Will Froome ever win a GT again?

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

Is Sky/Rupert Murdoch out of money? Otherwise I am certain they will at least attempt to get another Skybornetic Spacetrain Express Service to Every TDF MTF up and running for Froome. With all the dead weight they are shedding this offseason it should be easy.

Not that I don't think he can improve form and win this edition of Vuelta because I think he can.

The real question is does anyone care about any win Froome ever gets again outside of the tour? If he wins this Vuelta the story will be "Well Froome is too scared to face Contador in July! He hasn't seen the real Contador yet!!! Froome is disappointing this year meanwhile Contador is the strongest rider in any discipline of racing of this or any generation!!!!!!"

Only 3 or 4 tour victories will silence the trendy cycling mafia.

 

[rick james]

Of course he will...Folk can have a drop in form

 

[hfer07]

He will as long as Contador, Quintana & Nibali retire soon enough-& mostly- he somehow manages to stay up on the bike

 

[SafeBet]

He will eventually go back to the Giro, where everything started, and dominate it zigzaggin style..

 

[perico]

I think Contador enters the Tour as the favorite (provided his form next year is somewhat in the same stratosphere), but Froome will be right there with him (provided he doesn't fall off his bike), with Nibali and Quintana right behind them.

However, Froome is 2-3 years younger than Pistolero, and in the next couple of years age will catch up with Alberto. At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if Froome beat him head to head, but at this point my money would be on Contador in 2015.

So yes, Froome will win another GT, logically the Tour, again.

 

[SeriousSam]

The Froome of the first two days of the Dauphine looked like he would deliver a thermonuclear destruction of everyone par Contador come the Tour. It's a bit too early to assume he won't ever be as good as that again. Give him a crash-less preparation and everyone else will once again tremble and despair when they spot him glaring at his stem with murderous intent before going full ***.

 

[Alcanelo]

Froome is done.

 

[fungusbear]

Some of the members in these forums are so fickle haha. After the 2013 Tour people were saying Froome could dominate for years and years. A season affected by illness and crashes and suddenly he won't win one?!? On form, Froome is better than Contador, Quintana and Nibali (I don't like it that much, but it is true). His superior TT and climbing that rivals Contador and Quintana means that if he stays upright he is the man to beat at the Tour. (Find it difficult to see him winning Giro due to weather and SKY seem to only care about the Tour).

 

[Afrank]

With past Tour winners like Evans and Wiggins I've felt pretty confident thinking/saying that they wouldn't win another GT again. Especially as they began to decline. But with Froome, I think it's more a case of an off year then it is a case of he's done and won't win any more GT's.

He's still only 29, the usual age that GT riders begin hitting their best form, so still has plenty of time to win more. Plus he has the perfect skill set to win GT's, dominate in both the TT's and on the climbs when in form. Further more this year hasn't necessarily been the kind of year representative of a rider beginning their decline. He still managed to win Oman, Romandie, and 2 stages of the Dauphine; and from then on he has just suffered a lot of bad luck.

 

[Bavarianrider]

No he's done.
Body simple can't handle that extreme drain too long.

 

[JRTK73]

Froome destroyed Contador last year. To be fair to Froome he was pretty good this year before he crashed at the Dauphine. After that it has been all down hill. I reckon Froome would struggle to beat an in form Contador or Quintana but I don't see why he couldn't at least win the Giro.

 

[Angliru]

If this is just an off year form wise I can't see why he wouldn't be in the mix for another Tour win. Regaining the form of 2013 and only Contador will be able to match him over the course of a grand tour, with Nibali close behind unless he makes another improvement in his climbing and itt. There isn't anyone among the next generation that has the all around skills (climbing & itt) to potentially give them any reason to be worried with the possible exception of Quintana and Talansky. Porte is just too fragile and wishy-washy although he has shown in at least week-long stage races that he has the right combo in the mountains and against the clock to be a threat. Now if he can hold it together for 3 weeks, and he has yet to show it, he would be among the elite...on a team other than Sky.

 

[ferryman]

Some of the members in these forums are so fickle haha. After the 2013 Tour people were saying Froome could dominate for years and years. A season affected by illness and crashes and suddenly he won't win one?!? On form, Froome is better than Contador, Quintana and Nibali (I don't like it that much, but it is true). His superior TT and climbing that rivals Contador and Quintana means that if he stays upright he is the man to beat at the Tour. (Find it difficult to see him winning Giro due to weather and SKY seem to only care about the Tour).

