Chris Froome poor technical cyclist

Ronan5000

Apart from Froome looking at the ground most of the time instead of the road ahead of him and having to be lead down descents what is it that makes him a poor technical rider?

Big Mig

Ronan5000 wrote: »

Apart from Froome looking at the ground most of the time instead of the road ahead of him and having to be lead down descents what is it that makes him a poor technical rider?

Eh.............you just said it!:)

Ronan5000

Big Mig wrote: »

Eh.............you just said it!:)

There has to be more to it than just that!

ednwireland

Ronan5000 wrote: »

Apart from Froome looking at the ground most of the time instead of the road ahead of him and having to be lead down descents what is it that makes him a poor technical rider?

Yep.

Rattled of photos in hawes on the tour guess where chris is looking. Yep down at the ground

On a straight relatively flat road.

Darkglasses

Unlike other top Grand Tour riders, he hasn't spent his whole life on technical alpine and pyreneen descents. Or whatever the Colombian equivalent is.

Ole Rodrigo

Whats with the looking down all the time?

I used to do that when I wasn't sure moving the gear lever had caused something to happen.

DirkVoodoo

It's supposedly a breathing technique.

Plus he started out mountain biking, so you can excuse the pointed elbow style that he has for the most part.

happytramp

Is it possible that Sky's training methods are so hi-tech and super advanced that they feel that bike handling is beneath them? Marginal Gains >>>> Descending/bad weather riding????

Dr. Bre

sky are useless in the rain - Wiggo in the Giro and Froome in the Tour are examples

Ronan5000

Dr. Bre wrote: »

sky are useless in the rain - Wiggo in the Giro and Froome in the Tour are examples

There must be some method of training to improve bike handling skills it can't all be natural ability. I doubt Niabili's ability to ride almost flat out on rain soaked cobbles and not crash is purely natural.

Darkglasses

Actually I'd say a lot of it is in the head.

nak

Dr. Bre wrote: »

sky are useless in the rain - Wiggo in the Giro and Froome in the Tour are examples

But Wiggins has also placed top 10 in Paris Roubaix. Plenty of other riders in that team who can handle rain - eg. Thomas and Kennaugh yesterday.

Raam

Dr. Bre wrote: »

sky are useless in the rain - Wiggo in the Giro and Froome in the Tour are examples

Apart from these two lads...

Raam

nak wrote: »

But Wiggins has also placed top 10 in Paris Roubaix. Plenty of other riders in that team who can handle rain - eg. Thomas and Kennaugh yesterday.

I don't think it rained for Wiggo's top 10 in PR.

godtabh

Raam wrote: »

I don't think it rained for Wiggo's top 10 in PR.

yeah but good bike handling would have been required

Raam

godtabh wrote: »

yeah but good bike handling would have been required

Totally agree.

nak

Raam wrote: »

I don't think it rained for Wiggo's top 10 in PR.

No, but same goes for Cancellara and he wasn't his best on stage 5 of the Tour. Wiggins looks classy on a bike, can't say the same for Froome. Both have far superior bike handling to most of us.

Iranoutofideas

nak wrote: »

Wiggins looks classy on a bike.

I have better sideburns

morana

the last wet roubaix was 2002 a few of the tdf group raced in it. I think in the rain on cobbles a lot is down to luck but in fairness to Nibali he trained with van petegem on the cobbles before the tour.

I dont think froome is any less of a bike handler than any of the rest of them.

ROK ON

I don't believe that Froome is a cyclist. I am of the view that he is a superb athlete that has chosen to demonstrate his athletic ability on a bike. He would probably excel at any similar sport such as rowing, running or skiing.

He trains well and when in a good frame of mind on a dry straightforward mountainous course with a few tts will excel.

Nibali isn't close to him as an athlete but is a pure cyclist. Contador probably the best of both worlds.

I am surprised to hear that he was a mtber - it doesn't show.

Athletes of the superior kind can win GTs and stage races - they will never win in the Ardennes or Lombardy.

It was very revealing after the tour when Nibali was interviewed - he did not speak about winning another TDF or Giro. He stated that to be great he was missing a Liege,Lombardy and Worlds. froomes stated goal is multiple GTs.

I think it reveals a lot of difference between the two.

I feel sorry for him as he will never please most cycling fans. Despite his undoubted talents he has no style or panache on the bike. I do not believe that he will ever win a Monument. He really needs some cuter cyclists with him - someone like Mick Rogers. Maybe Ian Stannard or Geraint Thomas can grow into that role.

ROK ON

morana wrote: »

the last wet roubaix was 2002 a few of the tdf group raced in it. I think in the rain on cobbles a lot is down to luck but in fairness to Nibali he trained with van petegem on the cobbles before the tour.

I dont think froome is any less of a bike handler than any of the rest of them.

Anto
Seriously. He isn't a patch on Nibali or Evans in terms of ability on a bad course.

MrCreosote

ROK ON wrote: »

Anto
Seriously. He isn't a patch on Nibali or Evans in terms of ability on a bad course.

That might make them good bike handlers rather than Froome bad. Apart from the Tour this year, I don't remember him crashing out of any Grand Tours. Look at Contador, who everyone reckons "looks great on the bike"- crashed on a straight smooth road this year, and nearly took out Froome last year with some reckless descending.

I don't get the hate for Froome- just because he doesn't look the most elegant doesn't mean he's any less of a cyclist. It's the usual euro-centric snobbery, like those f***ing idiotic velominati "rules" everyone loves.

morana

MrCreosote wrote: »

That might make them good bike handlers rather than Froome bad. Apart from the Tour this year, I don't remember him crashing out of any Grand Tours. Look at Contador, who everyone reckons "looks great on the bike"- crashed on a straight smooth road this year, and nearly took out Froome last year with some reckless descending.

