• This topic has 255 replies, 117 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by mboy.
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  • Froome – Are you feeling the love?
  • tinsy
    Free Member

    Flippin massive speed, his cadence too at times was just a blur.

    It was great to watch.

    EDIT, I dont think it was the self same stage as any other year, but it would be interesting to know times of start of climb to end of climb for comparison.

    Dickyboy
    Full Member

    Personally I thought Sagans wheelie topped the man with the plastic boar & the yellow devil, oh yes & Froome is ace but not hugely lovable is he?

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    What speed do you reckon he was doing up that hill?

    Rough calcs looking at the timer on my hard disc recorder put it at around 62 minutes for the official 20.8 kilometre climb to the top which yields an average speed of 20.1 kph or 12.6 mph.

    About twice as fast as me and my mates last year or Cadel Evans this 🙂

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    rudebwoy
    Free Member

    It’s all relative, surely. Cycling along/up a road is pretty darn boring to do and to watch. You can pretend it’s exciting, but it’s not. It’s occasionally a smidge more interesting when there’s a few guys sprinting for a win or when there’s a crash otherwise it’s like watching a marathon or a 50k walk. You can marvel at the fitness but calling it exciting is a bit of a stretch.

    you obviously have no empathy, with cycling– maybe F1 is more your thing……

    adsh
    Free Member

    I went out on my bike, beasted myself up one hill to get in the mood then sat on the sofa watching for 3hours.

    At various points the rest of the family came in (none are fans) and stayed.

    For me it’s the most impressive sporting feat I’ve ever seen – makes Mo Farrar look like a child in comparison.

    In yellow
    Iconic stage
    100th TDF
    Could have played the time/sensible card
    Nearly killed himself (I’ve heard he needed 5mins O2?)
    Magnificent display of balls and aggressive riding
    Nice and quiet off the bike
    No stupid haircut/tattoos

    Brilliant

    jfletch
    Free Member

    There would be nothing to be gained from seeing the former Tour winner fetching bottles and then being shelled out the back on stages like Mont Ventoux which he almost would have been once Froome took up the necessary attack.

    There is no way Wiggins would have been “shelled out the back” if he had the same form as last year.

    Assuming Wiggins was also sat behind Porte (like Froome was able to last year) then he would have probably been 2nd or 3rd on the stage. He wouldn’t have been able to stay with Froomes acceleration but he would have probably lost less than a minute. Ventoux is steep but is not Giro/Vuelta steep and its long so it suits Wiggins “TT to the top” style on the climb. As a reference last year Wiggins beat Nibali in the mountains and he is widely regarded as the second best rider at the moment after Froome, he is also the only rider to beat Froome is a stage race this year.

    Wiggins isn’t there because he is a moody git and if on form genuinely capable of challenging Froome. After the Giro he either genuinely didn’t have the form or he told Sky he couldn’t promise to play the compliant domestique role and Sky didn’t want the hassle of last year where the infighting had the potential to cost them the tour.

    Ironically they would probably have prefered the infighing now to distract the journos from the constant assumption that Sky must be doping.

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    Most importantly – I saw Didi running along. Yay!

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    There is no way Wiggins would have been “shelled out the back” if he had the same form as last year.

    Assuming Wiggins was also sat behind Porte (like Froome was able to last year) then he would have probably been 2nd or 3rd on the stage. He wouldn’t have been able to stay with Froomes acceleration but he would have probably lost less than a minute. Ventoux is steep but is not Giro/Vuelta steep and its long so it suits Wiggins “TT to the top” style on the climb. As a reference last year Wiggins beat Nibali in the mountains and he is widely regarded as the second best rider at the moment after Froome, he is also the only rider to beat Froome is a stage race this year.

    A moot point maybe and I’m prepared to accept that you may be right but if Wiggins had been playing the domestique role he may well have had to bury himself a la Kennaugh and Porte in order to launch Froome to victory. In that case no way would he have been steadily cruising up the climb in the same group as Contador etc.

