Why the assumption that Contador is no longer "on the sauce"? It's possible to be off form and still be doping.
Impressive ride. Not sure I warm to him or Wiggo or Cav BUT thats no insult to them. I respect their talents and enjoy watching them at work but that also applies to all the other very talented riders.
Although will support my countrymen in priority.
For me how they interview and where and how they choose to live is irrelevant.
Do we expect too much now? We want to love the personality - the result is not enough on its own. I dont recall big mig or bugno or abdujaparov being personalities in the modern reality tv sense. Maybe i am wrong.
Froome is shaping up to be a bit of a monster in the hills, and he seems a good guy. What's not to like?
I'll even go out on a limb here and say that I even quite like his ungainly style. It's distinctive. You can call it ugly. I'd call it quirky.
He'll be less likely to win over the hearts and minds of the general public. Most of which have no interest bike racing. But as a racer he is exciting to watch.
I've been following Laurens ten Dam on Strava. Wish I could ride that fast, truly awesome times
Why the assumption that Contador is no longer "on the sauce"? It's possible to be off form and still be doping.
True, but he's not been as competitive since returning from the naughty step; two possible conclusions:
1) He's now riding clean
2) He's still doping, but not to the same degree.
Latter may be more likely given his history (like Pantani, one could speculate whether he'd [b]ever[/b] ridden clean) but without any actual evidence to back this up, it's no more than rumour/supposition.
True, but he's not been as competitive since returning from the naughty step
Like when he won the Vuelta last year?
Be interesting to see how he does in the Alps towards the end of the Tour.
I felt like I went on a journey with Wiggins. He was an track star then moved to road. I saw him do well, then not live up to hype, then crash, then nail it.
Froome less so. Obviously an amazing rider. To do what he did today but also be able to TT means he will be a worthy winner. Still I don't feel the love.
True, but he's not been as competitive since returning from the naughty step
Apart from winning the Vuelta.
This is the first Tour I have watched properly, getting a lot more into my cycling etc. I understand that Froome pulled Wiggo through last year, or rather team Sky did. But isn't the "racing by numbers" part of the game.
OK maybe team Sky is not as strong as last year but could Froome win it on his own using other riders to pull him along etc. Or is that simply not possible as the team needs to be there. Obviously keeping the support cars etc. Is it actually possible to win the Tour on your own.
Apart from winning the Vuelta.
Still not as dominant as pre-ban (and I might have forgotten he'd won that, but then, [url= http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-in-my-mind-ive-won-seven-grand-tours ]in his mind, he's won seven grand tours[/url])
this :
Froome écrase la course, mais il n'est pas un patron!
Difficult to warm to him. today he smiled on the podium and showed some teeth. I thought his skin would crack. He never shows emotions and rather than making him look cold and calculated à la Armstrong, it makes him lood bland and really boring.
even if i don't warm to him, i really hope it's real, cos' today his little sprint sessions on 10% slopes where quite 'incredible'
I like him. More than Wiggo, less than Cav. But it does seem much more like a race than a scheme this year. Wiggo got the ideal coincidence of the Olympic year and first Brit, and he is more obviously a Brit too.
If the whole Armstrong fallout had happened earlier, I don't think Wiggo would have felt the same love, and I think that will count against Froome and all pro cyclists for years. I don't know if I'll ever believe a winner in a pro bike race is clean again, but I enjoy the racing and the spectacle.
Life ban from all organized sports, repayment of all sponsorship monies, salaries and winnings ought to be the starting point for a doping infringement, with perhaps criminal charges for fraud too.
He is one of the lizard people from V
Can't really swallow the idea that he's british - he's about as British as Zola Budd or Greg Rusedski - but hats off to him for that ride today. And his all-arms-and-legs way of riding gives hope to all of us out here who are either all fingers and thumbs or have two left feet when executing any motor skill that lack of natural grace and poise doesn't mean you can't come good in the end.
Still not as dominant as pre-ban (and I might have forgotten he'd won that, but then, in his mind, he's won seven grand tours)
I'm not trying to have a go but surely (I haven't checked) he's still riding his second GT pre ban after winning the first? I'm expecting some do or die attack but I can't see him overturning Froomes lead all the same. To discount him because he was banned would be fool hardy, whether its 5 or 7 GT's as far as the record books are concerned he's still the best GT rider still riding.
