Teams & Riders Froome Talk Only

[Beech Mtn]

Saxo v Sky Arms race is on. Those two teams are miles ahead of anyone else. Miles.

Sky and Tinkoff look to be on the hard stuff, but I wouldn't rule out Movistar, Lampre, or Etixx-QS either, all of whom have shown performances that look to be "promising" for the season to come.

edit- and let's not forget Astana or Katyusha either.

If Cookson really wanted to have a new clean era, he'd pop Froome, Contador, Nibali, Kittel, and several other "tall poppies" all in quick succession, and then see where the sport goes. But the business side of things probably couldn't handle it, and many fans certainly couldn't.

 

[Rollthedice]

Kennaugh's attack was Ricco styled. On the drops out of the saddle. I was actually laughing.

Someone at Sky HQ has taught Froome about patience. Last years Vuelta and in this race he is measuring his attacks. He appears to wait longer. The steepness favoured Froome so I still think Froome is below where Contador is. He was a little lucky. Contador attack 7km from the finish on Friday was stupid. He paid for that.

Saxo v Sky Arms race is on. Those two teams are miles ahead of anyone else. Miles.

Froome says:

"I just looked up for once and saw the road kicked up. It was a good ramp to put the hammer down and go."

It pays to look up from your stem at least once in a while. Another small detail carefully worked out in the Sky labs, it might seem marginal but the gains are obvious.

 

[SeriousSam]

Now that the Dawg has discovered the world beyond his stem, there is no telling what his limits are. Another extra 50 watts, easily.

 

[thehog]

Now that the Dawg has discovered the world beyond his stem, there is no telling what his limits are. Another extra 50 watts, easily.

I'm impressed that an entire team can be so strong coming out of the winter. Saxo included.

Is there an off season anymore? Non che credo.

 

[sniper]

I'm impressed that an entire team can be so strong coming out of the winter. Saxo included.

Is there an off season anymore? Non che credo.

i could imagine that for AICAR-like products ('exercise in a pill'), the winterbreak would be an ideal time to do a treatment.
i don't think AICAR is very useful in competition, but people in the know must correct me if i'm wrong.

(edit: i'm using AICAR here as a cover term. I assume there are by now plenty of variations on the market, as with EPO.)

 

[pastronef]

I'm impressed that an entire team can be so strong coming out of the winter. Saxo included.

Is there an off season anymore? Non ci credo.

they go on holiday end of october and mid november. from the december training camps it full gas again

 

[sniper]

they go on holiday end of october and mid november. from the december training camps it full gas again

I would love to hear first hand from a pro or expro how tough the wintertraining really is.
I checked Kennaugh's twitter feed for December and January, and all I could find was dozens of tweets about parties he went to and beeches he chilled at.
Now that's no scientific research i did there, but still, I have seen no evidence of any tough full-on training program in those two months.

 

[thehog]

they go on holiday end of october and mid november. from the december training camps it full gas again

Grazie per la correzione, io non credo.

Yes. I think also keeping the levels 'level' all year around makes much better sense to avoid passport issues.

Still they are super strong.

 

[pastronef]

Grazie per la correzione, io non credo.

Yes. I think also keeping the levels 'level' all year around makes much better sense to avoid passport issues.

Still they are super strong.

oh, I did not think about that. smart thought

 

[doperhopper]

What the hell we've just seen? Sky makes USPS train look like amateurs, just leading the pack uphill is so old style and boring, dom attack is the new normal - first Kennaugh, the Nieve, looking quite fresh, and then Dawg on afterburner, ... in FEBRUARY! Makes me wonder who paid the "freeride" license for 2015 (especially after 2014 license to kill did not pay off for Oleg)? Maybe no prepaid Tour champion this year? Or Oleg will be happy with Giro and one or two monuments?