    Richie Porte finished 2:49 back from Froome and had obviously learned his lesson from stage 8 where he went too hard instead of easing off and saving himself for future support duties.

    It may well have been of course that Wiggins would have been a lot further up the GC due to his performance in the time trial so Sky may well have been hedging their bets to have Wiggins in reserve just in case Froome got in to trouble.

    Don’t get me wrong I am a Wiggins fan, I just don’t think it would have been anywhere near like last year with the roles reversed as the circumstances are completely different.

    Lifer
    Free Member

    I wonder if WADA will take Brailsford up on his invitation for an official to embed themselves with the team to monitor training etc. I doubt that even that would be enough to satisfy some people though!

    lasty
    Free Member

    Total respect for the Froome, before yesterday I had my doubts but CRIKEY !!
    That was massive..

    S.P.O.T.Y candidate ??

    Probably not ..

    aracer
    Free Member

    A moot point maybe and I’m prepared to accept that you may be right but if Wiggins had been playing the domestique role he may well have had to bury himself a la Kennaugh and Porte in order to launch Froome to victory. In that case no way would he have been steadily cruising up the climb in the same group as Contador etc.

    What you’re missing here is that Kennaugh and Porte were burying themselves because they’re not as good as Froome, Contador etc. Wiggins (with last year’s form) could have set the pace on the front of the group whilst still cruising.

    As for the assertion up there that this would be a more significant win because the big names are here – are you claiming that Contador without steak is better than Nibali?

    Euro
    Free Member

    S.P.O.T.Y candidate ??

    SPOTY only goes to participants of sports shown on the BBC. No olympics this years, so no cycling. The most he can hope for is making the shortlist.

    I recall watching SPOTY 1998 and despite there being several british world champs that year (some of which dominated their chosen sport) the winner was Michael ***ing Owen! Firstly he didn’t win anything that year (has he ever?) and secondly, he can barely put two words together and comes across as having a personality vacuum.

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    I like him more since he did the Disco Stu celebration. Clearly more of a sense of humour than I imagined.

    marc
    Free Member

    Lotsa Froome lurve here.

    That climb was incredible.

    cloudnine
    Free Member

    What exactly was in those ‘Food’ bags they took at 10k to go??

    monkeyfudger
    Free Member

    Loving Froome’s riding but I’ll have to get over my man crush on Porte before I become a fan haha!

    riderideride
    Free Member

    No respect for wiggo no more after he decided to not help froome-dog this year ! Injured? Yeh,right!

    brakes
    Free Member

    What exactly was in those ‘Food’ bags they took at 10k to go??

    weren’t they suggesting in the commentary that it wasn’t strictly allowed to have a food stop there? but such an indiscretion was regularly overlooked?

    ocrider
    Full Member

    Apparently ASO permittted it because of the hot weather combined with the length of the stage.
    Sky merely took full advantage of it, unlike other teams.

    cloudnine
    Free Member

    So the food bags were stuffed with haribos?

    mdavids
    Free Member

    What speed do you reckon he was doing up that hill?

    This is Laurens ten Dam’s strava ride from yesterday, and he didn’t come first although he did get KOM.

    http://app.strava.com/activities/67057155#1287916836

    Just over an hour at 13.3 mph.

    Susie
    Free Member

    I dont think it was the self same stage as any other year, but it would be interesting to know times of start of climb to end of climb for comparison.

    Ten Dam is on Strava, his time for the segment Bedoin to Summit was 1hr 1min (13.2 mph). Froome finished 1 min 53 ahead.

    notmyrealname
    Free Member

    I’ve got to say that I’m a big fan of Froome ever since his Vuelta tussle with Contador a couple of years ago. At the moment he’s looking by far the best ride rider in the peloton with or without his team to support him.

