What’s next for Team Sky?

mrfpb

bobmcstuff wrote:

mrfpb wrote:

Pross wrote:

They have a bit of a dilemma next year now. I can see Froome being desperate to get his 5th Tour but there’ll be pressure for them to ‘honour the Tour’ and field the reigning champion with him having a real crack. Likewise, the Giro organisers will presumably expect Froome to defend his title. Any chance they can reasonably swap?

They didn't let Wiggins defend his title.

I didn't think Wiggins was particularly keen on the idea?

Really? I thought he was seriously peed off by the decision.

bobmcstuff

mrfpb wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

mrfpb wrote:

Pross wrote:

They have a bit of a dilemma next year now. I can see Froome being desperate to get his 5th Tour but there’ll be pressure for them to ‘honour the Tour’ and field the reigning champion with him having a real crack. Likewise, the Giro organisers will presumably expect Froome to defend his title. Any chance they can reasonably swap?

They didn't let Wiggins defend his title.

I didn't think Wiggins was particularly keen on the idea?

Really? I thought he was seriously peed off by the decision.

Froome had already been tipped as leader, which probably did piss him off, but he pulled out of riding due to a knee injury, apparently.

Anyway he was never going to replicate his 2012 - Paris-Nice, Romandie, Dauphine, Tour, Olympic TT. And he said he was going to be at a disadvantage on the 2013 route as it had less TT miles.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/22735801

tailwindhome

I know it's British Cycling rather than Team Sky but I imagine Froome would want to have a swing at this year's World Championship course.

DeVlaeminck

TailWindHome wrote:

I know it's British Cycling rather than Team Sky but I imagine Froome would want to have a swing at this year's World Championship course.

God I hope not we've got better one day riders on any parcours.

StillGoing

r0bh wrote:

Pross wrote:

They have a bit of a dilemma next year now. I can see Froome being desperate to get his 5th Tour but there’ll be pressure for them to ‘honour the Tour’ and field the reigning champion with him having a real crack. Likewise, the Giro organisers will presumably expect Froome to defend his title. Any chance they can reasonably swap?

Sky didn't care about fielding the reigning champ in 2013 with Wiggins and don't think anything much has changed in their methods

Wiggins deselected himself by being unfit as I recall.

topper_harley

I suspect Bernal will ride with Froome next year for the 5th tour then he will take over as the main GC guy at the tour

inseine

Topper harley wrote:

I suspect Bernal will ride with Froome next year for the 5th tour then he will take over as the main GC guy at the tour

Very possible, but two years is a long time. I’d never heard of Bernal two years ago. It could equally be Tao G Hart or someone else we’ve never heard of.

m.r.m.

I think Thomas should lead for the Giro and Vuelta double with Froome going for the Tour.

hypster

Topper harley wrote:

I suspect Bernal will ride with Froome next year for the 5th tour then he will take over as the main GC guy at the tour

How will Bernal take over the team at 23?

Froome will be there for at least another two more Tours.

ajkerr73

Could Ellisonde make a step up?

indyp

Can he be competitive in the TT?

m.r.m.

No and no.

cgfw201

ddraver wrote:

Gee to have a proper crack at RVV & P-R

i'd like to see this.

Froome will go 100% in for TdF next year.

Think GT's palmares will look better with a PR/RVV on them than a podium at the Giro, and I get the impression he enjoys those races more. Also allows Bernal to have a go at the Giro next year.

DeVlaeminck

cgfw201 wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Gee to have a proper crack at RVV & P-R

i'd like to see this.

Froome will go 100% in for TdF next year.

Think GT's palmares will look better with a PR/RVV on them than a podium at the Giro, and I get the impression he enjoys those races more. Also allows Bernal to have a go at the Giro next year.

Yes but it'd look better with a Giro win than PR/RVV top 10. Surely as things stand with a full team behind him he's a favourite for the Giro, in PR or Flanders at best he's an outside favourite behind those with better sprint finishes. After a career of flip flopping between track, classics and stage racing surely winning the Tour nails him down as a GC rider?

m.r.m.

There is no way he commits to cobbled classics again after winning the Tour. He has worked for years to get into the race weight required for GT's. Much like what Rohan Dennis is trying to replicate.

hanshotfirst

If Froome goes all in and gets his 5th Tour next year then he'll be coming back for a 6th in 2020... don't think he'll actually get it but he'll give it a crack.

StillGoing

hanshotfirst wrote:

If Froome goes all in and gets his 5th Tour next year then he'll be coming back for a 6th in 2020... don't think he'll actually get it but he'll give it a crack.

I don't know; I think Froome sees the changing of the guard isn't far from the horizon. Not necessarily with regards to G, but more the likes of Kwia and Bernal. Once and if he gets his 5th TdF title, I think he'll quit and enjoy life with his wife and kids.

joey54321

Kwia and Bernal both need more than 2 years to prove themselves in GTs before they supplant Froome at the top of the Team Sky hierarchy for me (unless something 'unusual' happens to Froome e.g. big injury OR he decides he has had enough).

