Teams & Riders Froome Talk Only

[el_angliru]

I've read somwhere that his "ridiculous cadence" was only 90 RPM. Which doesn't strike me as that odd. He didn't do it the entire way.

I have no idea whether the cadence is an indication of anything suspicious but I'm surprised no one has bothered to check it since there's a lot of guessing going on.

I have a PAL video recording of the stage. PAL video is recorded at 25 frames per second, which means that there is 40 ms between each frame. I ran the video in VirtualDubMod and cheked the frames when Froome made his attack. I've grabbed a screenshot each time his left knee is at it's upmost position:

You can see the frame numbers and timings below the screenshots. He makes three full rotations within just 37 frames (1.48 seconds). Hence the cadence is 3/1.48*60 = 121.6

Regarding the accuracy: If we consider the pedal stroke as a 360 degrees rotation, then the feet (pedals) will have moved 30 degrees between each video frame at such a high cadence. This means that the pedals will not necessarily be at the exact same position whenever a rotation has occurred but somewhere within 30 degrees. Therefore analyzing a longer stretch is more reliable. But the error is +/- one frame (40 ms) for the entire sequence, which means that the cadence at this very moment is between 3/1.52*60 = 118.4 and 3/1.44*60 = 125.

Froome flies away from Contador and catches Quintana in just over 100 seconds, and goes right past Quintana - still with a cadence of 115!

 

[BroDeal]

Froome on Alpe 'd"Huez in 2008. Does he really look all that different?

So you are saying the weightloss cover story is mostly BS? Sounds like a ploy right out of Armstrong's playbook.

 

[pmcg76]

This discussion has been relatively interesting for once, we had a similar conversation back in June after the Dauphine including JV.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=18079&page=450

JV has seen crude numbers for Froome from his Barloworld time and without referring to Froome talks about a VO2 range of 86-94. Maybe this is where the 94 number comes from.

I asked JV how could someone with such high figures not perform for so long and he gave a brief explanation on other factors but it was weak and that was pointed out to him, he admitted as much and said he didn't Froome well enough to offer a definitive opinion. He also mentioned the magic 6 figure and now that Froome has smashed that, I think he has become more sceptical.

 

[Deagol]

So you are saying the weightloss cover story is mostly BS? Sounds like a ploy right out of Armstrong's playbook.

One of more than a few.

Does Froome have a charity yet?

RE weight: Its eems that his weight from past races would be recorded somewhere. Upper body looks same to me, his quads seem a bit biger now than back then, just based on these photos.

RE cadence: When I saw the Ventoux video, I knew this cadence was ridiculously fast as it appeared to my eyes. I did not attempt to calculate, or even estimate the rate, but I never see anyone spinning that fast. Am I missing something? I've read that super fast cadences like that actually burn more oxygen than an ideal cadence would.

I don't claim to know the answer, but am curious.

 

[The Hitch]

On the first rest day, itv4 did a full segment (about 15 minutes) 'talking heads' set with Kimmage, Millar and Brailsford. Apparently they were going to do a recap of the Arsmtrong saga, but as Imlach said "we all know know, and we're sick to the back of giving him any more airtime"...

Whatever about Paul and Phil, Imlach's contempt for armstrong was fairly clear. Similarly after the talking heads, imlach and Chris Boardman did a 'summing up', the sum total of which was Boardman think's

a) T&R has to happen, and UCI as a possibly guilty party can't run it (indeed imlach explicitly asked how to deal with uci's possibly 'complicity' in the armstrong case, which is refreshingly mainstream..)

b) You need life bans for dopers, and severe punishments for teams with dopers, so teams police themselves for fear of the consequences - losing licences for the pro tour, forced time out (quite liked that actually - MFPP element's but souped up)

c) Garmin's 'pragmatic' approach was the one that made more sense than the ZTP (basically kimmage's position) but which ever you do pick, you have to stick to it (seemed like a subtle leinders rebuke, which again coming from a former insider like Brailsford was interesting)

The second rest day had ITV4 imlach doing a 'press roundup' including discussion of the FRoome Naturallement headline. The doping angle was a large part of the programme.

ITV aren't the clinic, they don't share clinic 'certainties' and phil and paul are phil and paul - but if you are suggesting the uk commentating media are ignoring the drugs angles, you're being pretty unfair, and frankly unrealistic - Eurosport maybe, but ITV have followed it for sure.

ITV have followed the drug angle same way fox news cover a discussion on gun control. There may occasionaly be a play of devil's advocate but the whole thing is biased in favour of the channel's default position, and the appropriate rebuttals to the points the channel makes are never given.

And thats only at the times when they specifically adress the drug issue. Theres nothing stopping them constantly making refferences to new clean era and at sky's superior training and all the other bs. Rendell said on the first day that wiggins not performing this year was a sign that sky riders do get exhausted and thats a sign of a clean era. No mention of course of the fact that Froome and wiggins both went on unprescedented in the modern era winning streaks without experiencing so much as a dent in their form.

A rebuttal that would have totally floored rendell's argument about sky riders experiencing exhaustion, proving in fact that they do not, and devalued any opinion he gave on the matter henceforth.

But theres itv for you

 

[jw1979]

To put this into context. Lemond had a VO2 Max of 92.5. Indurain had a VO2max of 88.

The top 1500 meter runner of all time (3 minutes 26 seconds would convert to approximately a Vo2 Max of approximately 83.6.

Lemond's VO2 Max would correspond to a time of 3 minutes 8 seconds and 50 some odd miliseconds.

