Teams & Riders Froome Talk Only

[Puckfiend]

Froome is in Colorado, not Belgium. I think the announcers said he and most of Sky had only arrived on Wednesday, leaving very little time to acclimate to the high areas of the Rockies. I would assume that racing at 8000+ feet above sea level has a lot to do with his and Porte's rather lackluster times. When Evans raced their after his TdF win, he was pack fodder too.

As a matter of fact, the entire peloton looked gassed climbing a 3.5 per cent climb up to the Snowmass ski resort.

 

[Ferminal]

Doper's fatigue OMFG

 

[martinvickers]

Froome is in Colorado, not Belgium. I think the announcers said he and most of Sky had only arrived on Wednesday, leaving very little time to acclimate to the high areas of the Rockies. I would assume that racing at 8000+ feet above sea level has a lot to do with his and Porte's rather lackluster times. When Evans raced their after his TdF win, he was pack fodder too.

As a matter of fact, the entire peloton looked gassed climbing a 3.5 per cent climb up to the Snowmass ski resort.

ssshhhh...no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not how you play....

 

[Puckfiend]

ssshhhh...no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not how you play....

LOL! I know. I have lurked here for quite awhile. I find Froome's TdF form much more suspicious than his Rocky Mountain pack fodder form, or lack thereof.

 

[darwin553]

Doper's fatigue OMFG

He's stopped using because he's won what he has wanted to win this year and now doesn't want to risk getting caught

 

[red_flanders]

Froome is in Colorado, not Belgium. I think the announcers said he and most of Sky had only arrived on Wednesday, leaving very little time to acclimate to the high areas of the Rockies. I would assume that racing at 8000+ feet above sea level has a lot to do with his and Porte's rather lackluster times. When Evans raced their after his TdF win, he was pack fodder too.

As a matter of fact, the entire peloton looked gassed climbing a 3.5 per cent climb up to the Snowmass ski resort.

It takes a good two weeks to acclimate to altitude with regard to performance in an aerobic sport. Did every other team get there weeks ago and SKY are the only ones to show up? I would tend to doubt it, though I don't know when anyone got there.

If others got there late, did they all perform poorly compared to their performances all year? I mean Froome and Porte have gone from destroying the peloton in every race to losing minutes on a stage Peter Sagan won. That is a dramatic drop in performance and I don't see anything comparable.

So is it that they aren't trying? Possible. Is it that they've withdrawn blood in prep for the Worlds? Possible. Is it both, with the former a result of the latter? Possible. Did they acclimate worse than anyone else? Possible. Did they both just have a really bad day after not having one all year? Possible.

What would the history of the sport tell you? What would Occam's Razor indicate?

At the very least, do it not warrant questions being so outside the performance levels we're seeing from other riders?

 

[Puckfiend]

I don't know how long guys have been there either. Garmin, RST, BMC, and a lot of the continental U.S. teams raced Utah, and or have been based in Colorado training. Sagan told the NBC reporter that he had been in Aspen for two weeks. Voigt was quoted as saying if you don't get there 2 weeks ahead of the race (he was in Utah) you were in for a rude awakening. Van Avarmaet won two stages in Utah.

In my opinion, there is a lot of questions surrounding Sky, but I wouldn't read too much into a non UCI race in the U.S. that is raced above 7000 ft. in elevation.

 

[Juan Speeder]

Was Froome not training in Tuscany? So why cant he keep up with a yank peloton? He is supposedly the greatest talent ever on a bike after he got his Badzilla fixed.

So Nibali gets dropped in Poland means what?

I enjoy the sport fine, it is because i dont emotionally invest in any riders.....mate.

You understand that the roads of Colorado mountains are 2000m+ higher than Alpine of Pyrinean mountains, right?

 

[Juan Speeder]

There's some dim people in this forum.

Just sayin'

 

[red_flanders]

Juan, on the forum we try to address our comments to the content of people's posts, not on them personally, even broadly as a group. We find it leads to more informative discussion, and personal attacks, even on a group of forum members are not allowed. Thanks!

 

[Froomes_Cousin]

Doper's fatigue OMFG

That's exactly what I thought!

I remember a similar case with Mayo back in the day, when he was trying to bring the fight to Lance... poor sucker peaked for the DL and then found out the hard way how steep and fast the drop-off was.

Idiot tells one of Lance's boys what he is taking (a cow's blood concentrate) and LO AND BEHOLD! He tests positive.

 

[DirtyWorks]

... Did they acclimate worse than anyone else? Possible. Did they both just have a really bad day after not having one all year? Possible.

What would the history of the sport tell you? What would Occam's Razor indicate?

At the very least, do it not warrant questions being so outside the performance levels we're seeing from other riders?

To the bolded. Not one bad race clearly destroying fields for +/- 6 months. Not one. And now? Yet the decade of zero-to-hero and back again doping is somehow not happening.

FWIW, Utah was definitely an event with lots of altitude. Not quite Colorado high, but much higher than most events.

 

[Soloist]

He's stopped using because he's won what he has wanted to win this year and now doesn't want to risk getting caught

Yep. Lance was the same. He'd win every time trial in the tour, and then could barely manage 3rd in the Olympics He didn't care, and he didn't want to get caught.

 

[JRanton]

It takes a good two weeks to acclimate to altitude with regard to performance in an aerobic sport. Did every other team get there weeks ago and SKY are the only ones to show up? I would tend to doubt it, though I don't know when anyone got there.

