Sylvan Adams on Froome

andyp
andyp Posts: 10,448
in Pro race
Israel-PremierTech team owner, Sylvan Adams, has been widely quoted criticising Chris Froome for not providing value for money.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jul/13/chris-froome-tour-de-france-cycling-sylvan-adams

He seems to have forgotten that he recruited Froome, and met his wage demands, at a time when no-one, including Froome himself, had any idea if he'd return to his previous level following the Dauphine Crash in 2019.

Signing him was always a risk, as a) he'd been very severely injured in that crash and b) time is not on his side.

Seems a bit rich now to complain about it, especially as Froome gave the team a level of legitimacy that they hadn't previously had.

Comments

  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,154
    Yep, ridiculous. I guess it is a sign that they've had a bit of success recently from other riders but Froome certainly gave them a level of publicity when he was signed that their results weren't doing. Most on here at the time questioned the wisdom and concluded they must have decided that publicity justified the salary.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    When Chris Froome retires and (one assumes) goes into aggressive business negotiation he's going to reduce many a CEO to tears...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • carbonclem
    carbonclem Posts: 1,771
    I guess hes the first multi GT winner that ended up just in the pack year on year without even threatening a stage win. With the explosion of Pog and Vinegar, as well as the Vans, any interest or excitement around Froome being there is certainly all gone. And he's got two(?) years left? Fair play to Froomey for rinsing it.
    2020/2021/2022 Metric Century Challenge Winner
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 27,760
    This is interesting in Cycling Weekly - seems he's got a very sweet deal.

    Adams indicated that Froome’s initial three-year contract with the team comes to an end at the end of the current season, but despite his obvious unhappiness, that could be extended by a further year or two if Froome desires.

    He explained: “Chris expressed, publicly I think, an interest in possibly riding until the age of 40. That would imply another two years after this year.

    “The commitment I made to Chris was that he will retire on our team, so when he decides - with a ceiling of age 40 as those were the parameters we discussed - he wants to hang it up, it’ll be on his terms and that’s the personal commitment I made to Chris. He doesn’t have a five year contract exactly. But it can go up to five years if Chris so decides.”


    Makes it a bit more clear why he's come out to say this.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 27,760
    rick_chasey said:

    Bahaha. Froome was always savy with money and negotiations and he's done them up a right kipper.

    Good on him. Got his pay day for being the best GC riders of his generation.

    And it makes sense of Froome still pretending he's planning to go to the TDF next year. There's 10 million reasons for him.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,154
    If he wasn't happy at being left out this year it sounds like he can just stitch them up by extending. Amazed they agreed to that deal as I don't recall teams falling over themselves to sign Froome back when Israel signed him up.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 27,760

  • joeyhalloran
    joeyhalloran Posts: 1,080
    I can't imagine the following 2 years will be on the same pay. That would have been beyond insane negotiating from IPT. I can only imagine there is some scope for IPT to reduce his salary for the extension somehow.
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,605
    What a melt.
    Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.
  • commuterlegs
    commuterlegs Posts: 271
    Was Sylvan Adams born into money? Not sure you can explain such an approach any other way.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,448
    commuterlegs said:

    Was Sylvan Adams born into money? Not sure you can explain such an approach any other way.

    He took over his father's property business, so yes, he probably was.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,154
    Reminds me of a prospective employer that wanted me to sign a contract where they had to give me 3 months notice but I had to give them 6 months. They couldn't understand why I wanted it changed.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Adams once paid Madonna a million to croak her way through two songs at Eurovision.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • wakemalcolm
    wakemalcolm Posts: 825
    Froome used to be quicker than a ray of light.
    ================================
    Cake is just weakness entering the body

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