bigcog said:
hrotha said:
bigcog said:
'He came 14th in the final TT of the 2008 Tour as a first year pro - which shows not inconsiderable potential.' - Better ignore that eh ?
That shows he was or could be a decent time-trialist. Nothing more, nothing less. It's comparable to
this result by 22-year-old Bertogliati.
See, taking isolated results out of context doesn't really say much.
So first you say he didn't produce any performances in that period that indicate he had GC potential, when someone points out such a performance in the biggest GT of them all in his first year as a pro, when he was probably the most inexperienced cyclist in the peloton given his prior experience, it is discarded as evidence because it doesn't fit your agenda. Oh big surprise... pathetic.
When evaluating a rider, what qualities would they have which would indicate GT potential?
- Success at a very young age, winning local pro races while a teen
- Continued success as a neopro, with good placings in one-day and short stage races.
- Demonstrated ability to climb and time trial, with some explosiveness (all-rounder, but does not typically beat the specialists in any niche)
- Early success at GT's with top ten or fifteen on GC as their first result.
- By 23 they are on the podium for a GC and may have taken a monument as well.
Riders that fit this profile? At age 23 we have:
- Hinault who picked up Liege, Ghent-Wevelgem, Tour du Limousin, and Criterium Dauphine. Won the Tour the following year
- Fignon won the Tour and picked up 7th at the Vuelta
- Sean Kelly picked up 4th at the Vuelta and a handful of stages. A few stages in the Tour and killed it in the Belgian classics
- Bernard Thevenet was 9th in the Tour, won the Tour de Romandie and podiumed at the Dauphine
- Eddy Merckx had the Giro, Roubaix and a World Champion's jersey
- Greg Lemond was on the podium at the Tour
These aren't their palmares by age 23, these are what they did during the year they were 23!! You know, I'm just picking champions at random here. See a pattern? Still not clear?
- Chris Froome was 83rd at the Tour. Got 4th at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour (so there is that!). Podium at the Giro dell'Appennino!! <--- Highlight of his year, actually. From there it's pretty grim. 84th at Liege, 138th at Amstel, 121st at Ghent-Wevelgem, 104th at Volta ao Algarve. And those are his better results.
Big engine = big results unless they flame out in the transition from Espoir to neopro. Unless you're Christopher Froome and you manage to hide that engine until you are 27 unlike any person with similar physiology that came before him.
John Swanson