Chris Froome to lead Team Sky in TdF
Comments
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Milton50 wrote:TailWindHome wrote:If Wiggins goes for the Giro and Froome the Tour, how will they split the domestiques. The A-Team will hardly be riding both......will they?
I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem is that in order to win a GT, Wiggins needs a team so strong that it can control the pace of the entire race. That way he can climb at threshold up the climbs and then gain minutes in the TT.
Froome on the other hand just needs the normal team role of keeping him out of trouble and a few wise heads to stop him riding like a clown.
You are talking as if Froome has actually won some stage races of note. Wiggins isn't a very exciting rider, but he has at least shown beyond doubt now that he can win big races."I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)0 -
if you've come within 13 seconds of winning a grand tour and finished second in the tdf you should be more than able to win 'some stage race of note'inkyfingers wrote:Milton50 wrote:TailWindHome wrote:If Wiggins goes for the Giro and Froome the Tour, how will they split the domestiques. The A-Team will hardly be riding both......will they?
I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem is that in order to win a GT, Wiggins needs a team so strong that it can control the pace of the entire race. That way he can climb at threshold up the climbs and then gain minutes in the TT.
Froome on the other hand just needs the normal team role of keeping him out of trouble and a few wise heads to stop him riding like a clown.
You are talking as if Froome has actually won some stage races of note. Wiggins isn't a very exciting rider, but he has at least shown beyond doubt now that he can win big races.0 -
FJS wrote:
if you've come within 13 seconds of winning a grand tour and finished second in the tdf you should be more than able to win 'some stage race of note'inkyfingers wrote:Milton50 wrote:TailWindHome wrote:If Wiggins goes for the Giro and Froome the Tour, how will they split the domestiques. The A-Team will hardly be riding both......will they?
I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem is that in order to win a GT, Wiggins needs a team so strong that it can control the pace of the entire race. That way he can climb at threshold up the climbs and then gain minutes in the TT.
Froome on the other hand just needs the normal team role of keeping him out of trouble and a few wise heads to stop him riding like a clown.
You are talking as if Froome has actually won some stage races of note. Wiggins isn't a very exciting rider, but he has at least shown beyond doubt now that he can win big races.
I didn't say he wasn't a very good rider, just that he has a lot to prove still. Who did he lose the Vuelta to again, oh yes, some guy called Cobo."I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)0 -
Milton50 wrote:So if you were sitting down to decide which team goes to which race you would logically send a stronger team to the Giro than the Tour. But given how much bigger the Tour is than the Giro (particularly to the sponsor) then they may fall into a trap of trying to have the best of both worlds; asking the big names to ride the Giro and expend a lot of energy supporting Wiggins, then have to ride the Tour as well. We know how riding two hard GTs worked out for people like Froome and Porte last year.
No doubt the Tour has a much higher profile than the Giro but Sky are pretty keen on the Italian market.0 -
Beating some guys called Menchov, Nibali, Van den Broeck, J-Rod and Wiggins. I don't think he has anything to prove to be made team leader in a grand tour.inkyfingers wrote:FJS wrote:
if you've come within 13 seconds of winning a grand tour and finished second in the tdf you should be more than able to win 'some stage race of note'inkyfingers wrote:Milton50 wrote:TailWindHome wrote:If Wiggins goes for the Giro and Froome the Tour, how will they split the domestiques. The A-Team will hardly be riding both......will they?
I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem is that in order to win a GT, Wiggins needs a team so strong that it can control the pace of the entire race. That way he can climb at threshold up the climbs and then gain minutes in the TT.
Froome on the other hand just needs the normal team role of keeping him out of trouble and a few wise heads to stop him riding like a clown.
You are talking as if Froome has actually won some stage races of note. Wiggins isn't a very exciting rider, but he has at least shown beyond doubt now that he can win big races.
I didn't say he wasn't a very good rider, just that he has a lot to prove still. Who did he lose the Vuelta to again, oh yes, some guy called Cobo.0 -
RichN95 wrote:greasedscotsman wrote:Question is, if you were Dave Brailsford, who would you pick to lead your teams at the Tour, Giro and Vuelta (forgetting for the sake of this question, what the riders would like to do...)
Giro - Wiggins
Tour - Froome
Vuelta - Uran/Henao
Which is what I expect to happen.
Possibly but I think Sky may give Thomas a go in the Vuelta to see what he can really do in a GT0 -
FJS wrote:
Beating some guys called Menchov, Nibali, Van den Broeck, J-Rod and Wiggins. I don't think he has anything to prove to be made team leader in a grand tour.inkyfingers wrote:FJS wrote:
if you've come within 13 seconds of winning a grand tour and finished second in the tdf you should be more than able to win 'some stage race of note'inkyfingers wrote:Milton50 wrote:TailWindHome wrote:If Wiggins goes for the Giro and Froome the Tour, how will they split the domestiques. The A-Team will hardly be riding both......will they?
I've been thinking about this for a while. The problem is that in order to win a GT, Wiggins needs a team so strong that it can control the pace of the entire race. That way he can climb at threshold up the climbs and then gain minutes in the TT.
Froome on the other hand just needs the normal team role of keeping him out of trouble and a few wise heads to stop him riding like a clown.
You are talking as if Froome has actually won some stage races of note. Wiggins isn't a very exciting rider, but he has at least shown beyond doubt now that he can win big races.
I didn't say he wasn't a very good rider, just that he has a lot to prove still. Who did he lose the Vuelta to again, oh yes, some guy called Cobo.
