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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
I saw an interview with him after the ITT today and he looked like he was Ill, couldn't stop coughing. Looked like a man who needed a TUE for real. Just the impact of 6 days racing in the cold and rain? Athsma? I actually felt sorry for him.
When you have broken bones in the past, when the weather changes to low pressure/rain, you ache like a 90 year old, so I wouldn't be surprised if he felt like crap in that weather ...
 
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I've just seen Chris Froome finished in 109th position today 3min 23secs slower than the winner.

He had the advantage of riding in the dry conditions, but was not able to do anything to give his fans any optimism.

I think even Froome is accepting this may be it for his career sadly, what with the little crack in his PR mantra when he accepted the "numbers" are just not there.

The extra weight he was complaining about should have helped him a little today in the TT, yet he was miles off even run-of-the-mill riders.

It will be very interesting what he has to say and tweet about between now and his next race in four weeks.

More thumbs up pictures in the sunshine? or a reluctant acceptance of the grim reality?
 
It's getting ugly now, i.e. the sharks are circling & his salary will quickly become a pretty big issue (for example what's his worth versus Michael Woods in sporting terms? Not much these days).

I've never seen a sportsman in my life who earns way more than his teammates (& the rest of the sport he partakes in), performs like one of the worst & gets a free pass.

It's a loose loose PR situation from Froome & the money just isn't worth it.

I accept he is losing the PR battle, but to say the money isn't worth it at €5m-plus a year?

You must be joking.
 
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I accept he is losing the PR battle, but to say the money isn't worth it at €5m-plus a year?

You must be joking.

I have no idea who so many commentators pretend $5m+ a year is worth so much to a guy like Chris Froome, i.e. he's in the bracket of super earners already & that sort of cash is neither life changing nor extraordinary nor worth risking his reputation over.

He won his first Tour in 2013. He has 7 Grand Tour victories & a long career of sporting success. He's rich. Very rich. Super rich. He was already extremely rich before he signed with Israel.

When a millionaire businessman makes a deal which makes him a little bit richer but a whole load more unpopular, it's viewed as a bad deal. This is no different.
 
I have no idea who so many commentators pretend $5m+ a year is worth so much to a guy like Chris Froome, i.e. he's in the bracket of super earners already & that sort of cash is neither life changing nor extraordinary nor worth risking his reputation over.
Hard disagree. And Froome's reputation isn't going to be tarnished by being bad for a few years after suffering a massive crash. Froome is definitely not rich enough to think a couple of Ms is pocket change either.
 
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Hard disagree. And Froome's reputation isn't going to be tarnished by being bad for a few years after suffering a massive crash. Froome is definitely not rich enough to think a couple of Ms is pocket change either.

People who permanently use the crash as a shield (because that's what the nigh spamming of the word "crash" in all Froome conversations comes across as in recent months) can't have it both ways, i.e. either his crash 2 years ago was so bad he's absolutely screwed as a professional athlete/bike rider & therefor pretty much scammed his new Israel team (i.e. promising his new employer he can win a fifth Tour when he can no longer do anything on a bike is bit "too much"), or it's becoming increasingly clear the crash is being used as a permanent excuse for bad performances.

Either way it's ugly when he's getting paid so much.

Hard disagree. And Froome's reputation isn't going to be tarnished by being bad for a few years after suffering a massive crash. Froome is definitely not rich enough to think a couple of Ms is pocket change either.

But it is, because quite a few people are laughing at him for being greedy & delusional/or dishonest about his potential to win the Tour again & his team for being silly enough to fork out so much on guy who barely looks like a professional rider right now & who is ironically way worse than last year (i.e. he was better one year after his crash than he is 2 years later, ergo there's no progression).

And I find it weird how some people (his fans for example) cheer for the inflated wages of a sportsman who does nothing to justify them. And I don't think I'm alone with that sentiment.
 
