Teams & Riders Froome Talk Only

[DirtyWorks]

Is Froome acting on his own? If I were his DS I would tell him to knock it off or I'm cutting off the juice right now.

If it's the juice we know about and the doping phases known, he's most likely enjoying the after effects.

It would be pretty easy to make the race closer and still win. Why don't they?

Yeah, the UCI hasn't quite been able to get it to work like a WWE wrestling match yet. Plus, Froome doesn't seem like the kind of guy to be part way up Ventoux riding with Quntana and just finish the stage with a little kick or something.

 

[Deagol]

Because it would be very smart not to gain as much time as possible on the rest of the GC-contenders?

I think there is a bigger picture at work here. They know Froome will win the TDF. If Sky is smart (and they seem to be) they may tell Froome to throttle down in the MT TT and not go as fast as he could go because in doing so, even more suspicion would result. The smartest move for Sky might be to have Froome win the overall, but not the MT TT and not the overall by huge margins. They have got to be thinking about after the Tour and how things will play out with the unwanted doping suspicions. DB seems smarter at PR than Johan, or at least can learn from Johan's mistakes. To have alien Froome apear more human is a good PR move. It's what I would do if I were in Brailsford's position.

I see others have made this point already, though ...

 

[BYOP88]

Unlikely clean, that's for sure. If he was a grand tour GC destroyer, at minimum, he'd have a long string of near-podiums at lower ranks. That's the barest minimum. He wouldn't have been thirty-something at a grand tour.

His future Sky teammate Knees finished 60 places ahead of Froomstrong in the 2008 TdF. Knees must be one lazy SOB.

 

[jamesmasters]

Trying to be objective, how about this as a defence for Froome's unusual career progression:

2011-2013: Cycling god

2010-11: Explanation for mediocrity - bilharzia

2009 and prior years: Explanation for mediocrity - the rest of the peloton was juiced to the gills, so no wonder he couldn't win. Plus he came from a non-traditional background, so developed slower.

 

[Froomstrong]

[/b]

So Sky are better at doping than everyone else, but at nothing other than doping?

I would say that SKY appear to be better at a lot of things. I include doping in that list.
The marginal gains of the other things aren't enough to make a rider that much better than everyone else.

 

[Granville57]

Trying to be objective, how about this as a defence for Froome's unusual career progression:

2011-2013: Cycling god

2010-11: Explanation for mediocrity - bilharzia

2009 and prior years: Explanation for mediocrity - the rest of the peloton was juiced to the gills, so no wonder he couldn't win. Plus he came from a non-traditional background, so developed slower.

Well, yeah. That is exactly what the Froome camp has put forward.



I'm pretty sure this has become a Möbius thread.

 

[TANK91]

Exactly. People who are defending Froome sound like the people who defended Armstrong way back when. Not right now.

These Froome fanboys were probably not around in the late 90's, early 2000's. I don't think they realize how silly they sound.

Yes because every good cyclist has to be a talent, and yes being good since2011 which made him 26 is a sign of doping. Basically you all have to win GT's at 23, yeh right.

 

[kingjr]

I think there is a bigger picture at work here. They know Froome will win the TDF.

The thing is, they can't know that. Being the fastest rider uphill and in the ITT (of the GC-contenders) to this day is not enough. There is no guarantee that he won't have a bad day. There is no guarantee that things can't go wrong like they did last Sunday. One flat tire for Froome in that stage and he would have been in loads of trouble.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Because it would be very smart not to gain as much time as possible on the rest of the GC-contenders?

This kind of detail is where the whole crackpot scheme gets rather messy. I don't really know.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Yep, British dominance will make cycling really popular. Everyone likes good old British people winning everything!

Gotta use common sense and apply a bit of standard business practice, logic.

Money is always spend when entering a new market.

 

[H2OUUP2]

Yes because every good cyclist has to be a talent, and yes being good since2011 which made him 26 is a sign of doping. Basically you all have to win GT's at 23, yeh right.

No. But you have to have at least some talent at 23, or show signs of talent. Like winning, or at least coming close to winning anything.

And Froome isn't "good". He's friggin god like out there. He's destroying these guys.

 

[Benotti69]

I wonder did UCI consider Garmin, but knew JV would never play ball so turned to Sky and Sky accepted. Wonder did UCI reccommend Leinders to Sky? That would be funny.

The Brit market is not what UCI are aiming for. The EU market aint gonna grow, but the Asian, Middle East and African markets will and easier to have English speaking winners of the biggest race as these new markets are all learning the international language of business and money, English.

 

[PasqualeMendoza]

Who knows. Otoh, if I were Froome and clean, I would try to make it as close as possible too. Better not waste energy. So his behaviour doesn't really fit with any common logic. That's why we call it "going full ***" after all

Yeah, what's the point in Froome trying to win - the idiot. And all those idiots in the 20s, 30s, 50s, 60s, winning by half an hour or more. What were they thinking? They should have just rode slower and pipped everyone on the line - fools.

NOTE: As a new poster, I've yet to develop the casual use of the word *** and imagine nobody will be offended by it.

 

[DirtyWorks]

The thing is, they can't know that. Being the fastest rider uphill and in the ITT (of the GC-contenders) to this day is not enough. There is no guarantee that he won't have a bad day. There is no guarantee that things can't go wrong like they did last Sunday. One flat tire for Froome in that stage and he would have been in loads of trouble.

I'm guessing you don't understand how much of a power advantage he has over his competitors.

Every indication is Froome has power for weeks and weeks and has operated like this since early 2012. It's unlikely he'll have so many awful days the top podium spot is lost for good.

