Should Chris Froome swallow his pride and retire?

MattFalle

He's getting €5.5 million a year whether he comes 1st, 8th, 80th or 800th.

As much as we all like winning once he realises he can't anymore he'd be silly not to just enjoy - literally - the ride.

Run out this contract, maybe get one more at a mill or two a year, move into DS role.

wavefront

ugo.santalucia said:

I never actually finished last, but no, there are rankings and I only get into a race if I am better than the guy who doesn’t get a spot, it’s all very fair, really. I think Froome at this point is not fit for the PRO peloton and it’s hard to see this changing. That said, if someone is happy to give him a shot, then good on him… probably some youngster would deserve it better though

Just wanted to be clear I wasn’t talking about you specifically. I was talking about ALL of us amateurs who race who are never at the sharp end. Actually I have the utmost respect for you for entering the nationals and was reading your progress with interest. There was a little envy as I’d pulled out as I’d just moved and training went awol so was way out of shape. I’m an ‘also ran’ in most events but it puts a smile on my face when I race. Like it does you. Like it does Froome. And I have much respect for froome, that I’m not just dismissing him because he is now just mid pack.

Talking of rankings, in world tour ranking - if I’ve read the charts correctly - Froome is still 1800 / 3200. So there’s 1400 riders worse than him in ranking. Still deserves to race if he can.

ugo.santalucia

wavefront said:

ugo.santalucia said:

I never actually finished last, but no, there are rankings and I only get into a race if I am better than the guy who doesn’t get a spot, it’s all very fair, really. I think Froome at this point is not fit for the PRO peloton and it’s hard to see this changing. That said, if someone is happy to give him a shot, then good on him… probably some youngster would deserve it better though

Just wanted to be clear I wasn’t talking about you specifically. I was talking about ALL of us amateurs who race who are never at the sharp end. Actually I have the utmost respect for you for entering the nationals and was reading your progress with interest. There was a little envy as I’d pulled out as I’d just moved and training went awol so was way out of shape. I’m an ‘also ran’ in most events but it puts a smile on my face when I race. Like it does you. Like it does Froome. And I have much respect for froome, that I’m not just dismissing him because he is now just mid pack.

Talking of rankings, in world tour ranking - if I’ve read the charts correctly - Froome is still 1800 / 3200. So there’s 1400 riders worse than him in ranking. Still deserves to race if he can.

I think he can still race in minor events, but I don’t think he should be picked for a GT or a classic… it would be unfair to riders who need an opportunity. As someone said above, it would only be for the sponsor and the airtime, and that is a bit sad for someone who only recently was the undisputed best in the game.

See you on the “Old Shoe”?

kingstongraham

wavefront said:

Talking of rankings, in world tour ranking - if I’ve read the charts correctly - Froome is still 1800 / 3200. So there’s 1400 riders worse than him in ranking. Still deserves to race if he can.

I don't think you should in any way consider the UCI rankings as a measure of how good a rider is.

Luke Rowe is ranked 1713 on those rankings, and I don't think many would say he was a "worse rider" than Ingvar Omarsson, who is comfortably in the top 1000.

Froome picked up most of his points from being 47th in the Dauphine.

m.r.m.

It's a real shame. For all he has achieved and from where he has come from, he deserves a last big win to go out at least a little on top. At his best he was an incredible rider.

MattFalle

m.r.m. said:

It's a real shame. For all he has achieved and from where he has come from, he deserves a last big win to go out at least a little on top. At his best he was an incredible rider.

"from where he has come from"?

how do you mean out of interest?

m.r.m.

He didn't have an easy route to becoming a pro. He wasn't scouted into the British cycling academy track program etc.
AFAIK he called and applied for racing licences himself and made a nuisance of himself in order to take part in races and time trials. He struggled through and persevered through all the hardships and managed to turn pro from growing up in Africa which is hardly a cycling hotbed.

"Froome's appearance at the Worlds came about after he impersonated Kenyan cycling federation president Julius Mwangi by using Mwangi's email account to enter himself into the Championships, in order to add some European racing experience to his CV and boost his chances of obtaining a contract with a professional team" (Source Wikiwand)

MattFalle

Errrm its not really quite the rsgs to riches story to be truthful......

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Froome

m.r.m.

I read his wikipedia and did so now again. I don't see anything refuting my view on this?! I'm sure there have been others who have had it harder, but I don't see how anyone can view it as him having had an easy path.
That being said, he is far from my favourite cyclist, so it's certainly not the hill I want to die on defending. 😉

Don't know what your issue with him is, but your link certainly doesn't refute anything I said.

No_Ta_Doctor

m.r.m. said:

Don't know what your issue with him is

I think we know what Matt's issue is. You'll see it on almost any thread featuring British riders.

MattFalle

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ugo.santalucia

In many ways, this mirrors what happened to Beloki, except the latter was more unfortunate, as he ended his career at an earlier age, whereas Froome's was nearing the end anyway.

m.r.m.

