Teams & Riders Froome Talk Only

[roundabout]

Tomorrow is interesting. If he shows another day of weakness and with Contador continuing his upturn, I have a feeling we could be in for a Tour potentially as exciting as in 2003.

I hope so.

You mean Contador winning the Tour with 2 fingers up his nose

I hope not.

 

[JimmyFingers]

Off topic I know, Jimmy how long has Eisel got left on his contract?

As I wrote it I wondered that myself, he is in his third year at Sky, so I would guess it is up at the end of the season.

he said last season a season with the Tour is a wasted year. He won't make it to the Tour this year, he will leave if he can I am sure

 

[BYOP88]

As I wrote it I wondered that myself, he is in his third year at Sky, so I would guess it is up at the end of the season.

he said last season a season with the Tour is a wasted year. He won't make it to the Tour this year, he will leave if he can I am sure

Cheers Jimmy.

 

[The Hitch]

Wait what? It did show weakness in the 3rd week of the Tour last year. He just already had such a large margin that it didnt matter much that he couldnt keep up with Jrod and Nairo.

But otherwise I agree

If it didn't matter you don't know if he was weak.

Or do you think froome also showed weakness on the champs elyesee stage because he lost 30 seconds? Can we expect in future sprint stages for Froome to lose 30 seconds and act as if Contador will have a 30 second head start over Froome in this Tour?

No, when you have a 6 minute lead on gc you don't go full out.

 

[The Hitch]

I'm no fan of Froome but this hyperbole. There have been many weak days in the last 3 years. Its not as if he won everything from 2011 Vuelta onwards. Surely it's more suspicious the massive peaks and their timing.

Of course he hasn't won everything he participated in, this is cycling with 200 participants in every race.

Last year he had the second highest cq points per day rating since the website began 15 years ago and the first highest. 47 points per day.

Glass half full for you though isn't it? Oh why didn't he win every race. Why didn't he score 2000 points a day

The fact that no sky rider has ever been that dominant or even been close to that dominant (3rd highest is a full 10% lower than Froome by that ranking) shows you all you need to know about how the sport works.

Yes hes had races he didnt win. He didn't win the Vuelta though was the strongest and lost on time bonifications becuase his team didn't want him as the leader. He lost the TDF where he was also the strongest but also held back.
He lost a Tirreno where he was beaten in the wet, he was considerably weaker in some late season races last year and didn't even finish. He got beaten in Catalunya, but hey, he claims he was ill.

All in all in these races his strengh was never in doubt. Even in the wons he lost he showed he was the strongest. In the meantime for every one of these he lost there were 3 or 4 he won.

Today finally, an opponent took him on and beat him. Yes it is the first time he's shown weakness.

 

[The Hitch]

You could go statistically I'm sure, but anecdotally he showed nothing until the 2011 Vuelta, then didn't do much until he came 4th in the Dauphine the next year. Then the Tour, no need to talk much about that, but then a crazy Vuelta 2012, plenty of weak days there. 2013 was a steamroller I'll concede, but there are plenty of bad days of racing to puck from Froome to pick from in the last 3 years.

If you are counting his pre doping days of before the 2011 Vuelta when he struggled to finish races, then duh, obviously.

 

[Netserk]

So he was too bad in spring '12 for it to count?

 

[hiero2]

. . .
Today finally, an opponent took him on and beat him. Yes it is the first time he's shown weakness.

Hmmmm. Well, you aren't getting much agreement. But I see your point. Froome got beat, and beat proper today. I think the difficulty comes, though, in calling it weak, or a weakness.

I suppose it could be said that you and I are saying the same thing with different words. I'm not sure. But after all, I think Froome did something of a miscalculation today. You could call that a weakness I suppose. But I think it was more like Sky was in a corner, and there is one way they know to control the outcome - which they used. So you could say they were boxed into a scenario. And AC was able to take advantage of that scenario, in part because it was so predictable.

I still don't think it was a weakness. And, I think that is a bad choice of words for what you intend to mean, and that you are getting stuck in a corner defending the use of "weak". But, meh, what matter?

Froome got beat today. That is what matters. If it was weakness, so be it. If it was just not strong enough, ok. If it was something else, no problem.

Cheers!

 

[Bexon30]

First mental cracks today. Interesting to see how he will deal with this come July.

 

[SeriousSam]

First mental cracks today. Interesting to see how he will deal with this come July.

just needs to replicate his madone ~7w/kg and he'll deal with it alright

 

[keeponrollin]

I still don't think it was a weakness. And, I think that is a bad choice of words for what you intend to mean, and that you are getting stuck in a corner defending the use of "weak". But, meh, what matter?

Froome got beat today. That is what matters. If it was weakness, so be it. If it was just not strong enough, ok. If it was something else, no problem.

Cheers!

I think it is weakness; & the same kind of weakness we're seeing in the book.

When you're the 'Team Leader', the other riders look to you for direction; even with team radios, the first place the other riders look is to the xx1 plate, even before the voice in their ear.

Froome is a shadow of a real leader, if he was a real leader, he wouldn't need to have a pop at Wiggins, because he'd know that he was in charge on the road, & that was all that mattered. He'd be telling guys to chase breaks, & go get water etc, but all I see right now is guys on the road getting direction from the team car, because they don't have a leader on the road.

