Should Chris Froome swallow his pride and retire?

me-109

andyp said:

wakemalcolm said:

That's another 16 minutes lost against those hitters at the Tour of Hainan.
Is he stopping to do selfies & ASMR tiktoks?

Three of his team-mates in the top ten, so maybe he's doing a Movistar. #helpingnothelping

davidof

Froomey plans to be back next year and challenging for the Tour de France podium

He's found the reason for his lack of form post Ineos. His saddle was set too low by his mechanic.

Apparently the Ineo mechanic gave the ISN mechanic his bike set up... but in Inches but the ISN mecano thought they were cms. Doh!

Easy mistake to make but if only Chris had spotted this earlier.

Anyway he plans to ride out the next two years of his ISN contract.

kingstongraham

He's an absolute legend.

pblakeney

davidof said:

Froomey plans to be back next year and challenging for the Tour de France podium

He's found the reason for his lack of form post Ineos. His saddle was set too low by his mechanic.

Apparently the Ineo mechanic gave the ISN mechanic his bike set up... but in Inches but the ISN mecano thought they were cms. Doh!

Easy mistake to make but if only Chris had spotted this earlier.

Anyway he plans to ride out the next two years of his ISN contract.

I'm calling BS on that. It would not be possible to assemble the components 100/254 out and not notice. A 4.7 cm stem? C'mon.

kingstongraham

Team IPT on a training ride:

super_davo

pblakeney said:

davidof said:

Froomey plans to be back next year and challenging for the Tour de France podium

He's found the reason for his lack of form post Ineos. His saddle was set too low by his mechanic.

Apparently the Ineo mechanic gave the ISN mechanic his bike set up... but in Inches but the ISN mecano thought they were cms. Doh!

Easy mistake to make but if only Chris had spotted this earlier.

Anyway he plans to ride out the next two years of his ISN contract.

I'm calling BS on that. It would not be possible to assemble the components 100/254 out and not notice. A 4.7 cm stem? C'mon.

Well yes clearly inches over cm would be BS, but what he said was that the reach was centimetres longer on the new bike and it was giving him back pain. That is possible, because aero frames designed for use with integrated bars tend to have longer reaches because you can't just whack on a 130mm stem to fix your position. I remember he used to have quite a short reach compared with some, so if he's kept the 110mm stem but the frames longer, it would be very amateurish but you could see how it could happen.

I don't believe a change of bike fit is suddenly going to turn back the clock pre-accident and he'll be challenging Vinegaard and Pogacar, but I do believe that he's still a much better athlete than he's shown since the IPT move.

davidof

super_davo said:

I don't believe a change of bike fit is suddenly going to turn back the clock pre-accident and he'll be challenging Vinegaard and Pogacar, but I do believe that he's still a much better athlete than he's shown since the IPT move.

Quite happy to see him get back towards his old form. Don't see a tour podium or even a stage but who knows?

me-109

kingstongraham said:

Team IPT on a training ride:

Minimalist frame (might not be UCI compliant), aero rear wheel, no disc brakes, a new take on the broad-brimmed aero helmet - should be right up Froomey's street. Guy in third is working on the aero suit, complete with checkerboard camouflage to hide the IP design details.

kingstongraham

I'd have thought the guy who invested in the bike company and was apparently giving them expert advice about how the bike feels to ride might have had a bike fit at some point in three years.

wakemalcolm

The way he goes on about it, as long as there's room on the bars for his Quad Lock I doubt much else matters.

amrushton

utter bllx imo. These guys know when the bike is 'out' somewhere. Even I can tell when something has changed on my bike

davidof

Ramussen less than kind

What a load of BS from Froome. Any pro cyclist who has done 1000s of hours on a bike Will instantly feel a change in the set-up.
Froome Could ride his Pinarello from 2015 and He still wouldn’t crack top 20 in Tour du Rwanda with his current level.

https://en.brujulabike.com/rasmussen-responds-statements-chris-froome/

pblakeney

davidof said:

Ramussen less than kind

What a load of BS from Froome. Any pro cyclist who has done 1000s of hours on a bike Will instantly feel a change in the set-up.
Froome Could ride his Pinarello from 2015 and He still wouldn’t crack top 20 in Tour du Rwanda with his current level.

https://en.brujulabike.com/rasmussen-responds-statements-chris-froome/

Might not be kind but it doesn't mean he is wrong.

m.r.m.