That's a very good comparison. Has there been anyone who managed to come back at an advanced age from such a crash? Maybe Valverde from the TdF time trial crash that broke his patella, but even that seems less severe comparatively.

davidof

ugo.santalucia said:

In many ways, this mirrors what happened to Beloki, except the latter was more unfortunate, as he ended his career at an earlier age, whereas Froome's was nearing the end anyway.

we've gone full circle back to page #1

davidof
October 2020
I'm thinking Joseba Beloki

andyp

Page #1 is definitely re-worth a read.

Pross

andyp said:

Page #1 is definitely re-worth a read.

I certainly called it wrong on Cav at that point (I'd spent the previous couple of seasons expecting him to prove the doubters wrong but by that point it really didn't look likely). The issue for Froome is that even if he got back to his pre-crash form he had probably gone beyond his peak at the time of the crash and it would be unlikely, even without the crash, that he would be contending against Pogacar or Roglic at this stage. I wouldn't be surprised if he had retired by now.

andyp

I agree. I thought once he'd realised he was never going to get close to Tour winning form, he'd quit. Why put yourself through all that pain and suffering just to be middle of the pack?

pblakeney

andyp said:

I agree. I thought once he'd realised he was never going to get close to Tour winning form, he'd quit. Why put yourself through all that pain and suffering just to be middle of the pack?

Getting paid €5.5m to go on cafe rides? Nice if you can get it.
(Okay long rides and no cafe till the end, but still).

DeVlaeminck

Hard to know but I suppose it's all he's known and for all of us it's what he is - maybe an element of fear about what comes next ?

MattFalle

pblakeney said:

andyp said:

I agree. I thought once he'd realised he was never going to get close to Tour winning form, he'd quit. Why put yourself through all that pain and suffering just to be middle of the pack?

Getting paid €5.5m to go on cafe rides? Nice if you can get it.
(Okay long rides and no cafe till the end, but still).

this.

ugo.santalucia

m.r.m. said:

That's a very good comparison. Has there been anyone who managed to come back at an advanced age from such a crash? Maybe Valverde from the TdF time trial crash that broke his patella, but even that seems less severe comparatively.

Pantani did, after his catastrophic accident in 95 at Milano-Torino… he was younger though… only 25 at the time

seanoconn

Knowing Chris Froome as I do… I think he believes given an injury free run and plenty of racing under his belt, he could compete at the highest level again.

phreak

seanoconn said:

Knowing Chris Froome as I do… I think he believes given an injury free run and plenty of racing under his belt, he could compete at the highest level again.

Had he shown any signs of improvement you'd hold onto a bit of hope. He had a fairly normal race programme in 2020, including the Vuelta to build up a bit of form again, but was then even worse in 2021, despite racing 70 days and doing the Tour. So he's probably had a season and a half of full racing to get back into shape, and yet this season he's 1h15m down on Eddie Dunbar after just 5 stages at Coppi e Bartali.

It doesn't exactly look promising, and I'm not sure you can say it's a weight thing either, as in TTs last year, his best performance was 83rd, so it's hard to argue that the power is there anymore.

RichN95.

It's difficult to tell what his true level is these days. He tends to do a lot of work for the team rather ride for himself and then drops back until he finds a group with someone to have a chat with (he usual rolls in with one of his mates).

I just don't see what his plan is really.

pblakeney

RichN95. said:

It's difficult to tell what his true level is these days. He tends to do a lot of work for the team rather ride for himself and then drops back until he finds a group with someone to have a chat with (he usual rolls in with one of his mates).

I just don't see what his plan is really.

Over paid domestique, mostly for publicity.

RichN95.

pblakeney said:

RichN95. said:

It's difficult to tell what his true level is these days. He tends to do a lot of work for the team rather ride for himself and then drops back until he finds a group with someone to have a chat with (he usual rolls in with one of his mates).

I just don't see what his plan is really.

Over paid domestique, mostly for publicity.

But even before his crash he wasn't averse to working as a domestique to gain some form (see Tour of the Alps and Yorkshire in 2019). At some point he has to ride for himself though

kingstongraham

What domestique work does he actually do these days though? He seemed to be getting towards the form in 2020 where he could do a bit at the bottom of a climb at the end of mountain stage, but last year he was riding with Greipel rather than Woods, and this year so far much the same.

andyp

An awful lot of domestique work goes on before tv coverage starts, so it's not like you see what he's up to. It'll be interesting to see how he gets on this week, as he seemed to suggest last week during the Tour of the Alps, that he'd be aiming for some good results this week.

pblakeney

kingstongraham said:

What domestique work does he actually do these days though? He seemed to be getting towards the form in 2020 where he could do a bit at the bottom of a climb at the end of mountain stage, but last year he was riding with Greipel rather than Woods, and this year so far much the same.

As andyp says.
Note I didn't say super domestique. 😉

phreak

andyp said:

An awful lot of domestique work goes on before tv coverage starts, so it's not like you see what he's up to. It'll be interesting to see how he gets on this week, as he seemed to suggest last week during the Tour of the Alps, that he'd be aiming for some good results this week.

You'd think he could ride for himself in time trials though seeing as they're generally under an hour in length, and yet he still comes about 90th at best in those.