Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[bNator]

Not so good today for our Chris.
Was hanging on the back of the peloton for much of the final Category 2 climb and finally got dropped before the top.
Finished with a small group over three minutes behind the main group of favourites.
Disappointing.

I’m not going to ridicule him for trying but I think it’s time to stop. There is no way, I mean no chance in hell to be even in the top 20 in TDF ever! The level required to be competitive with these guys over 3 weeks... He can’t keep up with them on cat2 and they weren’t even going for it. So it’s quite disturbing he keeps talking about winning - it is borderline insulting to anyone’s common sense.

There are quite a few other issues with him being in that team. How do Woods and Martin cope with the idea they could have a proper mountain train for the money they keep paying Froome? And what about the guys that stay home so that Froome can ride around in a groupetto talking about how he’s going to win TDF... This is a disaster for ISN and the longer they keep doing it the bigger it will be.

 

[dutchdescent]

The responsibility to continue or discontinue Froome under ISN flag lies squarely on their shoulders.

 

[memyselfandI]

Well he gained 10 places from yesterday in gc, let's take some positives from this..

 

[Gigs_98]

Never Forget That 53-Year-Old Bobby Bonilla Has the Best Dumb Contract in the World

A man who hasn't played for the Mets in 17 years will receive $1.1 million every July 1 until 2035.

www.gq.com

By far the stupidest in my opinion. Imagine someone getting this in cycling.

Pretty stupid but I'd argue Froome's is worse...except if he starts winning out of nowhere of course.

The Mets in that case "only" had to pay like 23 million more than they would have had to pay him anyway and the reason they did was because they were in a win now situation where throwing away some money to get your one shot at glory is kind of the norm. It even almost worked as they ended up making the World Series the next season, in part due to that contract. Had they won it people would probably see this deal as a success.

Also, 23 million sounds a lot more than 5.5 million but mind you, the 5.5 million make Froome the highest paid cyclist in the world while a quick google search tells me the highest paid baseball player makes 37 million a year. So in that sense 5.5 million for a cyclist is a lot more than 23 million for a baseball player.

I guess we'll see how it works out, but so far I genuinely wonder if you can find any WT rider who has been more useless than Froome this season. Like, he is literally bad at everything, he can't even put himself into the spotlight with suicide attacks, he doesn't work as a domestique, nothing. Literally the only thing we have seen Froome doing all year has been watching him drop out of the peloton. And he gets 5.5 million for that.

 

[Gigs_98]

How do Woods and Martin cope with the idea they could have a proper mountain train for the money they keep paying Froome?

You are definitely not thinking big enough. Domestiques for Woods and Martin for 5.5 million? With that money they could have signed the entire Giro podium and then some.

 

[Red Rick]

There was once a Brasilian football player who actually bullshitted his way through an entire football career. He couldn't actually play and just made sure he was always injured or had an excuse and then he just made sure to get transfered in time. I think it took like 10 years.

 

[Red Rick]

Pretty stupid but I'd argue Froome's is worse...except if he starts winning out of nowhere of course.

The Mets in that case "only" had to pay like 23 million more than they would have had to pay him anyway and the reason they did was because they were in a win now situation where throwing away some money to get your one shot at glory is kind of the norm. It even almost worked as they ended up making the World Series the next season, in part due to that contract. Had they won it people would probably see this deal as a success.

Also, 23 million sounds a lot more than 5.5 million but mind you, the 5.5 million make Froome the highest paid cyclist in the world while a quick google search tells me the highest paid baseball player makes 37 million a year. So in that sense 5.5 million for a cyclist is a lot more than 23 million for a baseball player.

I guess we'll see how it works out, but so far I genuinely wonder if you can find any WT rider who has been more useless than Froome this season. Like, he is literally bad at everything, he can't even present put himself into the spotlight with suicide attacks, he doesn't work as a domestique, nothing. Literally the only thing we have seen Froome doing all year has been watching him drop out of the peloton. And he gets 5.5 million for that.

Pretty much. In absolute terms there's a bunch that make more for a lower return, but in relative terms, it's near impossible.

The only counterpoint I see is that IIRC we don't actually know what Froome's contract actually looks like and if the reported figure is remotely true or that maybe it's the max he can get due to performance bonuses, etc.

 

[Forever The Best]

Schleck after 2012 was much better. He was at least top 20 in 2013 Tour and looked decent on some stages. Froome finishes miles behind every time. He should retire when his contract runs out, maybe even before if he thinks he has enough money.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

There was once a Brasilian football player who actually bullshitted his way through an entire football career. He couldn't actually play and just made sure he was always injured or had an excuse and then he just made sure to get transfered in time. I think it took like 10 years.

Carlos Kaiser! There's a book about him. He had a doctor who was 'onside' who would give him various sign-offs so he could do fitness work but no contact training so people didn't have to see him compete to realise the ruse. He used the stats of an Argentine player from a few years before him who had a similar name and claimed to have played for those teams. He even was on a team which had mob ownership connections and whose owner was sick of his BS and insisted in him being brought on as a sub in a game they were losing, having spent so much money on this supposed big name, and he got out of it by getting sent off for fighting opposition fans over an alleged personal insult that he had to defend his family's honour while he was warming up.

Of course nowadays coverage is only a couple of clicks away and you couldn't get away with anything close to that, but took some serious cojones even back then to pull off.