If others got there late, did they all perform poorly compared to their performances all year? I mean Froome and Porte have gone from destroying the peloton in every race to losing minutes on a stage Peter Sagan won. That is a dramatic drop in performance and I don't see anything comparable.

So is it that they aren't trying? Possible. Is it that they've withdrawn blood in prep for the Worlds? Possible. Is it both, with the former a result of the latter? Possible. Did they acclimate worse than anyone else? Possible. Did they both just have a really bad day after not having one all year? Possible.

What would the history of the sport tell you? What would Occam's Razor indicate?

At the very least, do it not warrant questions being so outside the performance levels we're seeing from other riders?

The questions have been answered haven't they? Look at the results sheet. The teams that raced in Utah are very well represented in the front group. The teams that didn't race in Utah and have just arrived recently from Europe like Argos and Sky aren't well represented.

It's not exactly surprising that Sky's Tour riders, Froome, Porte and Kennaugh, are struggling considering they've openly admitted they haven't been training seriously since the Tour and only arrived in Colorado three days before the race. I'd be a lot more worried in the circumstances if they were destroying the peloton in this race as opposed to struggling, wouldn't you?

 

[JRanton]

To the bolded. Not one bad race clearly destroying fields for +/- 6 months. Not one. And now? Yet the decade of zero-to-hero and back again doping is somehow not happening.

Hang on. If they're able to get away with doping over a six month period then what difference would an extra month in August make?

Or maybe they took a break after the Tour, haven't trained seriously or at all in some cases, and are struggling to adapt to the altitude having arrived only a few days before the race?

 

[JRanton]

Funnily enough it seems the one rider who has just recently arrived in Colorado and isn't particularly motivated for the race but nevertheless managed to finish in the front, is wait for it, a certain Mick Rogers. Go figure. That's the guy who everyone was rid

 

[JRanton]

The five teams that didn't race Utah:

Colombia - Had 1 rider out of 7 who finished in the 45 man front group (Atapuma).

Argos - Had 0 riders out of 8 finish in the front group.

Sky - Had 2 riders out of 8 finish in the front group (Dombrowski, Edmondson.)

Saxobank - Had 2 riders out of 8 finish in the front group (Sutherland, Rogers).

Novo Nordisk - Had 2 riders out of 8 finish in the front group (2 Spanish riders).


A few notes: Dombrowski and Edmondson arrived in Colorado a week ahead of Froome, Porte, Kennaugh and Siutsou (Sky's 4 Tour riders at the race).

This is a big race for Novo Nordisk, being a US continental team, so it's fair to assume that they've been in Colorado preparing for this race for a couple of weeks.

Sutherland has targeted this race and I believe lives in the US if I'm not mistaken.

So that leaves the supremely talented and presumably motivated Darwin Atapuma and Mick Rogers as the odd men out. The same Mick Rogers who people were ridiculing pre-California for his poor form compared to his 2012 Sky shape.

 

[Gung Ho Gun]

Argos - Had 0 riders out of 8 finish in the front group.

How surprising

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

So let's get this straight, a clean rider would turn up for a race at altitude without acclimatising, having not trained seriously for a month, and been capable of showing his best form? You can learn so much from some of the great minds in here.

On another note, did anyone see the David Walsh interview last night where he said that Froome chose not to have how own room at the Tour and, instead, opted to share with Porte? Clearly this is evidence that the two of them wanted their own space so they could dope away from prying eyes.

 

[Ferminal]

Argos - Had 0 riders out of 8 finish in the front group.

How surprising

I would be suspicious if they did...

Edit: Geschke and Tobias, probably could have scraped one in.

 

[karlboss]

Surely these results are more a result of not caring?

 

[Cycle Chic]

On another note, did anyone see the David Walsh interview last night where he said that Froome chose not to have how own room at the Tour and, instead, opted to share with Porte? Clearly this is evidence that the two of them wanted their own space so they could dope away from prying eyes.

yes ! posted it in the Walsh Sky Bandwagon thread - that interview was unbelieveable.

 

[Benotti69]

Surely these results are more a result of not caring?

Those who have a winning mentality needed to win GTs dont have 'not caring' in their suitcases of courage in a competitive event.

I would think Froome was extremely embarrassed watching the peloton full of guys who finished hours down on him in July, but no dout comforted himself by saying he will blow them away in Tuscany.

 

[red_flanders]

The five teams that didn't race Utah:

Colombia - Had 1 rider out of 7 who finished in the 45 man front group (Atapuma).

Argos - Had 0 riders out of 8 finish in the front group.

Sky - Had 2 riders out of 8 finish in the front group (Dombrowski, Edmondson.)

Saxobank - Had 2 riders out of 8 finish in the front group (Sutherland, Rogers).

Novo Nordisk - Had 2 riders out of 8 finish in the front group (2 Spanish riders).


A few notes: Dombrowski and Edmondson arrived in Colorado a week ahead of Froome, Porte, Kennaugh and Siutsou (Sky's 4 Tour riders at the race).

This is a big race for Novo Nordisk, being a US continental team, so it's fair to assume that they've been in Colorado preparing for this race for a couple of weeks.

Sutherland has targeted this race and I believe lives in the US if I'm not mistaken.

So that leaves the supremely talented and presumably motivated Darwin Atapuma and Mick Rogers as the odd men out. The same Mick Rogers who people were ridiculing pre-California for his poor form compared to his 2012 Sky shape.

Good points, good post.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

There's some dim people in this forum.

No Dim now runs his own forums! At velorooms.