Did you not SEE Porte's effort today? He broke every other team. And there was more time trialling last year which suited Wiggo more.Quintana is a beast tho. One to watch.
Oh please! Ritchie Porte was on the front for all of a kilometre before Froome shot off like a scalded cat. When did you ever see Wiggins do anything other than wheelsuck Froome's back wheel for mile after mile in last year's tour? Yes, I will a admit that Porte helped lay the foundation for Froome's attack but the two things just don't equate.
I'm also fed up with the ITV4 commentators and everyone else going on about what a great natural climber Quintana is. Is this the great natural climber that has lost over 3 minutes to Froome in 3 mountain stages so far and been utterly crushed on two occasions?
Im not a fan of the Kenyan/South African ,Monaco resident .Prefer to see riders who have come up through the ranks at home
"Valverde has been unsportsmanlike in the past few years"
I think theres even more to this than just the doping ban(s), Matt Rendell (uber cycling geek) mentioned in the ITV podcast that it was payback for a similar move by valverde/movistar against them in the tour de suisse.
Wiggins was the "first" and rode a wave of hype and olympic glory along with being a bit of a character. I dont care what nationality he is or how much emotion he shows to the camera Froome is a far more exciting rider to watch, yes he has a strong team to work for him (and he always credits them) but there is a bit of impulse and panache to his riding, and interesting to see him working with Quintana temporarily to gap the rest of the competition.
I'm also fed up with the ITV4 commentators
that's exactly the sort of hoary cliched drivel Ligget and Sherwen aka Waldorf and Statler have been coming out with for 20+years, alongside "former mountain biker so a great descender on these technical roads", and using the phrases "and you know" and "in this, the sport of professional cycling" as punctuation.
Can't really swallow the idea that he's british - he's about as British as Zola Budd or Greg Rusedski -but hats off to him for that ride today.
Other than the fact that both his parents are British, he was born in what is effectively a British enclave of Kenya and brought up British.
I mean, if you're going to go down that route, Bradley Wiggins was born in Ghent, David Millar was born in Malta...
Where were Bradley Wiggins parents from?
On Froome's nationality:
Froome was born on 20 May 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya,[2] to Kenyan-born mother, Jane, and father Clive, a former hockey player who represented England at under-19 level.[6] His mother's British parents emigrated from Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England to Kenya to run a crop farm.[7][8][9] Froome has two older brothers, Jonathan and Jeremy, who went to Rugby School in Warwickshire, England.[6]
Froome said: "Although I was riding under the Kenyan flag I made it clear that I had always carried a British passport and felt British. It was then we talked about racing under the Union Flag, and we stayed in touch.
Where were Bradley Wiggins parents from?
Mum - London
Dad - Yallourn, Victoria.
Isle of Man is foreign as well ,has its own parliament
So Wiggins is "less" British than Froome? 😉
What's the UK got to do with it? anyone who thinks Wiggins won it for the UK needs to understand it's a team sport and the winner is always the strongest rider helped by the best (multi-nationality) team. put him in a smaller (or all UK) team and he'd have had no chance.
I don't really get patriotism/national pride though.. Just like religion, to me it only causes war/death and suffering
The thought occurs that Robert Millar may still be the only British grand tour jersey winner who was actually born on the British mainland.
I can't get on with Froome, but free watching him today I'm even more inspired to improve on my road bike - inspiring stuff.
My mtb's are slowly being ignored.... :-/
Brought up British? In south Africa? How does that work? What percentage of his time on earth has he actually spent in Britain? Bradley Wiggins only has to open his mouth for you to know that he's British.
Not that it matters - but I thought it odd watching today's coverage that the commentators referred to Darryl Impey as the first African rider to ride in the Tour and then in the next breath they were extolling Froome's virtues as a climber because he'd been born at altitude in Nairobi.
Robert Millar, British? I see Andy Murray is this year too 😉
Robert Millar, British?
Scots by birth; Glaswegian by the grace of God.
Edric 64 - Member
Im not a fan of the Kenyan/South African ,Monaco resident .Prefer to see riders who have come up through the ranks at home
Ian Stannard from Chelmsford for the win?