It's self inflicted. It's weird that someone like Froome who should be fairly media savvy seems to be making excuse after excuse for years, with the statements getting more and more absurd.

RichN95.

amrushton said:

utter bllx imo. These guys know when the bike is 'out' somewhere. Even I can tell when something has changed on my bike

A Sky mechanic once said all riders are different. That Ben Swift would notice if a saddle was a millimetre too low, while Geraint Thomas wouldn't notice if you gave him someone else's bike.

shirley_basso

Didn't cav have mismatched crank arms once for a sprint stage

No_Ta_Doctor

m.r.m. said:

It's self inflicted. It's weird that someone like Froome who should be fairly media savvy seems to be making excuse after excuse for years, with the statements getting more and more absurd.

It's not that absurd, given his team owner said he wants rid and he's got a lucrative two years left on his contract.

andyp

This latest stromash on Froome is based on what exactly? A reported conversation posted by a forumite with no actual interview source provided.

You can tell it's the off season.

Lanterne_Rogue

Rasmussen was absolutely obsessive about his bike though, even stripping off the labels to reduce weight and help offset the extra pint of blood he was carrying.

No_Ta_Doctor

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Rasmussen was absolutely obsessive about his bike though, even stripping off the labels to reduce weight and help offset the extra pint of blood he was carrying.

Also helped to keep the baggage costs down when flying between the places he wasn't actually at

pblakeney

andyp said:

This latest stromash on Froome is based on what exactly? A reported conversation posted by a forumite with no actual interview source provided.

You can tell it's the off season.

You got me curious and I found the below.
So the inches to cms was bollox but he is blaming equipment.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/chris-froome-warms-to-disc-brakes-fixes-back-finds-new-motivation-for-2024/

rick_chasey

shirley_basso said:

Didn't cav have mismatched crank arms once for a sprint stage

Thought it was for more than that but yes.

davidof

Targetting a stage win in the next tour

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/racing/news/chris-froome-plans-cycling-academy-in-kenya-but-first-wants-to-finish-off-career-with-tour-de-france-fireworks

pblakeney

davidof said:

Targetting a stage win in the next tour

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/racing/news/chris-froome-plans-cycling-academy-in-kenya-but-first-wants-to-finish-off-career-with-tour-de-france-fireworks

Means throwing 20 minutes plus in the first few days.
That part shouldn't be a problem. 😉

davidof

pblakeney said:

Means throwing 20 minutes plus in the first few days.
That part shouldn't be a problem. 😉

according to Thomas (I think) he's not on the super jungle juice they use in 2023 with nutrition stuck in another era and he's overtraining.

kingstongraham

That's the only race of any level he's finished in the top 10 of since his crash, isn't it?

Disappointing to hear he's given up on talking about how he's going to do well on GC though.

daniel_b

I'd love to see him take a stage at next years TDF - I know everything would have to fall into place for him, and the planets would have to align, but I'd really like to see him get his hands in the air once more.

kingstongraham

He'd have to do something quite special in early season to get taken to the Tour.

Even that team has someone better for any role they might want - obviously except getting written about.

daniel_b

Yeh true, it's a very valid point, and seeing that the team owner thinks of him, he'd have to be on more than good enough form you would presume, to even be considered.

Wonder if anyone else would entertain signing him for a year.

pblakeney

kingstongraham said:

He'd have to do something quite special in early season to get taken to the Tour.

Even that team has someone better for any role they might want - obviously except getting written about.

Don't underestimate the power that has.
Writing = publicity = money.