One thing going for Froome is that he came to cycling (and success) fairly late, if the head is there for it I'm pretty sure he'll be very competitive for a while yet.

salsiccia1

philthy3 wrote:

hanshotfirst wrote:

If Froome goes all in and gets his 5th Tour next year then he'll be coming back for a 6th in 2020... don't think he'll actually get it but he'll give it a crack.

I don't know; I think Froome sees the changing of the guard isn't far from the horizon. Not necessarily with regards to G, but more the likes of Kwia and Bernal. Once and if he gets his 5th TdF title, I think he'll quit and enjoy life with his wife and kids.

Unless he can't win, I think he'll keep going. He said this last year: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2017/07/23/tour-de-france-2017-final-stage-paris-chris-froome-latest/

above_the_cows

Kwiatkowski doesn't want to be a GT leader.

DeadCalm

No tA Doctor wrote:

I guess the most likely scenario for Froome here is that he takes a rest (4 GTs in a row, 3 wins and a podium, is a f@cking heavy race schedule) and goes all in for just the Tour next year. He's been on top of GT racing up to now to the extent that he could rock up a little tired and still win, but that ship has sailed now. I've no doubt that nobody outside Sky can challenge him head to head on a Tour that's his only target. Dumoulin is closest and Roglic and one of the Yates's could step up, but he'd still have the Sky machine at his disposal, and that isn't showing any signs of weakening.

I've no idea where that leaves Thomas, but I don't think they'll want to go to the Tour with two leaders again - that was just because Thomas had been prepped in case Froome couldn't ride or was completely bonked from the Giro. Brailsford is looking to Bernal long term, Thomas is pretty much the same age as Froome, I don't think there's a real shift in top-dog yet.

With regard to the bit I've highlighted, I think it depends on the parcours. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a long, flat Dumoulin-friendly TT and no particularly steep climbs in next year's Tour.

It's also worth bearing in mind that Dumoullin is likely to have a stronger team at next year's Tour than this, when Sunweb split the support among the Giro and TDF. I'd assume it'll be all in for the Tour next year and they won't bring a sprinter.

salsiccia1

DeadCalm wrote:

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a long, flat Dumoulin-friendly TT and no particularly steep climbs in next year's Tour.

I would. Bardet wouldn't have a chance on that, and ASO aren't going to give up on him yet.

If they want to try and break the Sky stranglehold they should bring in a lot of shorter, real steep stuff and spread it through the race, stuff the trains don't work so well on. Perhaps go through the Vosges or Massif Central early on.

knedlicky

Salsiccia1 wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a long, flat Dumoulin-friendly TT and no particularly steep climbs in next year's Tour.

I would. Bardet wouldn't have a chance on that, and ASO aren't going to give up on him yet.

If they want to try and break the Sky stranglehold they should bring in a lot of shorter, real steep stuff and spread it through the race, stuff the trains don't work so well on. Perhaps go through the Vosges or Massif Central early on.

Nancy has applied to be a stage town for the 2019 edition, the Tour coming down to Nancy from its start in Belgium.
This in turn has led to strong rumours of a stage from Nancy to Belfort – around 160-170 kms, but which would include up and over the Ballon d'Alsace in its last 40 kms.
And if the route were made less direct, and about 30 kms longer, it could even include 2-3 lower passes in the Vosges before the Ballon d'Alsace.

RichN95.

Next year Froome will devote his entire season to winning that fifth Tour. No more doubles for the first time since 2013. Thomas will be given the option of Giro and Tour and pick the Tour. Bernal will lead at the Giro with some older riders and young riders like TGH, Sivakov and Moscon who will be his team for years to come.

rick_chasey

Thomas isn't interesting in building a legacy in multiple Tours in the same way Froome is.

Froome is working really very hard to cultivate CV which puts him in the conversation of GOAT cyclists.

He was also wise to realise that, when Thomas was stronger than him, it made sense to be gracious and work for him, because Thomas will likely be on his team next time and him as a domestique is pretty powerful.

I can't see Thomas minding moving back into that role, if Froome is stronger.

DeadCalm

Salsiccia1 wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a long, flat Dumoulin-friendly TT and no particularly steep climbs in next year's Tour.

I would. Bardet wouldn't have a chance on that, and ASO aren't going to give up on him yet.

If they want to try and break the Sky stranglehold they should bring in a lot of shorter, real steep stuff and spread it through the race, stuff the trains don't work so well on. Perhaps go through the Vosges or Massif Central early on.

We'll see.

While ASO would clearly be delighted with a French winner, sadly there isn't a course they could come up with where Bardet would be favoured to beat Froome. I think they're more pragmatic than that and want a competitive GC most of all. The most likely way to do that is come up with a course that favours Sky's nearest competitor.

The last few years the closest competition appeared to be from pure climbers who couldn't TT all that well (Bardet, Quintana, et al) hence fewer TT kilomtres. Now Dumoulin is undoubtedly the closest contender, I would not be at all surprised to see the emphasis switch.

pblakeney

Make the laps of Paris an ITT? Been done before.
Last 200m apart, it is a snoozefest.

pat1cp

A salary cap and a ban of power meters according to the French press.

kingstongraham

Give Porte some stabilisers.

tailwindhome

KingstonGraham wrote:

Give Porte some stabilisers.

As he's not a Sky rider, they'll come with a 2 minute penalty