    I’ve just looked at the Cycling News website to watch Froome’s interviews from today and I’m amazed at some of the crap spouted on the comments sections regarding doping. As far as some of those guys are concerned it seems that whatever Sky do, they’re always going to be accusing them of doping and it’s easy to see why the likes of Froome, Brailsford and Wiggins last year get so pissed off with getting questioned about it in virtually every interview.
    One comment on there is that there’s no hard evidence, no anecdotal evidence and no circumstantial evidence that they’re doping and that until proven otherwise they must be clean. That’s the way I’m thinking about it anyway.

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    What you’re missing here is that Kennaugh and Porte were burying themselves because they’re not as good as Froome, Contador etc. Wiggins (with last year’s form) could have set the pace on the front of the group whilst still cruising.

    Richie Porte finished 51 seconds behind Froome on Stage 8 with Contador nearly a full minute further back.

    He also finished 4th in the time trial only 1:21 back from Tony Martin and 54 secs in front of Contador. All this on top of his domestique duties for Froome.

    I’m pretty certain that if Porte were the leader of a team as strong as say Saxobank Tinkoff he would be a lot further up the GC than Contador and would probably be Froome’s greatest rival.

    Wiggins may well have been good at setting the pace on the front for much of the climb but I doubt that he would have had Froome’s or even Porte’s level of sustained acceleration to break Contador, Valverde et al.

    atlaz
    Free Member

    I was discussing this at work today and the general agreement is that Contador is a little less of a rider than he was before (when everyone else is on top form). None of the other vaunted GC contenders are big climbers or big climbers on form. I thought Schleck might be a shock on some stages but unless he’s keeping his powder dry for Alpe d’Huez, he’s obviously doing what his dad recommended and looking to retire early.

    rudebwoy
    Free Member

    the truth seems to be that now the sweet shop has been shut for a lot of these people , their ‘performances’ are just like everyone elses’ !!

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    Most importantly – I saw Didi running along. Yay!

    I think he had sponsors’ logos on his top
    It’s ruined the whole sport for me 🙁

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    I think he had sponsors’ logos on his top
    It’s ruined the whole sport for me

    Didi has (I believe) almost always been sponsored. Mainly by LUK clutches, who also sponsored Hans. Which is good.

    Crell
    Free Member

    I’m feeling the Froome love. He’s let his riding do all the talking and been very humble and generous when being interviewed. He’s the antithesis of Wiggins, which for me is another reason to like him even more. Yesterday’s stage will go down as a tour classic, and he’s achieved this with a team who are struggling with injury and form, unlike last year’s efforts.

    jfletch
    Free Member

    SPOTY only goes to participants of sports shown on the BBC. No olympics this years, so no cycling. The most he can hope for is making the shortlist.

    Like when Cav won it for winning the Green jersey in 2011?

    Short memory!

    aracer
    Free Member

    Richie Porte finished 51 seconds behind Froome on Stage 8 with Contador nearly a full minute further back.

    He also finished 4th in the time trial only 1:21 back from Tony Martin and 54 secs in front of Contador. All this on top of his domestique duties for Froome.

    I’m pretty certain that if Porte were the leader of a team as strong as say Saxobank Tinkoff he would be a lot further up the GC than Contador and would probably be Froome’s greatest rival.

    Wiggins may well have been good at setting the pace on the front for much of the climb but I doubt that he would have had Froome’s or even Porte’s level of sustained acceleration to break Contador, Valverde et al.

    Fair enough on Porte maybe being better than I suggested – however Wiggins is still a better climber than him – as discussed above, he was the second best climber last year, and I’ve yet to see anything to suggest that anybody not there last year is climbing better this year than he was last year. Where exactly did Porte accelerate to break anybody?

    igm
    Full Member

    aracer – hard to say really as Porte is riding in support of Froome, but when he accelerated on Ventoux only Froome and Contador went with him – then he looked round and smiled. When Froome went Porte sat up of course, his day’s work done, so who knows what he’d have done as a protected man.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    yes i did not think he did anything beyond ride super fast tempo which wiggo would have held. Porte that is not froome he could not have held on to that as i dont think anyone can currently

    dirtyrider
    Free Member

    SPOTY only goes to participants of sports shown on the BBC.

