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Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

Page 747 - 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
Chris Froome at the conclusion of the 2022 season:

"I was finally niggle and injury-free at the start of the year and looking forward to trying to build up back to my old form.
"I started finding my legs at the Tour and after finishing third on Alpe d'Huez I felt I was getting stronger and stronger as the race went on.
"My eyes were set on victory at the Queen stage to Hautacam, I felt fantastic having opened my legs up in the mountains, but was hit by Covid 19, ending my hopes of competing for the win.
"The Vuelta had been a season-long goal, but the effects of Covid really effected my build-up and sadly I was not in condition to compete for the overall victory, which had been my aim.
"It was like training with the handbrake on and put me at a big disadvantage for the rest of the year.
"I felt I could not push to the level I wanted to so the results were not what we expected.
I now have a clear break during the off-season and a plan to build back to my old form with blocks of training at altitude and an opportunity to put in the hard miles.
"I think in 2023 I will be able to get up to the level I want to.
"People don't realise how serious those crash injuries were, but with a bit more time and our training plan I expect to be in good condition next year and hopefully be able to compete as I want to."
 
Chris Froome at the conclusion of the 2022 season:

"I was finally niggle and injury-free at the start of the year and looking forward to trying to build up back to my old form.
"I started finding my legs at the Tour and after finishing third on Alpe d'Huez I felt I was getting stronger and stronger as the race went on.
"My eyes were set on victory at the Queen stage to Hautacam, I felt fantastic having opened my legs up in the mountains, but was hit by Covid 19, ending my hopes of competing for the win.
"The Vuelta had been a season-long goal, but the effects of Covid really effected my build-up and sadly I was not in condition to compete for the overall victory, which had been my aim.
"It was like training with the handbrake on and put me at a big disadvantage for the rest of the year.
"I felt I could not push to the level I wanted to so the results were not what we expected.
I now have a clear break during the off-season and a plan to build back to my old form with blocks of training at altitude and an opportunity to put in the hard miles.
"I think in 2023 I will be able to get up to the level I want to.
"People don't realise how serious those crash injuries were, but with a bit more time and our training plan I expect to be in good condition next year and hopefully be able to compete as I want to."
@RedheadDane is about to expose you as the time traveler you are.
 
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Chris Froome at the conclusion of the 2022 season:

"I was finally niggle and injury-free at the start of the year and looking forward to trying to build up back to my old form.
"I started finding my legs at the Tour and after finishing third on Alpe d'Huez I felt I was getting stronger and stronger as the race went on.
"My eyes were set on victory at the Queen stage to Hautacam, I felt fantastic having opened my legs up in the mountains, but was hit by Covid 19, ending my hopes of competing for the win.
"The Vuelta had been a season-long goal, but the effects of Covid really effected my build-up and sadly I was not in condition to compete for the overall victory, which had been my aim.
"It was like training with the handbrake on and put me at a big disadvantage for the rest of the year.
"I felt I could not push to the level I wanted to so the results were not what we expected.
I now have a clear break during the off-season and a plan to build back to my old form with blocks of training at altitude and an opportunity to put in the hard miles.
"I think in 2023 I will be able to get up to the level I want to.
"People don't realise how serious those crash injuries were, but with a bit more time and our training plan I expect to be in good condition next year and hopefully be able to compete as I want to."

to be more realistic I'm sure a few words from Froome to taxus would be a good fit
 
I do not think Chris was amongst the six riders who posted Israel's time today.
It looks like he was one of two riders to drop out somewhere along the course.
If someone who has been such an excellent time trialler cannot contribute to the finish for his team then that is not a good sign.

He hasn't been able to time trial since his crash, and he's in worse form than during the Tour, so it's hardly a surprise.
 
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I do not think Chris was amongst the six riders who posted Israel's time today.
It looks like he was one of two riders to drop out somewhere along the course.
If someone who has been such an excellent time trialler cannot contribute to the finish for his team then that is not a good sign.

It's been said many times that Covid has impacted him a lot, he is unlikely to be in the. form to be competitive until the second half of the race at the earliest.
 
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Chris Froome was the final Israel rider to cross the line today, 1 min and 18 secs behind his teammates.
I thought all the riders got the same time in a TTT, but Froome is already listed on GC as 166th out of 182 participants in the Vuelta, already 2mins 22secs behind the red jersey.
He could not even assist his team all the way to the line today in a 23.3km TTT in which he would have been out of the wind for long spells.
I just don't get it with Froome now.
What is he doing?
 
Chris Froome was the final Israel rider to cross the line today, 1 min and 18 secs behind his teammates.
I thought all the riders got the same time in a TTT, but Froome is already listed on GC as 166th out of 182 participants in the Vuelta, already 2mins 22secs behind the red jersey.
He could not even assist his team all the way to the line today in a 23.3km TTT in which he would have been out of the wind for long spells.
I just don't get it with Froome now.
What is he doing?

You only get the same time if you finish in the group of 4/5 riders. Whatever the limit is. Just like if a team finishes with 3 riders in a far faster time, they get the 4/5 riders time when he reaches the finish line.

Like @Pinot's goat said, Froome showed improvement. I don’t think he could have won from a break but he could have had potentially more top 10 finishes.
 
People should really calm the f*ck down about his Tour. The guy got third in a mountain stage from a really weak breakaway for Tour standards. Yeah that was still a massive improvement to literally any other result from after his comeback but it was still one isolated event where he performed half decently. That stage didn't show that given the right circumstances he still has the level to be a gc rider, it showed that given the right circumstances he still has the level to be employed by a WT team.
 
Froome did not lose any more time in the overall today.
He finished at the rear of the main peloton.
Froome has said very little online in the build up to this race apart from saying his bout of Covid effected him a little more than he expected.
Is he still suffering the effects of the virus? Does he have long-Covid?
If so, he will not be competitive in any stages.
As for hopes of a 2011-style Vuelta breakthrough, well that was shot to pieces when he could not stay with his teammates in their slow TTT performance.
C'mon Chris. At some point in this three weeks you are going to have to at least flash in one of the stages.
 
Do you guys have any idea on what exactly is preventing Froome from really getting up to GC contender level ?

I know his injury was incredibly hard, and it's a miracle he survived, walked etc. but I mean, medically, do people know what's going wrong ? Is it because of the muscle quality that was impacted, bone quality... ?
 
Do you guys have any idea on what exactly is preventing Froome from really getting up to GC contender level ?

I know his injury was incredibly hard, and it's a miracle he survived, walked etc. but I mean, medically, do people know what's going wrong ? Is it because of the muscle quality that was impacted, bone quality... ?
He’s also 37 years old.
 
Do you guys have any idea on what exactly is preventing Froome from really getting up to GC contender level ?

I know his injury was incredibly hard, and it's a miracle he survived, walked etc. but I mean, medically, do people know what's going wrong ? Is it because of the muscle quality that was impacted, bone quality... ?

He has never said specifically what are the things he cannot do as well.
I think the closest we got was his claim that his right leg finally this January caught up with his left leg in terms of power output.
Therefore we have to assume the atrophy from lack of activity took nearly three years to restore itself, according to Froome.
Also in a video he recorded in June, pre-Tour he took us on a training climb.
It was a 20 minute "full gas" effort according to Froome and afterwards he said he was "10-15 watts" below "where I have previously been."
Unfortunately he did not say specifically what time in his career he was referring to.
Also, even without the crash, one would expect a drop-off in performance at the age of 37 years-old, a vintage that many pro cyclists retire at.
 
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