 

[pastronef]

What the hell we've just seen? Sky makes USPS train look like amateurs, just leading the pack uphill is so old style and boring, dom attack is the new normal - first Kennaugh, the Nieve, looking quite fresh, and then Dawg on afterburner, ... in FEBRUARY! Makes me wonder who paid the "freeride" license for 2015 (especially after 2014 license to kill did not pay off for Oleg)? Maybe no prepaid Tour champion this year? Or Oleg will be happy with Giro and one or two monuments?

so in the same way Basso and co were as boring and strong as Sky the day before?
Basso dropped everybody bar Contador, then Contador went away

 

[frenchfry]

I would love to hear first hand from a pro or expro how tough the wintertraining really is.
I checked Kennaugh's twitter feed for December and January, and all I could find was dozens of tweets about parties he went to and beeches he chilled at.
Now that's no scientific research i did there, but still, I have seen no evidence of any tough full-on training program in those two months.

Altitude training? Or are you suggesting life is a beech.

 

[thehog]

oh, I did not think about that. smart thought

And they use altitude up & down to limit the ability of gaining consistent readings. Generally a passport test post altitude is ignored in a profile.

 

[sniper]

Altitude training? Or are you suggesting life is a beech.

10 chars...

 

[simo1733]

I would love to hear first hand from a pro or expro how tough the wintertraining really is.
I checked Kennaugh's twitter feed for December and January, and all I could find was dozens of tweets about parties he went to and beeches he chilled at.
Now that's no scientific research i did there, but still, I have seen no evidence of any tough full-on training program in those two months.

A lot of pros on Strava these days Kwiatkowski,Ten Dam,Dombrovski that I follow , do less mileage than I expected .

 

[thehog]

A lot of pros on Strava these days Kwiatkowski,Ten Dam,Dombrovski that I follow , do less mileage than I expected .

Don't always read distance covered as the guide to intensity. Sunday Joes ride for distance, Pro ride intervals, hill repeats and run to serious wattages well over thereshold.

And they dope

 

[MartinGT]

A lot of pros on Strava these days Kwiatkowski,Ten Dam,Dombrovski that I follow , do less mileage than I expected .

 

[sniper]

why facepalm?
thought it was an interesting comment from simo1733.
shouldn't those guys be busting their asses six hours a day?
we always get to hear how the best training is to do races, i.e. to make mileage.

 

[simo1733]

Don't always read distance covered as the guide to intensity. Sunday Joes ride for distance, Pro ride intervals, hill repeats and run to serious wattages well over thereshold.

And they dope

I don't suggest it is all about distance.You would have to look at their files on Strava and see for yourself .

 

[darwin553]

Any credence to the thought that Contador let Froome win to give him the limelight in order for Contador to fly under the radar and go crazy on the juice for the TdF?

 

[The Hitch]

Any credence to the thought that Contador let Froome win to give him the limelight in order for Contador to fly under the radar and go crazy on the juice for the TdF?

About as likely as either of them being clean.

 

[vedrafjord]

Any credence to the thought that Contador let Froome win to give him the limelight in order for Contador to fly under the radar and go crazy on the juice for the TdF?

The idea that either Contador or Froome could be 'under the radar' after last week's fireworks is kinda hilarious.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

The idea that either Contador or Froome could be 'under the radar' after last week's fireworks is kinda hilarious.

Nibali is under the radar.
Considerably under.

 

[MartinGT]

why facepalm?
thought it was an interesting comment from simo1733.
shouldn't those guys be busting their asses six hours a day?
we always get to hear how the best training is to do races, i.e. to make mileage.

If you take whats on Strava as gospel then fair do's.

 

[42x16ss]

I would love to hear first hand from a pro or expro how tough the wintertraining really is.
I checked Kennaugh's twitter feed for December and January, and all I could find was dozens of tweets about parties he went to and beeches he chilled at.
Now that's no scientific research i did there, but still, I have seen no evidence of any tough full-on training program in those two months.

Unless you're an Aussie going for Nats or targeting the TDU, early November to mid December would just be base, 2-4 hours tops without many intervals. The hard work doesn't start until the new year or just before.

They still clock up more kms than all but the very best amateurs in this period though.