Chris Froome?

[mwallack3]

Is this guy a legitimate GC contender? He has the 4th best odds to win the tour on most sites, but he is just $7 dollars on versus fantasy cycling challenge game? (Wiggins is $99, for reference). Is that a steal or is he not the real deal?

 

[The Hitch]

Is this guy a legitimate GC contender? He has the 4th best odds to win the tour on most sites, but he is just $7 dollars on versus fantasy cycling challenge game? (Wiggins is $99, for reference). Is that a steal or is he not the real deal?

Froomie did on 1 occasion show the ability to be a legitimate gt contender. Im a believer in the idea that if someone shows talent, its probably there, so Froome very well might over the coming years challenge for the Tour de France.

But its unlikely that it will be this year, if only for the reason that he is not the team leader.

As for why versus have him so low and bookies so high, i dont know the background behind the game, but aren't versus a tdf only channel? Froome has not done anything at the Tour de France itself so maybe they dont know much about him.

The bookies, they have him so high because he is English pure and simple. If Menchov Sanchez JVDB or Gesink spoke english they would be higher than froome on that list pure and simple (im assuming nibali is 3rd on that list and ironically the above 4 should be above him too)

 

[UlleGigo]

Hitch pretty much spot on there.

The guy is English so Englishmen are going to put money on him and consequently his odds are going to be shorter than they should be.

Nothing against Froome, he's a good rider, but unless Wiggins crashes again Froome can't win the tour. And even then I wouldn't give him much hope.

 

[Michele]

Froomie did on 1 occasion show the ability to be a legitimate gt contender. Im a believer in the idea that if someone shows talent, its probably there, so Froome very well might over the coming years challenge for the Tour de France.

But its unlikely that it will be this year, if only for the reason that he is not the team leader.

As for why versus have him so low and bookies so high, i dont know the background behind the game, but aren't versus a tdf only channel? Froome has not done anything at the Tour de France itself so maybe they dont know much about him.

The bookies, they have him so high because he is English pure and simple. If Menchov Sanchez JVDB or Gesink spoke english they would be higher than froome on that list pure and simple (im assuming nibali is 3rd on that list and ironically the above 4 should be above him too)

Was he the team leader at last Vuelta?

 

[Marco Pantani]

I think he can outclimb Wiggins on short as well as on long climbs, especially with the gradients raising. Wiggins will best him in the TTs.
Overall, I'd pick Froome as their better chance for GC, because everyone knows Brads weaknesses and they will exploit them on different terrains.

I expect the attackers to hurt Wiggins for the first time, in the hilly finale of stage three. Wiggins cant' match the accelerations and will fear the descents.
I mean, they have three weeks time to keep him under pressure and bring him down. They'll do it for sure.

Yes, Froome would be the better choice in my opinion.

 

[Trofinios]

I think he can outclimb Wiggins on short as well as on long climbs, especially with the gradients raising. Wiggins will best him in the TTs.
Overall, I'd pick Froome as their better chance for GC, because everyone knows Brads weaknesses and they will exploit them on different terrains.

I expect the attackers to hurt Wiggins for the first time, in the hilly finale of stage three. Wiggins cant' match the accelerations and will fear the descents.
I mean, they have three weeks time to keep him under pressure and bring him down. They'll do it for sure.

Yes, Froome would be the better choice in my opinion.

You forget something, Wiggins has a superstrong team to back him up. Just set a high and steay pace in the mountains and Wiggo won't lose much to his competitiors. In the TTs he will gain minutes to his competitiors. Descents? Unless it is a final descent, Porte, Rogers, EBH, and Fromme will timetrial any gap back in a minute.

I think Wiggo is stronger than ever and with so many TT kilometers, it is absolutely right for Sky to let him be their GC man.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Hitch pretty much spot on there.

The guy is English so Englishmen are going to put money on him and consequently his odds are going to be shorter than they should be.

Nothing against Froome, he's a good rider, but unless Wiggins crashes again Froome can't win the tour. And even then I wouldn't give him much hope.

Englishmen have never heard of him.

Every paper has had a soft focus feature piece on Wiggins this week, and a reprint of the 'I'm light but slow' interview with Cav.

Froome has 0 press and 0 profile.

 

[Marco Pantani]

You forget something, Wiggins has a superstrong team to back him up. Just set a high and steay pace in the mountains and Wiggo won't lose much to his competitiors. In the TTs he will gain minutes to his competitiors. Descents? Unless it is a final descent, Porte, Rogers, EBH, and Fromme will timetrial any gap back in a minute.