What went wrong last Sunday? A bunch of guys tried to make him crack for 60+Km and he defended well. Movistar certainly got nothing out of all that work.

Hypothetically, Froome has a flat someplace awful. He flips into alien mode and his loses are minimized.

 

[kingjr]

I'm guessing you don't understand how much of a power advantage he has over his competitors.

Every indication is Froome has power for weeks and weeks and has operated like this since early 2012. It's unlikely he'll have so many awful days the top podium spot is lost for good.

My point is, "unlikely" is simply not enough. Flipping into alien mode sounds easier than it is. Froome looked set to win the Vuelta last year, but he didn't. He is not indestructible, no matter how much it looks like it.

 

[Eshnar]

Yeah, what's the point in Froome trying to win - the idiot. And all those idiots in the 20s, 30s, 50s, 60s, winning by half an hour or more. What were they thinking? They should have just rode slower and pipped everyone on the line - fools.

in those years people used to have bad days and lose hours. Today if you have a bad day you lose a few minutes. And only if you have a bad day in the mountains ofc. And the frequency of these bad days is nowhere near like in the past. With a 4 minutes advantage you can safely assume you're winning, barring crashes or illness, in which cases ofc no time gap would save you.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Basically you all have to win GT's at 23, yeh right.

Yup,
Greg Lemond, 23, TdF 3rd.
Rudi Altig, 25 Vuelta win.
Bernard Hinault, 24 Tdf and Vuelta wins

The list is longer than that. But, I think you get the idea. The damn O2 vector doping makes it almost impossible for that kind of outcome.

 

[timbo25]

He is an Alien athlete but a bad rider.

 

[Raiko200]

I have to admit, if I was Froome at this point in the race and was totally clean...I would rip up the field. I would destroy them if I could. What the heck? I'm already being labelled a doper at worst and extremely suspicious at best. If I do win the TdF most will never believe I was clean so why even try to make it look close. If I were him and were clean I would be so ****ed off I would bury every one. Maybe even a little taunting during the race. : )

Or I'd take my cell phone along and call a reporter during the race just before I attacked and say, "watch this". Just go over the top.

 

[Bratam]

IMHO he had more to give on Ventoux given the way he rode with Quntana and got bored by it so quickly.

He wasn't smart enough to just ride in with Quintana, so I expect two more stages of Froome going alien.

I agree with these observations.

 

[Benotti69]

I have to admit, if I was Froome at this point in the race and was totally clean...I would rip up the field. I would destroy them if I could. What the heck? I'm already being labelled a doper at worst and extremely suspicious at best. If I do win the TdF most will never believe I was clean so why even try to make it look close. If I were him and were clean I would be so ****ed off I would bury every one. Maybe even a little taunting during the race. : )

Or I'd take my cell phone along and call a reporter during the race just before I attacked and say, "watch this". Just go over the top.

If he was clean he wouldn't be able to up the field. This si the thing about GTs, clean riders cannot just rip them up. Clean climbers can rip up the mountains then lose it all in a TT or in echelons. Clean TTers rip up TTs then grupetto up the mtfs. See if Froome was clean there is no ripping up getting done like he did on Ax3 and Ventoux.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I have to admit, if I was Froome at this point in the race and was totally clean...I would rip up the field. I would destroy them if I could. What the heck? I'm already being labelled a doper at worst and extremely suspicious at best. If I do win the TdF most will never believe I was clean so why even try to make it look close. If I were him and were clean I would be so ****ed off I would bury every one. Maybe even a little taunting during the race. : )

Or I'd take my cell phone along and call a reporter during the race just before I attacked and say, "watch this". Just go over the top.

That makes no sense. Whatsoever. A clean rider couldn't do that anyway. A doped rider could.

 

[Benotti69]

news just in.

Brailsford claims to have offered the data to Wada

Brailsford did admit that he'd talked to WADA about the idea.

"We'd encourage WADA to appoint to some experts and they could have everything we've got. They could have all our information, all of our data. We could then compare are training files with the blood data, to the weight and WADA would be a good body to analyse that," he said

Then this

Shane Stokes ‏@SSbike 28m

WADA confirms no contact with Team Sky thus far, will assess proposal

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/15010/WADA-hasnt-yet-been-approached-b... …

So Brailsford lied, not Sir David Braislford of team sky telling porkies. Cant be!

Been here before, if i remember correctly sometime between 1999 and 2005.

 

[The Hitch]

What question would you ask him to help prove innocence/guilt?

Mr Bailsford.
Look me in the eyes.
It’s okay if you’re scared, So am I.

Now tell me with a straight face. Did you really have "no clue" that Michael Barry, was dodgy. Even after Landis? Did you have no clue that Michael Rogers doped with 2 different teams. Did you have no clue about yates and sutton? No, really.

And, did you really have no clue about Lienders? Even though everyone with an internet connection could find out he was dodgy just by doing a google search did you really not know?

Ok, if not, do you admit your whole " we pay attention to every detail" cloak is total bull****.


BTW, what do you think about wiggins comments in 2007 that any team with a dodgy doctor should be booted off the tour. Why has bradley changed his mind on that?

And how on earth are we supposed to believe that a smug bully who lied on Armstrongs behalf has the moral fortitude to oppose doping?

 

[thehog]

news just in.

Brailsford claims to have offered the data to Wada



Then this



So Brailsford lied, not Sir David Braislford of team sky telling porkies. Cant be!

Been here before, if i remember correctly sometime between 1999 and 2005.

"When I say I spoke to WADA, I meant Wally Daily down at the Fox & Hound in Manchester. We call him WaDa. He's the local bar fly there. We like to run all Team Sky ideas past him. Normally he's drunk as a skunk but occasionally he comes up with some good suggestions"