    I recall watching SPOTY 1998 and despite there being several british world champs that year (some of which dominated their chosen sport) the winner was Michael ***ing Owen! Firstly he didn’t win anything that year

    1998, argentina? “that” goal?

    the game that was only on ITV?

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    CaptainFlashheart – Member

    I think he had sponsors’ logos on his top
    It’s ruined the whole sport for me

    Didi has (I believe) almost always been sponsored. Mainly by LUK clutches, who also sponsored Hans. Which is good
    I take it back having seen this – much more more barking krayzzyness than sell-out

    aracer
    Free Member

    I still think accelerating is over rated. The quickest way to the top of a mountain is to ride a steady speed. As demonstrated by lots of people on Ventoux, you don’t have to attack to drop people.

    deviant
    Free Member

    I think its psychological as much as anything….seeing a rival accelerate away cant be good for the spirit.
    Also the person accelerating away gets to prevent his rival sucking his wheel for any significant time while he increases the tempo….which is what Froome did, accelerated away then settled into a faster tempo than before without allowing Contador the benefit of a tow.

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    aracer:

    I still think accelerating is over rated. The quickest way to the top of a mountain is to ride a steady speed. As demonstrated by lots of people on Ventoux, you don’t have to attack to drop people.

    I can see where you are coming from with this and if it were say a time trial I would probably agree that the fastest way up the mountain would be a steady climb. However, we are actually talking about a race here where other factors are involved.

    Consider this; If Froome, Wiggins or Contador for instance were the fastest up any particular mountain, why would they benefit from having a team mate pace them for part or all of the climb? Surely they would all just start off at the bottom at whatever pace they could manage and the fastest rider would then just outstrip all the rest?

    Obviously that isn’t the case and witness Froome’s three attempts to drop Quintana each time sprinting out of the saddle I think. On the first two occasions Quintana managed to match Froome’s acceleration to get back on to his back wheel and then just resume at Froome’s pace.

    On the third attempt Quintana couldn’t match Froome’s acceleration and just had to settle down to the pace he could manage to the top while Froome rode away. Froome also then settled down once more and rode to the top to take 30 seconds out of Quintana.

    Do you think Froome could have achieved a similar result if he had just cruised up to Quintana initially and then carried on at a similar pace? You may argue that Quintana had weakened himself by the earlier accelerations that he did to break away from the pack and if he had just maintained his optimum pace all the way up the result may have been very similar.

    I think you would probably be right in that assumption but obviously this is a race not a time trial where tactics and positioning are all important, mentally as well as physically as deviant has asserted.

    Euro
    Free Member

    Like when Cav won it for winning the Green jersey in 2011?

    Short memory!

    Yes, i have a poor memory but recall BBC2 showing some road cycling that year.

    1998, argentina? “that” goal?

    the game that was only on ITV?

    So he wins a goal? (BBC covered half the matches including highlights of the games it didn’t broadcast live)

    Dougie Lampkin was a double world champ that year (to go along with the many others he’d won previously) and Carl Fogarty won his 3rd WSB title in 98. I can’t recall the others, but there were several other world beaters not even on the shortlist.

    bratty
    Full Member

    I think that the media are asking these drug questions because:

    1. It is the first TDF after Armstrong was caught.
    2. Froome is very impressive.

    And because Froome is looking so good, it is not a really close race – therefore there is a 3:

    3. They dont have much else to write about and hope that a little controversy will increase circulation.

    Previous Tours were often won by 5 minutes and not that close. Mind you riders tended to blow up in a big way back then, so even leads of 4 mins were not safe till the mountains and TTs had passed. Not riderds dont tend to blow so much so while Froome does not have it in the bag, it is hard for them to spend to much time writing about possible attacks and clawing back time etc.

Viewing 40 posts - 201 through 240 (of 256 total)

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