I think Wiggo is stronger than ever and with so many TT kilometers, it is absolutely right for Sky to let him be their GC man.

You're wrong my friend, I have already taken that into consideration.

 

[jens_attacks]

i definitely won't bet against froomy.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Wiggins will win this but Froome will finish 2nd. Sky have a much stronger team than in the Vuelta so Froome won't be quite as committed to helping here. I expect Froome to burn off all the opposition bar Wiggins on a couple of the mountain stages.

 

[cineteq]

Wiggins will win this but Froome will finish 2nd. Sky have a much stronger team than in the Vuelta so Froome won't be quite as committed to helping here. I expect Froome to burn off all the opposition bar Wiggins on a couple of the mountain stages.

What about Rogers and Porte, 3rd and 4th? LOL!!!!

 

[The Joker]

Don't forget Cav to win the green jersey, with EBH in 2nd ...

 

[The Hitch]

Was he the team leader at last Vuelta?

no and thats why he didn't win

 

[jens_attacks]

definitely very good result by froomy today.it bodes well for those two long itt's.
he will have some kind of freedom i feel even wiggo will be super strong.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

no and thats why he didn't win

Yeup. And in this Tour it's SSDD. Nice result by Froome today but too bad he's supporting Wigo.

 

[Raceoftruth]

Even better ride than it first seems. According to richie porte on twitter Froome forgot to take his nose plugs out. Not sure if he did the whole prologue with them in or if he took them out whilst riding, at least a couple of seconds lost.

 

[Ney the Viking]

Even better ride than it first seems. According to richie porte on twitter Froome forgot to take his nose plugs out. Not sure if he did the whole prologue with them in or if he took them out whilst riding, at least a couple of seconds lost.

As i remember he had them in when he crossed the line, it looked fairly odd

 

[jens_attacks]

marginal gains epic failure

but legendary unstoppable froomy is unstoppable

 

[RownhamHill]

The bookies, they have him so high because he is English pure and simple. If Menchov Sanchez JVDB or Gesink spoke english they would be higher than froome on that list pure and simple (im assuming nibali is 3rd on that list and ironically the above 4 should be above him too)

Wait, so Dutch, Russian and Spanish people don't ever place bets?

 

[icefire]

Was he the team leader at last Vuelta?

He became the team leader with 3 kms to go to the finish at Angliru

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Englishmen have never heard of him.

sorry for being pedantic but I'm English and I've heard of him!

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

sorry for being pedantic but I'm English and I've heard of him!

I was speaking of Englishmen, the blessed plurality.

I don't doubt the knowledge of this and that Englishman.

 

[Froome19]

He has the ability to perform as he showed so brilliantly at the Vuelta.

Whether he will do it is up to debate..
He has Wiggins preventing him but his form does seem to be reaching that of his magnificent Vuelta perfomance.
Can he win the Tour based on that perfomance? Possibly but it is not all that likely by any stretch of the imagination as the Tour is a totally different ball game, but he certainly is in with a shot if he is allowed to have that shot.

 

[UlleGigo]

Englishmen have never heard of him.

Every paper has had a soft focus feature piece on Wiggins this week, and a reprint of the 'I'm light but slow' interview with Cav.

Froome has 0 press and 0 profile.

So what? He is English. Alot of people bet on sport to make it more interesting. So they are naturally going to bet on someone they can cheer for. So an Englishmen with a passing interest in cycling and a big interest in betting on sport looks at the odds. Wiggins is too short, so they go for the next Englishmen with a 'chance'.

It's really not that difficult of a concept and I would have thought it would be a fairly widely accepted one at that. That'll teach me for assuming people can join the dots without having their hand held along the way.

How do cross the street of a morning? I fear for your safety.

 

[Jericho]

Is this guy a legitimate GC contender? He has the 4th best odds to win the tour on most sites, but he is just $7 dollars on versus fantasy cycling challenge game? (Wiggins is $99, for reference). Is that a steal or is he not the real deal?

I think that's he's a steal. He should have a pretty decent overall finish. He's good at time trialing (a big plus this year) and respectable at climbing. No, he's not the "leader" of Team Sky. And even if nothing happens to Wiggins, nothing says he can't still place Top 10. We'll see if it happens, but that's a cheap price for a pretty decent rider.