If you took the top marathon runner's time of 2 hours 3 minutes and 2 seconds and calibrated it to Lemond's time you would have 1 hour 52 minutes and 45 seconds.

Lemond's VO2 Max levels are so far outside the standard deviations of normal human VO2 Max that he likely had at least 7% advantage over his competitors in terms oxygen uptake/conversion and possibly as great as 10%.

His VO2 Max is substantially better than the greatest long distance runners that have ever lived.

This is why people and the poster above are questioning Froome because natural VO2 max levels that defy convention don't magically appear all of the sudden. They are there from the beginning and they give a rider such a massive advantage.

Can this post just be deleted? The only thing it puts "into context" is that too many people speak with authority concerning matters they know very little about. This is the sort of post Brailsford sees and can justifiably say that the data is too easy to misinterpret.

 

[BroDeal]

RE cadence: When I saw the Ventoux video, I knew this cadence was ridiculously fast as it appeared to my eyes. I did not attempt to calculate, or even estimate the rate, but I never see anyone spinning that fast. Am I missing something? I've read that super fast cadences like that actually burn more oxygen than an ideal cadence would.

It does. In fact there was an exchange between LeMond and Dr. Coyle about this very point.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Thanks. I hope that gets out to the rest of the peloton. Dont know if they care, or maybe he meant something else but that comment certainly makes froome look like he thinks he gets to decide who can attack and where

Chris Froome ‏@chrisfroome 3m
Almost went over your head @albertocontador.. Little more care next time?

 

[the sceptic]

Chris Froome ‏@chrisfroome 3m
Almost went over your head @albertocontador.. Little more care next time?

He is becoming more and more like the new Armstrong

 

[gooner]

Chris Froome ‏@chrisfroome 3m
Almost went over your head @albertocontador.. Little more care next time?

I said recently he comes across as a nice guy in his interviews but he seriously needs to STFU about this. He doesn't dictate racing scenarios and descents are every much a part of racing as climbs are when pushing yourself. This should be common sense for a cyclist.

 

[Parrulo]

He is becoming more and more like the new Armstrong

That is exactly what i was thinking.

He seems to think he is "The Boss" now.

To be honest, him starting to behave like this will only speed up his demise much like it did with Armstrong.

Haven't this guys learned nothing from Big Mig?

 

[Granville57]

Chris Froome ‏@chrisfroome 3m
Almost went over your head @albertocontador.. Little more care next time?

Here's the link
https://twitter.com/chrisfroome/status/357242011297923072

Why, oh why, do these guys go public with such sentiments?
(Of course that could be said for most of Twitter...)

Nothing good can come of it. Perhaps Froome doesn't realize that the world is watching and listening?

You'd think Sky would put a clamp on such things. (No doubt Michelle's corrupting influence is at work here).

 

[zastomito]

Chris Froome ‏@chrisfroome 3m
Almost went over your head @albertocontador.. Little more care next time?

Cadence. Checked
'Lots to learn' tweet. Checked

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

That is exactly what i was thinking.

He seems to think he is "The Boss" now.

To be honest, him starting to behave like this will only speed up his demise much like it did with Armstrong.

Haven't this guys learned nothing from Big Mig?

Dont exagerate, just saw an interview with the Froomster and he looked more in 'shock' that Contador was taking those risks than that he was outraged.

Of course he was a bit PO because he had a minor crash.

 

[BYOP88]

Chris Froome has blocked me on twitter, even though I didn;t follow him *sad face*. Seems he didn't mind me calling him 'dodgy' and how he's gone from getting thrown out of races for cheating to raking in all races, but this sent him over the edge "@chrisfroome It's a bike race,didn't see the rule that said only u could attack.Hope it rains the next few days & there are more DH attacks".

 

[Afrank]

That is exactly what i was thinking.

He seems to think he is "The Boss" now.

To be honest, him starting to behave like this will only speed up his demise much like it did with Armstrong.

Haven't this guys learned nothing from Big Mig?

My thoughts exactly, just let him act like the new "boss" as long as he wants. It will just turn people against him.

 

[Netserk]

Chris Froome ‏@chrisfroome 3m
Almost went over your head @albertocontador.. Little more care next time?

He just went full ***!

 

[Granville57]

LOL

This is the one topic is that can spoken of in both The Clinic and Pro Road Racing sub-forum.

Identical exchanges going on.

 

[ebandit]

srm

Froome on Alpe 'd"Huez in 2008. Does he really look all that different?

i see no power meter................now how proud froomey is of his colour

co-ordinated yellow srm .........he looks at it all the time

froomey will nail alpe d'huez with recored ascents yes! both times

Mark L

 

[Zam_Olyas]

LOL

This is the one topic is that can spoken of in both The Clinic and Pro Road Racing sub-forum.

Identical exchanges going on.

It is a ridiculous tweet, so it is very special

 

[thirteen]

It is a ridiculous tweet, so it is very special

damn! i can't fave it here

 

[BYOP88]

Didn't Team Gadret in the last couple of days mention that no one likes Sky in the peloton?

Also was it Froomstrong that 'tweeted' or his rather annoying girlfriend/wife?

 

[Cobblestones]

Did acoggan find a physiological parameter which indicates doping or is he still in full denial?

I hear ... Crickets.

 

[Deagol]

Sky's Ministry of Truthwill have to debreif Froome about using Twitter

 

[armchairclimber]

i see no power meter................now how proud froomey is of his colour

co-ordinated yellow srm .........he looks at it all the time

froomey will nail alpe d'huez with recored ascents yes! both times

Mark L

Looks just the same to me