On form, a one leg Contador is killing Froome in the Vuelta in both disciplines.

 

[richwagmn]

That's the question I asked myself, watching the replay of todays stage, also concidering the development since his tour victory in 2013.

I've got the feeling, he won't be on the top spot again.

I think he's got a few more GT wins in him. People seem to be forgetting how he started out the year and his performance at the Dauphine before his crash. Remember, it was Contador sucking his wheel.

 

[The Hitch]

I certainly don't think he'll ever win Vuelta or Giro. Tour, I think next year yes, after, maybe not.

 

[thehog]

If he learns to stay on his bike a little more and shows the same mental strength he did today he has a great chance of winning another GT. Not this Vuelta but I expect him to be back to his best for next years Tour.

Mental strength?

Poor tactics are not mental strength.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

That's the question I asked myself, watching the replay of todays stage, also concidering the development since his tour victory in 2013.

I've got the feeling, he won't be on the top spot again.

I think today more than his Tour win last year proved that he has it in him. You know he started the ****ing climb being dropped, looking like it was over for good this Vuelta. And where did he end up? Together with all the other contenders.
Sure they could've nailed the coffin probably but that is beside the point. He fought to hang on and he managed so in a very convincing and clever way. He had a bad time trial for his second career standards, so he isn't on great form it seems. And why would he be? I mean yeah Contador came back in great style, but that doesn't mean it's natural for Froome to do so. He crashed out of the only competition that was really important to his season not very long ago.
I really don't understand where this question is coming from to be honest. You know Contador looked like Boogerd last season, now he'll probably win a damn GT again.

 

[Archibald]

all depends on how he comes back from his crashes, either;
A) Contador style - come back at the same level or stronger, or
B) Schleck style - just go to sh*t and keep crashing/abandoning...

 

[jaylew]

Just waiting for TANK91 to hit this thread...

 

[HappyLoser]

I'm just wondering... What sort of training did SKY create? They turned team into ashes after two seasons of hard racing. Nieve is the only one, who is showing form and he's just fresh blood. I don't think Froome is able to win GT anymore, unless Sky change their programme completely. Seems that "reverse periodization" is too destructive for riders.

 

[Franklin]

I'm not understanding the mental strength he supposedly displayed.

I'm pretty much seeing a nervous wreck haunted by paranoid phantasies and a partner who's stimulating that. He's having serious issues with the pressure. Without these issues he would have crushed everyone in the TdF. But that's just opinion ofc.

Now of course this is hard to attribute (besides my opinion could be flat wrong!), but Sky seems to be having major issues with coaching their stars.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Mental strength?

Poor tactics are not mental strength.

Poor tactics?

Not having the legs (being dropped 6 times) and having to fight to keep up are not tactics, it's called having heart and mental strength. Nobody can accuse him of being mentally weak now.

Ok Cataldo on the front was a stupid decision but Froome would have been off the back not long after that anyway.

 

[Marco Pantani]

I really don't understand where this question is coming from to be honest. You know Contador looked like Boogerd last season, now he'll probably win a damn GT again.

That's pretty easy.

Not so long ago, Sky and Froome looked unbeatable for the next couple of years, but a year later competition in cycling has changed a lot. Everyone seems to have stepped up, and there are loads of young talent coming through.

I also think, that Froome, on a balanced parcours is very vulnerable to superior tactics and better bike handlers. His team is not dominant enough to control the whole race from the beginning to the end.

 

[gunara]

He still have the chance to win this Vuelta right away, it is possible despite his previous difficulties . But to be honest, for me everything about Froome at Sky is just too full of bizareness to make a prediction of. The career path, the tactics, the form curves, the style are not things I can easily reason. Maybe they are so original that I don't get them, novelties and me have problems sometimes. But I think the answer will be easier to find after his next finished GT, if he win it, he'll keep winning, if he fails, he'll fade.

 

[damian13ster]

I dont know why lots of people think that Froome cant get back to 2013 TdF shape. He had it already this year at Dauphine. But since then he crashed, which surely affected his training as well as confidence. Thats why the poor performances since then. Not that hard to find a reason behind this lack of form. After a solid winter, barring no accidents, Contador and Froome will boss the peleton the way they did until Dauphine