At a point he understood that the last time a thirtysomething dad tried to make a big comeback it backfired spectacularly. No point to risk his legacy, so might as well milk it riding on the pre vuelta 2011 level for a year or two if someone is dumb enough to pay.

Always smart, like hacking the computer system to enter into the worlds and switch off power meter to put in extra hours.
 
Personally I don't take it so hard, how much he gets money, like so many seem to take (like it was taken away from them personally). Actually I don't think about it, at all tbo. For me it's completely business case between him and his team, I guess both sides have personel to take care of this. Just feel sorry for the champion to get into so unfortunate situation like this, performance and personal health wise.
 
Nobody hires a rider just because he says he's great. We were all very sceptical when Israel hired him, but they did it. They must have calculated potential and risks and came to their conclusion. Either they made a big mistake or it pays off despite the sportive performance, just in PR, and maybe it's true that it isn't a five year contract set in stone, that they are able to dissolve it if the performance is bad.
Anyway, he didn't trick them into the contract, unless he manipulated his data, which should allow them to end the contract and ask for compensation.
 
Nobody hires a rider just because he says he's great. We were all very sceptical when Israel hired him, but they did it. They must have calculated potential and risks and came to their conclusion. Either they made a big mistake or it pays off despite the sportive performance, just in PR, and maybe it's true that it isn't a five year contract set in stone, that they are able to dissolve it if the performance is bad.
Anyway, he didn't trick them into the contract, unless he manipulated his data, which should allow them to end the contract and ask for compensation.
Yeah I also doubt there's no clauses in the contract that enable Israel to end it, and maybe part of the reported figure was also performance bonuses. The real red flag for me was Ineos letting him go and not even bringing him to the Tour, and it's not like Ineos have an embarrasment of riches vs the likes of Pogacar right now.
 
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They're far closer to their bests than Froome was when signed, and they showed glimpse of what they worth here and there.
Even with football comparisons, and with whatever keep him at this level, Froome's situation is painful and awkward to see.
Agreed, it's not the same thing. Froome was literally the biggest star in the sport. If Ronaldo had barely been able to make it onto the reserves team after going to Juventus, that would be more similar.
 
People who permanently use the crash as a shield (because that's what the nigh spamming of the word "crash" in all Froome conversations comes across as in recent months) can't have it both ways, i.e. either his crash 2 years ago was so bad he's absolutely screwed as a professional athlete/bike rider & therefor pretty much scammed his new Israel team (i.e. promising his new employer he can win a fifth Tour when he can no longer do anything on a bike is bit "too much"), or it's becoming increasingly clear the crash is being used as a permanent excuse for bad performances.

Either way it's ugly when he's getting paid so much.



But it is, because quite a few people are laughing at him for being greedy & delusional/or dishonest about his potential to win the Tour again & his team for being silly enough to fork out so much on guy who barely looks like a professional rider right now & who is ironically way worse than last year (i.e. he was better one year after his crash than he is 2 years later, ergo there's no progression).

And I find it weird how some people (his fans for example) cheer for the inflated wages of a sportsman who does nothing to justify them. And I don't think I'm alone with that sentiment.

oh dear, he won´t ever get over that. poor Froomey. some people on the forum and on twitter are laughing at him. sad, how can he keep going with all that laughters ringing in his ears?!
ahahah
look, the teeth grinding and the anger caused to some on twitter and the forum in the last ten years are well worth some laughter now. I love him for that too

I don´t know how it will end. all I want is seeing him on the start lines. whatever he does. just *** ride on, and drive the petty non-fans mad at every wobbling pedal stroke.
he´s fat, he´s skinny, he´s paid too much, he´s too fast, he´s too slow, he deserves, he desnt deserve, he races too muchm he races too little.
some of you said everything about him these years. and it´s great. he delivered when at the top of his game, and some rides were great.
now he´s struggling, but he ain´t throwing the towel yet.
keeping going Dawg!
 
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