[millskid]

would you consider leaving sky? He is 27 and could win the Tour De France. However, while Wiggins 32 (could easily have 3 more years) is around Froome wont get the chance to go for it. Last year he should have won the vuelta, however due to team orders he had to wait for Wiggins.

If I were him, I would have a meeting at the end of the season and set out my ambitions. I.E team leader for at least the Giro.

Topic

[drheaton]

Plus, Froome physically
Plus, Froome physically couldn’t win in Paris 😀

Everything else aside, as an athlete with the ability to win the TdF where would you rather be? In the best team in the world or on a second tier team (Garmin) or third tier team (Saxo)?

Those are the kinds of teams that’d hire Froome, BMC have TJ, Astana will have Nibali next year, not sure what’s happening with Liquigas but I think they may be getting Kreuziger, Rabobank have Gesink/Mollema/Kreujswick, Radioshack might not survive and the Schleck’s may be setting up a new team.

Where is he going to go? Where is there to go? No team right now is in the same league as Sky for closing out a three week race, if he wants to win one in the future then Sky gives him the best chance of doing that. At 27 he’s 5 years younger than Wiggins and likely to inherit the team unless he does something stupid or Porte/Uran/Henao do something amazing. Staying put is the best option for his career as a whole (thinking next 5 years, not just next 12 months) and he knows that, that’s why he signed his new deal.

I also agree with Dave, putting 50m into someone with a quick attack is totally different to making up 2 minutes on a climb, we don’t know for certain that Froome can do that to Wiggins who is extremely good at just grinding his way up the hill at his own pace. Froome has also looked weak at times after extended efforts and it could be that actually, if he did attack like Evans/Nibali have done he might have gone the same way as them and lost time.

[Gkam84]

Its already been stated, the
Its already been stated, the WHOLE team will be working for Cav in Paris

[colhum1]

so if Wiggo ties it up before
so if Wiggo ties it up before Paris…
then who’ll Sky let go for the Paris stage win…?
Froome or Cav..?

[notfastenough]

JV implied he didn’t have the
JV implied he didn’t have the cash to lure him away – so he took the big paycheck. No problem with that, his performances deserve it, but to then suggest that because he is strongest on a particular terrain, that he should have been team leader to win a whole grand tour, is stretching it a bit.

In the end, after coming 2nd in the vuelta, CF could have gone elsewhere, and likely as team leader. He didn’t and knew the score when he signed.

Everything else is moot. It’s a team sport.

[Super Domestique]

Yes Froome is a good rider
Yes Froome is a good rider and clearly on form but he also knew the score when he rode his socks off in Spain last year hoping for the new contract he ended up getting from Sky.

He then signed that contract in full knowledge of the aim and team leader of team Sky.

It’s no different to sacrifices that Cav has made. Is Gilbert held back in the same way at BMC? Or TJV even, due to Cuddles?

It’s part of cycling. It’s part of how team sports work. Think otherwise and you just don’t ‘get it’ as far as I can see.

As for Froome and his display yesterday, as in his gestures, only he knows his motive. Was it team work / motivation? Was it insult / a display of power. I hope the former. I guess we will never know though.

[millskid]

Pisiform wrote:
Frankly I

Pisiform wrote:

Frankly I hope he gets stuffed by Contador in the Vuelta

I hope he does ride the vuelta. I think a fully fired up contador is probably the best cyclist out there. It would be very interesting to see froome, coantador and schleck (if he can be bothered) all against each other.

This years vuelta is loaded with mountains!

[arrieredupeleton]

I think people forget that a
I think people forget that a Tour is not only won in the mountains. Froome is a better grimpeur in the truest sense but is he better at TTing or does he have the road craft to ensure he is on the right side of splits, stays out of trouble etc? There a bit more to things that sitting behind a team-mate until half way up the last climb of the day. Has Froome got the engine to stay away from Wiggins to get a 2-3 minute lead over the mountain top finishes? Possibly, but Wiggins rarely loses a great deal of time to the likes of Contador and Schleck when on his game.

I’m sure those people shouting for Froome would be doing the same for Wiggins if the roles were reversed. From Sky’s point of view, they’d be thinking they’s backed the wrong horse if Wiggins was only 2mins down on Froome ahead of the last TT. Nice problem to have though.

Get a grip people. 109 years wait for a British winner; Wiggo’s on the cusp of the unimaginable… and you are moaning. Luckily the Olympics will be along in a bit so you can moan some more about that.

Allez Wiggo!!!

[Pisiform]

Couldn’t agree more with
Couldn’t agree more with Dave. Froome really impressed me at the Vuelta last year but now strikes me as nothing more than a sulky schoolchild throwing his toys out of the pram while his irritating girlfriend tweets from the side. The constant gesturing to Brad at the end of yesterdays stage was disrespectful and annoying.

