Will Froome ride the Giro?

RichN95.

So Gazzetta, who share ownership with Giro, are reporting that both Froome and Dumoulin for the Giro. Also repeat the rumour of Sky getting 2m euros appearance fee.

daniel_b

Have to be honest, it did cross my mind as soon as he netted la Vuelta, whether he would try the Giro to be able to hold all 3 simultaneously - these chances potentially only come around once in a lifetime (And he is not getting any yonuger to use an overused cliche), but I appreciate what people are saying about that jeopardising the TDF defence, especially if he were to have a fall\injury.

That would be amazing to see Froome V Dumoulin though.

Hoping Dumoulin will also have a go at the TDF or Vuleta too.

gsk82

Daniel B wrote:

Have to be honest, it did cross my mind as soon as he netted la Vuelta, whether he would try the Giro to be able to hold all 3 simultaneously - these chances potentially only come around once in a lifetime (And he is not getting any yonuger to use an overused cliche), but I appreciate what people are saying about that jeopardising the TDF defence, especially if he were to have a fall\injury.

That would be amazing to see Froome V Dumoulin though.

Hoping Dumoulin will also have a go at the TDF or Vuleta too.

If dumoulin shows up it'll be good to see Froome need to take time uphill for once. I suspect a few would be giro contenders will now be rethinking their 2018 schedules though.

blazing_saddles

I am I the only one who thinks that Dumoulin's chances against Froome are just a bit overrated?

bigmat

I think this is a bad idea for Froome,although respect for having a go. Will be interesting to see how the other contenders plan their years now. Uran, Bardet, Quintana likely to be all in for le Tour (and Martin, Yates, Porte). Aru, Landa and Dumoulin probables for Giro. Nibali? On past experience, I suspect he might suddenly like the look of le Tour and the Vuelta!

Also, how are the Sky super-doms going to like only having one GT to have a go at leading? Thomas, Poels, potentially Kwiatkowski must all have been fancying a crack at Giro or Vuelta. Bet Landa's glad he got the hell out of there!

rick_chasey

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I am I the only one who thinks that Dumoulin's chances against Froome are just a bit overrated?

Nope.

RichN95.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I am I the only one who thinks that Dumoulin's chances against Froome are just a bit overrated?

No. And I think there are better riders coming up behind Dumoulin. It's mostly that Froome can't rely on TT dominance with him.

However, at this moment Dumoulin is still on the rise, while Froome has at best plateaued, so who knows.

bigmat

Rick Chasey wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I am I the only one who thinks that Dumoulin's chances against Froome are just a bit overrated?

Nope.

Landa probably more of a concern. No way Froome will be able to go in there undercooked (like Quintana?) if he wants to win it.

RichN95.

BigMat wrote:

I think this is a bad idea for Froome,although respect for having a go. Will be interesting to see how the other contenders plan their years now. Uran, Bardet, Quintana likely to be all in for le Tour (and Martin, Yates, Porte). Aru, Landa and Dumoulin probables for Giro. Nibali? On past experience, I suspect he might suddenly like the look of le Tour and the Vuelta!

Also, how are the Sky super-doms going to like only having one GT to have a go at leading? Thomas, Poels, potentially Kwiatkowski must all have been fancying a crack at Giro or Vuelta. Bet Landa's glad he got the hell out of there!

I think either Thomas or Poels may be kept as a proper Plan B for the Tour.

rick_chasey

Landa is not a concern either.

The main concern for Chris is himself; crashes, illness, failure to time his form right.

salsiccia1

thegibdog wrote:

Froome riding the Giro would be good for the Giro, good for Froome and good for the Sport.

Yes, No if it means he doesn't get the 5th Tour, Probably.

sherer

RichN95 wrote:

So Gazzetta, who share ownership with Giro, are reporting that both Froome and Dumoulin for the Giro. Also repeat the rumour of Sky getting 2m euros appearance fee.

Id rather he decided to enter for the prestige of having all three GTs on his palmares than cash. Guess cash is still king

Bo Duke

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I am I the only one who thinks that Dumoulin's chances against Froome are just a bit overrated?

No. And I think there are better riders coming up behind Dumoulin. It's mostly that Froome can't rely on TT dominance with him.

However, at this moment Dumoulin is still on the rise, while Froome has at best plateaued, so who knows.

Yeah, he won the TdF and Vuelta, he's plateaued.

I wouldn't mind plateauing at that kinda level!

Bo Duke

Rick Chasey wrote:

Landa is not a concern either.

The main concern for Chris is himself; crashes, illness, failure to time his form right.

Good point, there's a far greater chance of illness in the Giro than the other GT's.

blazing_saddles

Bo Duke wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Landa is not a concern either.

The main concern for Chris is himself; crashes, illness, failure to time his form right.