As regards Froome, he absolutely should ride out his contract. If he gets better, he merits selection for races, and if he doesn't, he can serve as a permanent reminder in the péloton of Sylvain Adams' hubris. I've talked before about how one of Skyneos' reasons for continued domination is that they invested wisely in talent, spending their money on buying out futures and poaching from others' development teams, whereas other big money teams like BMC had been giving out big money contracts to riders who they would never recoup that money on - people who would never get better than they were at that moment (of course it wasn't helped by BMC's development team being one of the ones Sky was poaching guys from with the money they saved by not investing in a development program, natch). You have to look at what value riders will bring to you vs. what value riders have previously provided, which can muddy the waters where somebody's results might be waning but their name value is high. Froome's continued presence in the péloton at his current level is a cautionary tale to teams who invest unwisely.

 

[bigcog]

Thought this would happen, his right leg is knackered, and he lacks power as a consequence. How he thinks he can perform at his previous level when the strength tests of right leg show a deficit of something like 25% is beyond me. Weird thing is he was better in the Vuelta last year, perhaps the removal of the metal work as done further damage, plus time has caught up with him.

 

[Oldermanish]

Thought this would happen, his right leg is knackered, and he lacks power as a consequence. How he thinks he can perform at his previous level when the strength tests of right leg show a deficit of something like 25% is beyond me. Weird thing is he was better in the Vuelta last year, perhaps the removal of the metal work as done further damage, plus time has caught up with him. I don't see him going to the Tour De France.

There is a long term possibility that his leg could regain some strength....someday. I just don't see it in the context of bike racing. He needs a slow buildup of strength/resistance training first, then aerobic support training. If he doesn't; he'll limp into old age and what money he's making now might provide some security. IMO he's done if my rehab guess gets the attention he needs. It'll take 2-3 years to regain that strength balance and then get back to some kind of racing form. Time is not kind nor on his side and I wish him the best.

 

[bNator]

I guess we'll see how it works out, but so far I genuinely wonder if you can find any WT rider who has been more useless than Froome this season. Like, he is literally bad at everything, he can't even present put himself into the spotlight with suicide attacks, he doesn't work as a domestique, nothing. Literally the only thing we have seen Froome doing all year has been watching him drop out of the peloton. And he gets 5.5 million for that

I’ve been thinking this exact same thing. It quite amazing how there is absolutely no category at all where he wouldn’t be far below average.... its almost an accomplishment.

 

[topcat]

There was once a Brasilian football player who actually bullshitted his way through an entire football career. He couldn't actually play and just made sure he was always injured or had an excuse and then he just made sure to get transfered in time. I think it took like 10 years.

I've bullshitted my way through an entire teaching career.

 

[TMJ]

Chris Froome June 9, 2021: "It is great to get another block of real racing into the legs. I'll go away and analyse why my training numbers have not been replicated in a race. That gives me something to work on and is very encouraging, regarding my progress."

 

[Red Rick]

Chris Froome June 9, 2021: "It is great to get another block of real racing into the legs. I'll go away and analyse why my training numbers have not been replicated in a race. That gives me something to work on and is very encouraging, regarding my progress."

I am also still looking for Alberto Contadors 2013 training numbers.

 

[mrbadog]

The way it’s going, Sonny Cobrelli would beat him out for GC

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

He does get some exposure every time he gets dropped, though. And then everybody talks about in on the forum. There is no such thing as negative publicity

 

[yaco]

Will not be at the TDF

 

[lenric]

I think he should ride the Tour anyway and then reassess his future.
Obviously he's doing well financially, milking ISN and all that, but for a guy that has been the most successful GT rider of the 2010s it must be very frustrating for his competitive mind to come to terms with his current state.

At least, on a positive note, he could do well on the cycling paralympics.

 

[Red Rick]

Still think he'll be at the TdF. This isn't Ineos who had other irons to win the Tour. This is a billionaires pet project, Froome is going.

 

[limak_]

Is Froome's supposed leadership at the Tour going to end up in the same way as young Belgian's star at the Giro?

 

[Bonimenier]

Is Froome's supposed leadership at the Tour going to end up in the same way as young Belgian's star at the Giro?

I highly doubt Froome will sit in the top 10 at any point in the race, let alone at the 1st restday. I also doubt Woods, who I suppose will be their leader, is going to wait for him.

 

[limak_]

I highly doubt Froome will sit in the top 10 at any point in the race, let alone at the 1st restday. I also doubt Woods, who I suppose will be their leader, is going to wait for him.

I wasn't really excpecting any serious answer for that question, beacuse it's rather obvious for most of us.

My point was, I can see some similarities between Froome's and Evenepoel's leaderships. Both of them seem to be hugely unreasonable and quite arrogant (ofc Froome is far away from Remco-like acheivement in his Tour). I just get similair feelings listening to Froome saying "my numbers are good" and when DQS was saying "Remco's numbers are there".

 

[PhiLiz]

The key here is to ignore anything Froome says and evaluate him with your own eyes. If the issue were weight, he’d be competitive but lacking enough to win or drop the best riders. He’s not even remotely close.

He couldn't even finish within time limits most likely. Like the Zwift says about MvdP, the peloton in Portugal "rides fast".

It would be amazing to see him getting dropped in the cobbles of the early slopes of Torre, tho.

 

[Bonimenier]

I wasn't really excpecting any serious answer for that question, beacuse it's rather obvious for most of us.

My point was, I can see some similarities between Froome's and Evenepoel's leaderships. Both of them seem to be hugely unreasonable and quite arrogant (ofc Froome is far away from Remco-like acheivement in his Tour). I just get similair feelings listening to Froome saying "my numbers are good" and when DQS was saying "Remco's numbers are there".

Main difference is that Remco's numbers probably really were there looking back at his first week. Froome's numbers clearly aren't, looking at every single one of his races since his comeback.