Froome
Lichtblick
Posts: 1,434
Do you feel sorry for him?
Look at the face and body language when he finished 2nd at the Tour:
and getting Bronze at the Olympics:
Disappointment writ all over it.
Yet throughout the Tour this year it is alleged that he said more than once than he could win it. So here's his big show: the Vuelta. Not winning it, yet.
So, ok, he's just come off the Tour and the Olympics - only two races there (was he in the RR and TT at the Olympics?)
And ok, maybe I'm being mean. But I thought after all that talk-the-talk in France, he'd walk-the-walk in Spain. Just sayin'. That's all.
Look at the face and body language when he finished 2nd at the Tour:
and getting Bronze at the Olympics:
Disappointment writ all over it.
Yet throughout the Tour this year it is alleged that he said more than once than he could win it. So here's his big show: the Vuelta. Not winning it, yet.
So, ok, he's just come off the Tour and the Olympics - only two races there (was he in the RR and TT at the Olympics?)
And ok, maybe I'm being mean. But I thought after all that talk-the-talk in France, he'd walk-the-walk in Spain. Just sayin'. That's all.
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But actually you have a point. Maybe a bit of man-management from DB et al to send him knowing he would be past it, just to take him down a peg or two.
I also hear his golden slippers are too tight and his angels' halos are a little bit dull.
Jesus wept...
It was down to losing 2 minutes in the time trials and a minute and half due to a puncture. At no point in his career has Froome looked capable of attacking and making up three and a half minutes on the field over a few stages. Anyone who thinks he would have done that time is in a dream world.
Wiggins pulse didn't hit 70 at any point in the mountains. Had Wiggy-boy been exploited by just a little bit of pressure, forced him from looking away the power meters and actually make him do something he wouldn't have won by that margin on the final TT (A TT he would have had minutes to catch up btw to Froome...) Froome was in top shape in the Tour and is still playing with the biggest boys in the mountainous terrain in this Vuelta even though his form is decreasing. Had he been allowed to attack and not holding Bradleys hand, he would have won that Tour De France. Even his thick bird could see that during the race.
Can you name any race where Froome took time out of closest rivals on any mountain stage? No, me neither. Froome couldn't make a 15 second gap over Cobo in the Vuelta, so god knows where you think he's going to find 14 times that amount.
Rodriguez, Valverde, and a Contador that can't out TT Kessiakoff are "the biggest boys"?
Eh, what?
No I mean the Vuelta where Sky backed the rider with a track record in stage races ahead of the one with none right up to the steep part of the Angliru when Wiggins was actually the leader and Froome wasn't asked to wait.
Tactics are really easy in hindsight. I suppose you picked Froome as a contendor pre-race did you?
It's not that hard. You said they were "the biggest boys", and I'm asking are you seriously saying they are "the biggest boys"?
Sure you did.
I do think Froome could have gained timed on Wiggins on a couple of the stages, but equally there were a couple of days where Wiggins was stronger in the mountains. I saw absolutely nothing to suggest he would have gained near enough time to win the overall.
Attacking is one thing, staying away is quite another.
In my world Alberto is the best climber in the world. Froome has been as good as him in this Vuelta so far.
I didn't say I expected him to win. I didn't call him a favorite either. But riding easily with Wiggins on the stages before stage 6 and ending second behind Jrod on stage 6 gaining great time to many of the favorites makes you a contender in my world.
But the fact is that Wiggins and the Sky tactics did cost Froome the overall. No doubt about that. I remember clearly how the commentators were shaking their heads when SKy decided to work in front of the peloton while being in the top of the GC late in the race.
I've read this sentence five times and still can't work out what the f4ck it's supposed to mean
Lol. Fixed it.
Indeed. My rather unimpressive 4th cat racing career is living proof of this: it's quite easy to go off the front and look good for 20 seconds, but keeping that up for the rest of the race is another matter.
The pre-doping ban Contador certainly was, but this version right now hasn't shown anything like that form. He hasn't been able to put time into Valverde (who couldn't come close to Wiggins or Froome in the Tour), or Rodriguez (who historically is average in the Vuelta following a Giro), and a shattered Froome.
When Contador gets back to his best he'll more than likely be the best again. But he needs to get back to that point first.
Say one lead by Wiggins with Porte, Rogers, Pate, Edvald BH and others, a second lead by Froome supported by Henao, Uran, Flecha and others.
One team does the tour, the other the Giro/Vuelta double.
So you are saying Wiggins would be just as good as Froome has been by now in the mountains? I'm not sure how Wiggins would keep his head cold when someone actually made an attack. He hasn't dealt with such things for quite a while..
They've apparently said (tho I haven't actually seen it) their goal is to win all three GTs in one year. Wiggins the Giro, Froome the Tour, maybe Henao or Uran could win the Vuelta against a weaker field.
They definitely have got together a hugely strong GT squad. Even more so if Kiryienka, Cataldo and others come aboard, Suitsou comes back healthy, and Thomas and Kennaugh ride the road.
Listening to commentators speaking in awe at Contador makes me sick.
Seriously? Because surely Wiggins' best bet will always be the TdF while it has more TT Km than the Giro and Vuelta. Also, in pure publicity terms the TdF counts more than the other two combined. Why would he swap for a harder win of less value? It seems very unlikely to me.