I don't get the hate for Froome- just because he doesn't look the most elegant doesn't mean he's any less of a cyclist. It's the usual euro-centric snobbery, like those f***ing idiotic velominati "rules" everyone loves.

thats my point. I agree he is no nibali cancellara or evans but he isnt shambolic either.

Harrybelafonte

MrCreosote wrote: »

That might make them good bike handlers rather than Froome bad. Apart from the Tour this year, I don't remember him crashing out of any Grand Tours. Look at Contador, who everyone reckons "looks great on the bike"- crashed on a straight smooth road this year, and nearly took out Froome last year with some reckless descending.

I don't get the hate for Froome- just because he doesn't look the most elegant doesn't mean he's any less of a cyclist. It's the usual euro-centric snobbery, like those f***ing idiotic velominati "rules" everyone loves.

Yes it does. All sports love those who can compete with skill and class. Athletes who look good doing what they do, graceful, powerful, in control. Froome is a great athlete as said above but he looks like a gob****e on the bike.

Also "euro-centric"?... Seriously? Cycling fans live Voekler cos his face shows the effort he puts in. They love others cos they show nothing. The appreciation of class is not euro-centric, unless we Irish are not part of Europe?

All sports greats looked good doing what they did.

MrCreosote

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Yes it does. All sports love those who can compete with skill and class. Athletes who look good doing what they do, graceful, powerful, in control. Froome is a great athlete as said above but he looks like a gob****e on the bike.

Also "euro-centric"?... Seriously? Cycling fans live Voekler cos his face shows the effort he puts in. They love others cos they show nothing. The appreciation of class is not euro-centric, unless we Irish are not part of Europe?

All sports greats looked good doing what they did.

Euro-centric meaning that unless a rider is from one of the traditional cycling countries, he or she is somehow lesser. Has been a big problem in pro cycling and the UCI.

And in all sports people first and foremost love those who win.

Harrybelafonte

Bothe your statements are preposterous generalisations.

Anyway, if he came from an MTB background he really shouldn't have any issues with technical bike riding on the road.

What about pressure? Would that have affected his performances this year? His spat with Wiggins? The British media holding him up as the new hero? Not sure that much attention helped Wiggins much.

2 Wheels Good

Contador tweeted this over the weekend, 76.8 km/h when he crashed in the tour

ThisRegard

MrCreosote wrote: »

Euro-centric meaning that unless a rider is from one of the traditional cycling countries, he or she is somehow lesser. Has been a big problem in pro cycling and the UCI.

The UCIs favourite, and the guy who ruled the pro cycling peleton, for the best part of a decade was an American. I don't think there's an truth in your claims.

happytramp

Not specifically relevant... but i'll just leave this here

petethedrummer

When he goes on the attack, Froome looks like he's dancing the Charleston.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRveIIe4uAs&feature=youtu.be&t=38s

play the above over this muted... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52xv2Hg2fkI

The man has rhythm.

MrCreosote

ThisRegard wrote: »

The UCIs favourite, and the guy who ruled the pro cycling peleton, for the best part of a decade was an American. I don't think there's an truth in your claims.

You're joking, right? The only one stripped of his titles when the 3 TdF winners just before him, all confessed dopers and from "traditional" cycling countries, are untouched.

Anyone who looks at Pro cycling and can't see the European(and male) bias in races, teams, funding, everything is pretty blind to be honest. In fairness to the UCI they seem to be addressing this a bit recently, but change is pretty slow.

Then along comes a Kenyan guy who destroys the field, and all you hear is "Oh he's not a REAL cyclist", "Oh, but his style is so bad", "Oh, he knows nothing about the history of the sport" etc etc.

ZiabR

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

It's supposedly a breathing technique.

Plus he started out mountain biking, so you can excuse the pointed elbow style that he has for the most part.

It is to do with breathing alright. He is one rider that can look at his watts and keep them at a certain levels for a long time. If you watch him when he makes a break he will be looking down at the computer constantly.

pelevin

MrCreosote wrote: »

You're joking, right? The only one stripped of his titles when the 3 TdF winners just before him, all confessed dopers and from "traditional" cycling countries, are untouched.

Anyone who looks at Pro cycling and can't see the European(and male) bias in races, teams, funding, everything is pretty blind to be honest. In fairness to the UCI they seem to be addressing this a bit recently, but change is pretty slow.

Armstrong being stripped had really nothing to do with the UCI, it was all down to USADA, the UCI protected Armstrong for eyars & did everything to discredit the USADA actions. The UCI eventually had no option but to go against Armstrong, but it's a position they were dragged totally against their will into. I don't know how you can pretend otherwise.

Ireland isn't a traditional cycling nation but I've not noticed much European hate down the years for "King Kelly."

That cycling's stronghold is of course Europe has nothing to do with bias - as in some conscious bigotry - this is where pro-cycling all happened for well over a century, it's just reality.

I'd say there is an anti-British thing among many people but that's a 'cultural' phenomenon that's fairly universal. I don't think it's got a whole lot to do with the UCI & cycling - the UCI btw headed by a an Englishman.

nak

pelevin wrote: »

Ireland isn't a traditional cycling nation but I've not noticed much European hate down the years for "King Kelly."

The Belgians love him - even have the King Kelly coffee (Irish Coffee) in the Tour of Flanders Museum as he's an honarary Flandrian.

ThisRegard

MrCreosote wrote: »

You're joking, right?

pelevin got in there before me, but there was protectionism from both the UCI and the peleton of Armstrong, how you're not aware of this at this point in time I've no idea.