But he still didnt win. I think he needs to spend more than one big race a year as team leader on the road. As said earlier, surely he needs to know how it is to control a race as the leader on the road overall and the team leader (as did Wiggins) prior to 'winning the tour'. Surely the schedule to work out is not the riders in each team at the two GTs (albeit important), its the races the two teams ride together leading up to the two GTs? Does anyone know which races Froome is riding throughout the coming Spring?0 -
I'm sure that's what Sky will be doing - monitoring how the two of them perform in their races in the lead-up.
Certainly seems that Sky''ll have them on separate race programs for most of the run up to the Tour. Wiggins isnt doing P-N cos he's doing T-A by the sound of it, so surely Sky will have Froome as leader at P-N. Dauphine too perhaps, as too close to end of the Giro for Wiggins? How Sky play Romandie will be interesting.
For all the talk of who should be leader - and its just dumb to think that it has to be a done deal 6 months ahead - the biggest decider is surely how the two of them perform in the races beforehand. If Wiggins crushes it all round, and Froome just doesnt do the business and is mediocre, AND Wiggins still looks good weeks after the Giro, that's when Sky management are going to make a very tough call to make, even with the parcours seemingly favouring Froome best.0 -
Also, gotta assume the competition will be a bit smarter to Sky. It should make the two main Gts a darn good feast for the armchair army, I wont get tio the Giro but i will get to the Tour. Cant wiat0
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Nick Fitt wrote:Also, gotta assume the competition will be a bit smarter to Sky. It should make the two main Gts a darn good feast for the armchair army, I wont get tio the Giro but i will get to the Tour. Cant wiat
I'm going out for both! Yee-hah! Bike's coming too, so whether I actually die on the Stelvio and dont make it to the Tour, we'll have to see....0 -
Richmond Racer wrote:Nick Fitt wrote:Also, gotta assume the competition will be a bit smarter to Sky. It should make the two main Gts a darn good feast for the armchair army, I wont get tio the Giro but i will get to the Tour. Cant wiat
I'm going out for both! Yee-hah! Bike's coming too, so whether I actually die on the Stelvio and dont make it to the Tour, we'll have to see....
Enjoy!0 -
Brailsford is not stupid, he may or may not name a leader for TDf but fact is they will have two and keep options open and to keep other teams guessing.0
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Richmond Racer wrote:Nick Fitt wrote:Also, gotta assume the competition will be a bit smarter to Sky. It should make the two main Gts a darn good feast for the armchair army, I wont get tio the Giro but i will get to the Tour. Cant wiat
I'm going out for both! Yee-hah! Bike's coming too, so whether I actually die on the Stelvio and dont make it to the Tour, we'll have to see....
Think the term is 'well Jeal'. 0 -
oldwelshman wrote:Brailsford is not stupid, he may or may not name a leader for TDf but fact is they will have two and keep options open and to keep other teams guessing.
Well, based on last year, Froome was stronger in the mountains but Wiggins was stronger in the ITT's. As there are two TT's, one team one (which will not benefit either) and one individual prior to the first big mountain stage (I think), it could be stalemate between them. Irrespective, I'm not convinced Wiggins will be able to ride the Giro and the Tour competitively, leastwise not sober anyway.0 -
Nick Fitt wrote:oldwelshman wrote:Brailsford is not stupid, he may or may not name a leader for TDf but fact is they will have two and keep options open and to keep other teams guessing.
Well, based on last year, Froome was stronger in the mountains but Wiggins was stronger in the ITT's. As there are two TT's, one team one (which will not benefit either) and one individual prior to the first big mountain stage (I think), it could be stalemate between them. Irrespective, I'm not convinced Wiggins will be able to ride the Giro and the Tour competitively, leastwise not sober anyway.
There's a second ITT...but neither are particularly long, certainly compared to last year.0 -
Here we go again, how can you quantify that Froome was stronger than Wiggo based on a little sprint of 50m where he went ahead? You have no idea if he would have sustained the effort and stayed away, others tried and failed, and Froome looked to be struggling several times. He tried same in Vuelta and was pulled back by JRod and Valverde, hardly two of the strongest GC climbers. Sky will monitor form and keep options open.Nick Fitt wrote:oldwelshman wrote:Brailsford is not stupid, he may or may not name a leader for TDf but fact is they will have two and keep options open and to keep other teams guessing.
Well, based on last year, Froome was stronger in the mountains but Wiggins was stronger in the ITT's. As there are two TT's, one team one (which will not benefit either) and one individual prior to the first big mountain stage (I think), it could be stalemate between them. Irrespective, I'm not convinced Wiggins will be able to ride the Giro and the Tour competitively, leastwise not sober anyway.
Oh and whay do you think Wiggo cannot ride both? Did you not see his winds last year?0 -
oldwelshman wrote:Oh and whay do you think Wiggo cannot ride both? Did you not see his winds last year?
The Winds of Wiggins... Man, that's Zen.0 -
Definitely warming to this guy. Will never be that close as I find him suspicious and I would think him capable of bare faced lying with his boyish face and manner but at least he is entertaining.Contador is the Greatest0
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frenchfighter wrote:Definitely warming to this guy. Will never be that close as I find him suspicious and I would think him capable of bare faced lying with his boyish face and manner but at least he is entertaining.
so what's led to this transformation in your feelings, Frenchie?0 -
Various things. That Wiggins docu on Sky A. helped.Contador is the Greatest0
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frenchfighter wrote:Various things. That Wiggins docu on Sky A. helped.
there was about 20 secs of him being interviewed. you got a lot out of that!0