Good point, there's a far greater chance of illness in the Giro than the other GT's.

I seem to recall several teams being decimated through sickness at the Vuelta a decade or so ago.

r0bh

RichN95 wrote:

However, at this moment Dumoulin is still on the rise, while Froome has at best plateaued, so who knows.

If Froome has plateaued, it's a pretty bloody high plateau isn't it (Tour/Vuelta double)

RichN95.

r0bh wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

However, at this moment Dumoulin is still on the rise, while Froome has at best plateaued, so who knows.

If Froome has plateaued, it's a pretty bloody high plateau isn't it (Tour/Vuelta double)

Of course. But he's 32. I'm doubt he's going to improve.

timoid.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I am I the only one who thinks that Dumoulin's chances against Froome are just a bit overrated?

Nope. Barring illness or mishap, I would be shocked if Doumoulin can beat Froome in a straight up race.

m.r.m.

True, but he does seem to have the best shot at beating Froome.

RichN95.

In the Giro Nibali and Quintana seemed to make the classic mistake of looking at each other and forgetting to dispatch the rest of the opposition. I think if only one had been there with a decent team Dumoulin would have struggled more.

No_Ta_Doctor

OK, assuming he does ride the Giro, it will be very interesting to see what happens.
Presumably he's going to have to go in fairly undercooked and ride into form if he wants to be able to ride the Tour (which he's never going to miss). So what happens if he has a bad day in the mountains? Does he carry on fighting, or does he ease off and ride the rest of it for training?

With 8 (I think) MTFs the biggest threat to him is someone who can take a sizeable chunk of time out of him on a bad mountain day. Dumoulin can climb OK, but I don't see him going on the attack and putting Froome to the sword if he has trouble following. At the same time I'd expect to see even an undercooked Froome take some seconds and bonuses over Dumoulin that should be enough to make the TT safe, unless they drastically increase it.

Worst nightmare for him is a decent climber taking time but Dumoulin being able to follow.

I guess we should get a better idea when riders start to commit to riding it, starting tomorrow.

DeVlaeminck

M.R.M. wrote:

True, but he does seem to have the best shot at beating Froome.

What's he like on the super steep stuff, there is supposed to be a Zoncolan finish and 8 summit finishes in all. I'm trying to think back to last year, he must have climbed well to win it but there is still that feeling that he will lose time to better climbers.

andyp

Rick Chasey wrote:

Landa is not a concern either.

The main concern for Chris is himself; crashes, illness, failure to time his form right.

I can't think of one occasion where Froome has timed his form badly. He's had his moments a couple of times in the final week of the Tour, but that were due to hunger knock/illness.

jam1e

I'm not completely convinced Froome has plateaued in the way some people make out. For the last few years he's clearly been trying to do the Tour - Vuelta so we haven't seen him go all in for a couple of years. If he decided to focus 100% on a single GT then I think he'd definitely look better than in the last few he's done.

Having said that I'm glad he's doing the Giro, to hold all 3 simultaneously would be amazing and, for me, even if he then followed this up with another tour I'd consider that to be the icing on the cake rather than the cake itself.

Bo Duke

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Bo Duke wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Landa is not a concern either.

The main concern for Chris is himself; crashes, illness, failure to time his form right.

Good point, there's a far greater chance of illness in the Giro than the other GT's.

I seem to recall several teams being decimated through sickness at the Vuelta a decade or so ago.

I'm thinking due to the cold weather more than a dodgy paella.

yourpaceormine

Could be interesting: teams trying to put the hurt on Froome at the Giro in order to reap the reward at the Tour. But, with my sensible head on, who could do that? Realistically only really Movistar have the talent in numbers, but then Movistar don't really work as a team except maybe a team with an American and a Badger riding 'together'. Plus of course Sky's depth of talent means they could rock up at the Tour and field two very strong teams, so fielding a potential winning team at either grand tour wouldn't be too much of a stretch of the imagination. With Froome riding to a power meter for most of the climb, then illness, crashes and weather are possibly the biggest concern

DeVlaeminck

What would putting the hurt on Froome in the Giro look like that would be different to just trying to win the Giro?

I think it's more likely GC contenders will think they may as well go all in for the Tour as they'll have to beat Froome anyway, we may see a weaker Giro field than normal and a slightly easier race, Nibali, Quintana et al may see the Tour as the chance to beat a tired Froome.

RichN95.

Is it the Giro route announcement today?

salsiccia1

RichN95 wrote:

Is it the Giro route announcement today?

Presentation begins at 4.00pm today GMT. Which means we'll probably find out the route at 7.00pm...

blazing_saddles

The Giro route presentation is live on tv as I type, but here are the profiles.


http://www.cicloweb.it/2017/11/29/antep ... giro-2018/