Parker said:
The Hitch said:
spalco said:
Just for balance (and I do agree Froome was a donkey, just for the record), the one positive result in his palmares pre-2011 imo is his 2nd place in the 2010 British TT, a respectable 1:22 behind Wiggins.
Obviously a stretch to claim that's a reasonable sign of GT domination, but plenty of cyclists never get to that level.
Painting Froome as some kind of delusional Eddie the Eagle is an exaggeration also. He was a middle-of-the-pack domestique, but he wasn't a hopeless village idiot. He did know how to race a bike at least on a mediocre euro-pro level, and if Sky had kicked him out in 2011 he would have found another place somewhere.
Middle of the pack at lower level races, sure.
Froome - 2nd year pro - 35th in the Giro
Quintana - 2nd year pro - 36th in the Vuelta
Dumoulin - 2nd year pro - 41st in the Tour
Roglic - 2nd year pro - 38th in the Tour
Contador - 3rd year pro - 31st in the Tour
This looks very consistent. It''s certain that Froome is the equal of his contemporaries at this point. Of course none of the others had their team fold soon after.
I'll bite.
Froome - 2nd year pro - 35th in the Giro - Age 24, 2nd GT. Also pretty much the best result of his career until his 4th GT at age 26
Quintana - 2nd year pro - 36th in the Vuelta - Age 22, 1st GT. Finished second in his second GT at age 23
Roglic - 2nd year pro - 38th in the Tour - Won a time trial and a mountain stage in his first 2 GTs instead of riding GC
Contador - 3rd year pro - 31st in the Tour - Age 22, 1st GT. Won his second GT at age 24
I won't defend Dumoulin, but the guys above are quite clearly not equal. Even excluding results in non-GTs.