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Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

Page 710 - 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
I saw Froome the other day and I've seen him last year and he is definitely on the mend now, He's looking much more like he did pre-crash again. If he's finally over the issues in January, ~6months to get back from last years level would seem about right. It's simply down to how much will his body allow him to reach his old potential now it seems. So far, so good, good luck to him, Cav coming back was a pleasure, simply for the silence heard from the haters!
 
Just came home, checked PCS, clicked today‘s race, and saw Froome in 11th place, not even four minutes down… My heart started beating, my blood pressure suddenly increased massively, and I felt shocked.

Then I visited CN, and Froome is the head line.

Now I immediately went into our forum, where I just need cycling expert people to talk to. I think, this evening, we‘ll have something to celebrate. Chris today showed a result that no one expected. No one but him, that is.

Congratulations, Froomey… Looking forward now to Dauphine and TdF. Froomey now ready for a Top-10 in the Dauphine GC, and possibly a TdF podium in the GC in Paris!
No one expected? I have hold lot of laughts at this thread to read now no one expected.

Anyway he was four minutes far from his team mate. It is a progression because an 11 th place now is ok l, better than people as Pinot, but he is not stronger than he was last year in autumn. The good thing is that he could be stronger next months.
He said this year he has no problems remaining with the crash, so this result is logic, he is training hard as he use to, and he is a Tour the France winner.

He need to be at least co-leader in le Tour to make results and doesn't work, and with 4 minutes from Fulgsang he probably won't be...but I think he will be better in one month and for a three weeks race he is better than Fulgsang and Woods if he is at similar level than them.
 
C'mon folks, he's come in 11th in a one day race (which is great for him, considering) but over 3 weeks? I would love him to top 20 if he goes to the Tour, just to prove to himself that he came back to a decent level, but unfortunately, I can't see it happening. Good luck to him though.
 
I have just seen coverage from the race.
Chris Froome was part of a 14-man attack out of the peloton and was easily able to descend with them and his two team mates before the final climb.
Unfortunately, as soon as that last climb began Froome was immediately, and I mean immediately, out of the back on the lower slopes.
He was then left to climb all the way to the top completely isolated as the race went away from him.
Great to see him survive with the best in this race up to that point, but even by his own admission at the finish line he is not back to his all-time form.
 
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I mean, he finished higher then I’m sure everyone thought he would besides one or two posters. Let’s see how he does in CDD.

I'm now firmly on team "hang up the helmet, Chris."

I watched the race yesterday. Mercan'Tour is a nice, regional French race that happened to have a few bigger names than usual this year. It was great that Froome made the final selection, but let's face it, the major energy had to be expended on the climb to Valberg, and he dropped almost the second the road started going up. He was not competitive in the end; there were only 3 world-class riders left (Woods/Fugl/Gaudu) and he finished far behind them. Pinot was working for Gaudu. The rest of the field was B-Level at best.

I can't imagine he'll improve on that in the Dauphine.
 
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What gives me hope is that Froome showed this great performance, yesterday, in one of the hardest (regarding race profile) one-day pro races of the whole calendar. This race, in the past, was ridden (at this time if the year, in this part of the map) as the „Classique des Alpes“. Only the very best climbers, in very good shape, had the chance to achieve Top-20 there. And that was also the case yesterday.

Indeed, young Lenny Martinez finished in front of Froome. But FdJ‘s Lenny Martinez and Romain Gregoire, both aged 18/19, are two incredibly talented and strong climbers, they are Barguil/Martin/Pinot/Gaudu/Rolland 2.0, and soon probably will be ranked among the very best climbers in every mountainous race they participate in.

I‘d honestly say, in the past, if a TdF GC contender, who went for Yellow in Paris, finished in 11th place, not even four minutes down, in the Classique des Alpes, he normally was perfectly on track for the Tour.

Yesterday‘s race also was an absolutely honest race. More than 4700 vertical meters. Uphill most of the day. To win it, you needed to be top world class (just like Fuglsang is), and to finish 3:56 mins down (Froome), you had to be at least bottom world class, and to have really good legs on race day.
 
I‘d honestly say, in the past, if a TdF GC contender, who went for Yellow in Paris, finished in 11th place, not even four minutes down, in the Classique des Alpes, he normally was perfectly on track for the Tour.

I highly doubt it. This has only happened a few times for TdF Top-10 finishers between 1998 and 2004:

2000:
Heras (13, 10:38) and Botero (22, 13:17); but Botero was no designated GC rider for the Tour and Heras was co-leader with Escartin who also finished higher in the Classique des Alpes

2001:
Kivilev (8, 4:12), Botero (9, 4:12), Sevilla (22, 11:34); Kivilev only made the TdF Top-10 by gaining 35 minutes in Pontarlier, so he was no real GC rider. Sevilla was just about to ride his first TdF

2003:
Mayo (40, 16:38).

On the contrary, you have a lot of Classique des Alpes winners or podium finishers who had great results at the TdF:
2000: 2. Escartin, 3. Armstrong
2001: 2. Armstrong
2002: 1. Botero
2003: 1. Mancebo
2004: 1. Pereiro, 4. Sastre
 
Only the very best climbers, in very good shape, had the chance to achieve Top-20 there. And that was also the case yesterday.
Say what?
There is a lot of riders not anywhere close to "the very best climbers" in the top 20. Even ahead of Froome there are several riders that are not that great climbers really (Herrada, Cras, Jorgenson, Ries, Reichenbach etc are solid, but not anywhere near great).

To be fair, even the guys top 3 yesterday are not even close to the 10 best climbers in the world. Pogacar, Roglic, Bernal, Carapaz, Vingegaard, Mas, Hindley, Landa, Lopez and Yates are clearly ahead any of Fugl, Woods and Gaudu.

If the "very best climbers, in very good shape" was there, Fuglsang would be nowhere near winning. And Froome would've been nowhere near "only 4 minutes down".
 
Probably doesn't mean anything but apparently Froome pushed 5,75-5,85 w/kg for 43 min on the penultimate climb:

View: https://twitter.com/CyclingGraphs/status/1531689251116617730


For those of you who did not see the race the shot above is ironically a perfect summing up of Chris Froome's performance.
Note the distance left.
They are at the very foot of the final climb and as you can see Froome is immediately being jettisoned out of the back.
In a tweet that is bigging Froome up they couldn't have chosen a more perfect image to demonstrate his current malaise.
 

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