He’s clearly strong in the mountains but has benefited just as much from the selfless work of the rest of Team Sky.

He’s chosen to accept a large amount of money to work to work as a teammate and should get on and do this and await his turn when the parcours suits him

Frankly I hope he gets stuffed by Contador in the Vuelta

[dave atkinson]

Let’s not forget that when
Let’s not forget that when froome attacked cobo in the vuelta he didn’t manage to stay away: cobo reeled him back in. We’ve seen nothing to conclusively prove that froome can ride away and *stay* away from wiggo to put enough time into him to cancel out brad’s superior tting.

wiggo winning was the aim. We knew that. Froome knew that when he signed. Nothing that’s happened in the tour has put sky in the position where they needed to change that aim. Their tactics have done the job they set them out to do. To say “it could have been froome instead”: what do they gain from that? Maybe it could. But why risk it and switch when you have a 1-2? From a team point of view that would make no sense at all.

brad’s put the work in to get himself into a position to win the tour. Froome’s time will come when he’s in that position. He’s not now though. I’m sad for him in a way that he doesn’t get to have a go for gc, but he’s part of a team with a clear and unequivocal aim. While he’s at press conferences saying “i could win, you know”, cav, the world champion and most successful UK tour rider ever, is carrying bottles and riding tempo up the hills to keep sky on track. He knew the tour wasn’t about him this year, too. I’d suggest his approach has been a lot more mature.

[Gkam84]

Froome has held back/been
Froome has held back/been told to hold back on at least 3 stages now, Where if he wasn’t under team orders, He could have gone off the front and put minutes into Wiggo each time and has a health advantage to cover anything Wiggo can pull out in the TT.

As for Froome liking to jump of the front on climbs and Wiggo riding at his tempo…….BALLS. Just Froome likes to jump around, thats because he has the strength and power to do that, Wiggo simply doesn’t and have to set a pace and stick to it up a long climb, because he cannot up his power output while climbing.

Clearly Froome is the strongest rider in this years tour, he’s just not going to win because its been Sky’s/Brads and British media’s goal from the outset that Wiggo wins because he’s more of a well known figure outside of cycling than Froome X(

[notfastenough]

millskid wrote:after watching

millskid wrote:

after watching todays stage I am even more convinced that froome should leave sky.

He is 2 min 5seconds behind wiggins, of which he lost 1 min 30 seconds in a puncture early on. On the two big mountain stages froome could have easily took 2-3 mins out of him. It will be interesting to see what froome decides.

ps nibali I hope you are impressed now!

I’m not sure it’s wise to extrapolate that just because Froome can jump off the front on a climb, that he could keep that up and take much time off Brad. Ultimately, CF liks to jump, BW likes to ride tempo. One isn’t necessarily stronger than the other, and until/unless they become rivals, we won’t know for sure.

As for yesterday, Brad said afterwards that he had let it (what he was about to achieve) all get to him emotionally on the last climb and lost focus, which he then worked to regain. I’d argue that this can only come with experience, which Chris doesn’t have yet.

I hope Nibali is impressed too, but if he is, he’s not really admitting it. He said yesterday (or was it the day before?) something like “Team Sky were pushing a fast pace” and that Chris Froome was “an incredible team-mate” – but he’s avoiding conceding that Wiggo is impressing him.

[chrisdstripes]

Well if Froome did leave,
Well if Froome did leave, it’d be great to see him and Wiggins head-to-head next year. But how much of Froome’s improvement is down to Sky? And would he be riding at the same level under another team? Anyhoo, he’s under contract for two more years. Is it common in cycling for riders to leave a team when they are still under contract, or do they tend to only move once their contracts have expired?

[bashthebox]

Wiggo said, post race
Wiggo said, post race yesterday, that he thinks Froome will win the TDF, and that he will be there to help him do it. Next year? Seems unorthodox that the defending champion would help a teammate win, but Sky have one of the best and most selfless ethos of any tour team, and Brailsford is pragmatic enough to make the best suited rider in position of team leader. Next year that might well be Froome.

[millskid]

after watching todays stage I
after watching todays stage I am even more convinced that froome should leave sky.

He is 2 min 5seconds behind wiggins, of which he lost 1 min 30 seconds in a puncture early on. On the two big mountain stages froome could have easily took 2-3 mins out of him. It will be interesting to see what froome decides.

ps nibali I hope you are impressed now!

[paulfg42]

Well, Tejay van Garderen is
Well, Tejay van Garderen is about to find out what happens when a talented rider ignores the needs of the team leader!

[Author]

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