive to him than help him.
Yes, if he loses a few kilos he will improve. Maybe he'll only lose 30 seconds on a 4k TT and maybe he'll stay with the front group more often. But he's so far off being competitive, isn't it a bit silly to be talking about the kilos?
What confirms he's not there yet, his "peak form" as you say, is his horrible results. He's nowhere in the ballpark of "peak form" for a GT contender, let alone the world-beating displays that were peak Froome. The weight is one of the reasons, but it doesn't explain where he's at right now.
When person is lean professional as he is, 3 kg weight drop takes 6 weeks and 1-2 weeks after that for balancing, so he probably starts about now final leaning. It may be that target in his rehab has been to get some extra muscle everywhere to get optimal level after weight drop.
Right. So now it is upper body muscle mass gains that hold him down. Because gaining substantially is so very likely when done concurrently with pro level endurance training volumes. And somehow it also negatively affects tt power.
Cant remember who coined the notion that Froome has a "freak physiology" but it just keeps on giving.
Cant remember who coined the notion that Froome has a "freak physiology" but it just keeps on giving.
In all seriousness, I think it makes sense to initially not prioritize weight or even purposefully running a calorie surplus if the aim is to rebuild damaged muscle. But it does not make sense that this is still the case now, like 2 years after the crash. Or at least if he still has less muscle than before, I would rather expect this to be permanent after trying already so long.
Trying to be super generous - last year he might have focused on getting into shape over recovering, or in other words - being competitive fast (with low body weight) over rebuilding muscle. But I think this is, as I said, a very generous interpretation of the current situation. We are moving in circles now - but I just don't see him coming to a top level (in his relative measure) anymore.
From what I see, the only place where he gained muscle was in his leg, where he lost muscle because of the surgery and needed recovery time. He also gained fat during that period, nothing wrong with that. It actually makes sense, you want to be in a healthy body fat percentage during recovery, not bellow 10%, which is not sustainable. Restricting calories during that period is also not a good idea.
He looks skinny fat, instead of borderline anorexic like he used to. It also doesn't look like only 3 kilos to me. Either way, the excess weight he has now doesn't explain the gigantic diference in his performance.
This is all just marketing talk so it doesn't look has bad as it really is. It's sad that they are trying to spin this story into a fairytale that will never happen. Just be honest about the recovery time. His history is already shady, why would you feed these stupid stories to the media?!
I was actually expecting him to be able to win something again, even if it was only a stage here and there. His "performance" is a let down and all the excuses that make no sense aren't helping.
He looks skinny fat, instead of borderline anorexic like he used to. It also doesn't look like only 3 kilos to me. Either way, the excess weight he has now doesn't explain the gigantic diference in his performance.
This is all just marketing talk so it doesn't look has bad as it really is. It's sad that they are trying to spin this story into a fairytale that will never happen. Just be honest about the recovery time. His history is already shady, why would you feed these stupid stories to the media?!
I was actually expecting him to be able to win something again, even if it was only a stage here and there. His "performance" is a let down and all the excuses that make no sense aren't helping.
He first lost the fat, and now he gained it. But the engine was always there, except now it seems that he lost it somewhere.
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