I believe that Malcolm Elliot (Vuelta sprint jersey winner) was born on the mainland?
I stand corrected on that one.
Still true of the Tour, but then the others are Cav & Wiggo.
I'm warming to Froome a little. I quite like his riding style and his mature interviewing method.
Quintana I like. He looks like a little boy with his glasses on and an old man with them off and he is clearly going to be a climber of great note in the coming years.
oh well if you're gonna get all technical on us....Bradley Wiggins only has to open his mouth for you to know that he's British.
Most of us are born and automatically get a nationality assigned to them, some people through immigration, a country's previous empire building shenanigans and alsorts of other stuff, get a multiple choice. Why does it matter?
Froome seems to be less of a character but a more interesting rider - wiggins owned the TTs but they are dull as dishwater.
Glutton - yup. Arguably Wiggins is less British than Froome. Of course there's then the debate about whether the Isle of Man is part of Britain - though under the Treaty of Perth (1266) it became part of Scotland (bit like Malta) so b that reckoning the Scots have two riders of not TdFing - Cav and DMillar.
Whenever I think of Froome I see this guy from some reason.
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No idea why. He rides much less like a robot than wiggins - maybe it's the lack of emotion.
After some of his performances in the last few days we should have froome mania in the uk at the moment. But we don't which says something must be wrong with the way he is coming across. We have watched Wiggins grow up through his Olympic feats and, using Boardman as a gauge, marvelled at his change from specialist in an event lasting a few minutes to a GC winner. To the general public Froome is a nobody in comparison. To the public he also comes from the murky world of road cyclists (whilst Wiggins was a nice honest trackie) so also probably a drugs cheat.
These arguments about what it is or what qualifies someone to be British are just laughable. My brothers 7 yr old son has never lived in the UK as my brother has always worked abroad all his life. Does that mean he's not British or doesn't deserve his British passport? Us Brits went out and created all these colonies and outposts and those who went out to live there never expected to lose their heritage and nationality or their right to come back. I think you'll find if you go far enough back we're all of African descent anyway.
If you don't like Froome, you'll have to think up another excuse. To me, he seems like a pretty boring character, but then he can ride the Tour De France and I can't, so that's clearly what it takes. I chose to socialise with my mates down the pub, he chose to go out on his bike and pound out the miles. Fair play to the guy. This is a fantastic era for British cycling, with what looks like back to back British wins. Long may it continue.
No love for Geraint Thomas? Still going with a broken hip - nuff said.
😆created
Brought up British? In south Africa? How does that work? What percentage of his time on earth has he actually spent in Britain? Bradley Wiggins only has to open his mouth for you to know that he's British.
A Belgian born, half-Australian Brit.
Anyway, Froome has never really waved the flag for being British and doesn't try to appeal to nationalism. All I think I see from Froome is a desire to win bike races and be seen as one of the best on a bike.
He does, and he is. His Britishness or any lack thereof is irrelevant for me. I'd rather have someone winning with panache than all the "personality" in the world
I'm also a fan of Froome's gracious attitude especially when being interviewed.
Not a fan of Bradley Wiggins. I suspect he's finito. What a year to have had though.
Incidentally, what about David Millar. Scottish? He was born in England and spent five minutes in Scotland. He only got caught because someone stuck him in.
I like Froome he's the real deal, although its early bells to be saying he's won the tour, no?
I'm a Froome fan, but I prefer Wiggins. Probably partly to do with Wiggo's personality, but also because I've followed him for a lot longer - I remember him winning the junior worlds a long time ago, maybe it comes down to how long you've followed top level bike racing for? Froome is certainly more exciting to watch, but that's not all there is to supporting somebody.
As for Wiggins not winning without Froome - well maybe, but he was still clearly superior to the other riders on some of the climbs last year. You still have to have the legs to ride like he did.
re. nationalities - you either accept what their passport says, or what they say they are/feel. Has anyone ever asked Froome?
Accent determines nationality IMO. I know that might not be that rational but that's how it seems to me.
Can't say I've ever really warmed to Kevin Peterson or Jonathon Trott either.
I don't normally like to be too nationalistic but with sport that kind of seems to be most of the point. 🙂