 

[doperhopper]

I think it is weakness; & the same kind of weakness we're seeing in the book.

When you're the 'Team Leader', the other riders look to you for direction; even with team radios, the first place the other riders look is to the xx1 plate, even before the voice in their ear.

Froome is a shadow of a real leader, if he was a real leader, he wouldn't need to have a pop at Wiggins, because he'd know that he was in charge on the road, & that was all that mattered. He'd be telling guys to chase breaks, & go get water etc, but all I see right now is guys on the road getting direction from the team car, because they don't have a leader on the road.

well, today the coffee was simply too hot, and crash didn't help either - but it's true that Vroomie is far from being respected boss, rather dealer then leader

 

[Wiggo Warrior]

As I wrote it I wondered that myself, he is in his third year at Sky, so I would guess it is up at the end of the season.

he said last season a season with the Tour is a wasted year. He won't make it to the Tour this year, he will leave if he can I am sure

PCS has him there for 2015 too. I think he was offered the rider then DS package that Rasch was.

 

[Netserk]

http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actualites/Froome-aida-par-l-uci/474031

A new '99?

 

[red_flanders]

Wonder how long its gonna take before the bots start accusing Contador of doping

No, apparently the talking point is that Froome hasn't actually ever been that good.

 

[red_flanders]

Tomorrow is interesting. If he shows another day of weakness and with Contador continuing his upturn, I have a feeling we could be in for a Tour potentially as exciting as in 2003.

I hope so.

Still not even close on the TT's. Contador would have to beat him much more decisively to be the favorite for the Tour. Froome still killed everyone else.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

3 years and Froome finally shows a day of weakness.

3 years.

And that day of weakness still involves him wooping all the other gt contenders.

What a joke of a rider this is.

I would also disagree - but because I don't think Froome showed weakness. He was still a strong rider - just not the best on the day.

AC played a very good game. And in hindsight, timed it just right.

On the other hand, I would say that Froome's arrogance also came back to bite him. In trying to show the world what an extraordinary rider he is, and how dominant his team is, he left an opening.

I'll bet it was a very quiet evening at the Sky dinner table.

First mental cracks today. Interesting to see how he will deal with this come July.

I think it is weakness; & the same kind of weakness we're seeing in the book.

When you're the 'Team Leader', the other riders look to you for direction; even with team radios, the first place the other riders look is to the xx1 plate, even before the voice in their ear.

well, today the coffee was simply too hot, and crash didn't help either - but it's true that Vroomie is far from being respected boss, rather dealer then leader

Was I the only person waiting for Froome to stand up on that final pitch, and perplexed that he didn't?

Wouldn't be surprised if he's broken a bone in his elbow and cannot stand up or can stand up but not use his arms for leverage out of the saddle - the bandage looked far too large for simple abrasion protection?

It was streamed vision, so I may have missed some pertinent details, including Froome standing earlier in the stage / on a climb and cranking it. If so I withdraw my theory.

He would be waiting until the end of the race before saying anything specific about his injuries as a tactical move.

 

[Race Radio]

Victim of a cold, the British would have obtained an Authorization for therapeutic use (AUT) allowing it to ingest oral prednisolone, a corticosteroid, whereas only the use of corticosteroid spray is permitted. He won the Tour de Romandie

Froome so strong he even wins when he is sick

 

[Publicus]

Was I the only person waiting for Froome to stand up on that final pitch, and perplexed that he didn't?

Wouldn't be surprised if he's broken a bone in his elbow and cannot stand up or can stand up but not use his arms for leverage out of the saddle - the bandage looked far too large for simple abrasion protection?

It was streamed vision, so I may have missed some pertinent details, including Froome standing earlier in the stage / on a climb and cranking it. If so I withdraw my theory.

He would be waiting until the end of the race before saying anything specific about his injuries as a tactical move.

He was out of the saddle quite a bit on the penultimate climb and the final climb (last time was when Nieve was still on the front).

 

[mewmewmew13]

Froome so strong he even wins when he is sick

but for the past few years he has been sick most of the time

 

[thehog]

but for the past few years he has been sick most of the time

Typhiod, AIDS, Cancer, Badzhilla. And now asthma.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Typhiod, AIDS, Cancer, Badzhilla. And now asthma.

I don't think that is the complete list
still more to come prolly

 

[msjett]

I thought we saw a bit of Froome of the past - I thought he was going to start zig-zagging across the road towards the finish. Today he got owned by Alberto, 20 seconds can be the difference between winning and losing ask Cadel Evans. When I think about it, in this race and the tour for the last couple of years, he really hasn't had to face a lot of adversity, I don't remember him crashing or having really bad weather.

 

[Race Radio]

In this case, it has been validated on the spot by the only medical director of the UCI, Dr. Mario Zorzoli.

http://www.lejdd.fr/Sport/Cyclisme/Christopher-Froome-dope-par-l-UCI-671565

 

[mewmewmew13]

but he has been extremely clear that he has NO TUE's ...is that correct?
or is it a work in progress