Pro Cycling Chit Chat

[blahblah]

Missed it today, due to the Snooker...

It's really very special what he has done after so long out.

[murf]

+ Pidcock got a one day win today (beating van Aert and Trentin from a 3 man group) - just 14 years younger than Cav!

[blahblah]

Pipkin seems to be very good, and didn't come through Sky etc?

Is there a Tour of Albania?

[blahblah]

Great finish Mr Grimsdale.....

[sibrown4]

Incidentally a Yorkshire lass won the ladies Brabantse Pijl.

Sadly Ruth Winder, born in Keighley rides for the US.

[blahblah]

Great Amstel and Norman (Wisdom/Pipkin) is going to be a bit of a star.....

[unc.si.]

Yes, very good AGR with Wout romping home by all of 3mm from Pidcock.

Cav won the final stage in Turkey as well

[murf]

Yes, very good AGR with Wout romping home by all of 3mm from Pidcock.

Cav won the final stage in Turkey as well

I've seen the pic and you can't convince me Pidcock didn't win....by 0.3mm.

Even VAR couldn't have denied it!

[forestfan]

Yes, very good AGR with Wout romping home by all of 3mm from Pidcock.

Cav won the final stage in Turkey as well

I've seen the pic and you can't convince me Pidcock didn't win....by 0.3mm.

Even VAR couldn't have denied it!

Won by an armpit?

[sibrown4]

Casting my eye over today’s results in the prologue of the Tour de Romandie the man in 130th place is Chris Froome. Once upon a time an ITT with a hill would have been meat and drink to him. Makes you wonder why Israeli SUN are paying him so much. Can’t be to sell shirts.

[blahblah]

Casting my eye over today’s results in the prologue of the Tour de Romandie the man in 130th place is Chris Froome. Once upon a time an ITT with a hill would have been meat and drink to him. Makes you wonder why Israeli SUN are paying him so much. Can’t be to sell shirts.

Or why he has gone shite?

[forestfan]

Or why he has gone shite?

Because he had an injury that would have ended practically anyone else’s career, even if they’d been 10 years younger?

[sibrown4]

Or why he has gone shite?

Because he had an injury that would have ended practically anyone else’s career, even if they’d been 10 years younger?

Yes thats right. Must be hard to still compete when you know you cant reach the heights you once did. Good luck to him but I cant imagine how he feels.

[forestfan]

Or why he has gone shite?

Because he had an injury that would have ended practically anyone else’s career, even if they’d been 10 years younger?

Yes thats right. Must be hard to still compete when you know you cant reach the heights you once did. Good luck to him but I cant imagine how he feels.

Surprising really given he’s got nothing left to prove and no obvious “what might have been” gaps on his list of achievements. I know, he probably wanted to join the 5-time Tour winners, or even to be the second first man to surpass that but I think he’s unique in winning it 4 times anyway!

[murf]

I was of the opinion/hope that he was deliberately building up slowly and would be a top rider again (eg TdF podium if not winning) but the longer it goes on the more it looks like the sad last straw clutching of a drowning man.

[unc.si.]

to be honest, whilst I've never warmed to him particularly (dont know if its because he has such a horrible riding style or just the fact that he comes across a bit cold), I have a lot of respect for him for giving it a good go to get back racing at the top level after that crash. Harder to recover when you're older as well, and would have been very easy just to retire.

I guess you could be cynical and say he's just done it for the last big payday to set him up for a long retirement, but I do think he's doing it to give the Tour one last good go.

sadly though he seems to have plateaued a long way short of where he needs to be and it just doesn't look like he's going to get there. Must be horrible for him really. Even at his best (and his best was exceptionally good) I think he'd be struggling at his age with the group of great young riders coming though. At the moment he's not even looking good enough to fetch the bottles to be honest. Hopefully he at least manages to get to a point where he can at shake things up on a few stages, although if he can't I'd rather see him not race than be faced with the sad spectacle of the once great champion climbing off mid race and into the broom wagon.

[unc.si.]

did anyone see LBL by the way. Great race with a great finish. Ala is just destined not to win it

[blahblah]

did anyone see LBL by the way. Great race with a great finish. Ala is just destined not to win it

Yep they have all been good. And had GT candidates doing very well.

It looks like the young ones have taken over, with only Cav fighting the tide and I'm interested in how Satan gets on once he is clear of COVID.

[forestfan]

to be honest, whilst I've never warmed to him particularly (dont know if its because he has such a horrible riding style or just the fact that he comes across a bit cold), I have a lot of respect for him for giving it a good go to get back racing at the top level after that crash. Harder to recover when you're older as well, and would have been very easy just to retire.

I guess you could be cynical and say he's just done it for the last big payday to set him up for a long retirement, but I do think he's doing it to give the Tour one last good go.

sadly though he seems to have plateaued a long way short of where he needs to be and it just doesn't look like he's going to get there. Must be horrible for him really. Even at his best (and his best was exceptionally good) I think he'd be struggling at his age with the group of great young riders coming though. At the moment he's not even looking good enough to fetch the bottles to be honest. Hopefully he at least manages to get to a point where he can at shake things up on a few stages, although if he can't I'd rather see him not race than be faced with the sad spectacle of the once great champion climbing off mid race and into the broom wagon.

Yeah, agree with all of that. He perhaps wouldn’t be competing with Pog and Rog and Bernal (is he back to form?) or maybe even the younger Brits now, in any case. But will want to go out on his own terms anyway.

[forestfan]

What do Benjamin Netanyahu and Chris Froome have in common? They’ve both been deposed as leader of Israel today…

[murf]

What do Benjamin Netanyahu and Chris Froome have in common? They’ve both been deposed as leader of Israel today…

Froome still could go as a domestique/backbencher to Michael Wood....

[Smurphy Paw]

What do Benjamin Netanyahu and Chris Froome have in common? They’ve both been deposed as leader of Israel today…

Froome still could go as a domestique/backbencher to Michael Wood....

In theory, yes. But not much call for a domestique who can’t currently keep up with the peloton

[murf]

...but do the compulsory daily shots of Froome being dropped count as good advertising for the sponsors?


(Not really sure what counts as good advertising when it comes to sportwashing)

[forestfan]

What do Benjamin Netanyahu and Chris Froome have in common? They’ve both been deposed as leader of Israel today…

Froome still could go as a domestique/backbencher to Michael Wood....

Isn’t that a service station on the M5?

[unc.si.]

I see they've signed Richard Charnock as well

[unc.si.]

I guess Froome will probably be in the team. He wasn't too bad in the Dauphine and he should be able to do a job for the team and then maybe by the Vuelta he might be able to do a bit more and go for a stage win?

[forestfan]

I think he’s deluding himself even more than Andy Murray, in terms of believing he can be even 50% of what he once was.

[unc.si.]

Road captain confirmed.
Suspect Froome knows that he's nowhere near being competitive but is hoping that he can be a bit better again in the TdF, then step up again in the Vuelta and then maybe come back stronger next year.

No, he'll never be the rider he was, but as long as he can carry bottles, do some work on key stages and be there to help with the tactical decisions he can probably do a job for the team. If he's there as leader then it would be pretty sad to watch, but if he's going with no aspirations of winning but to do a specific role for the team then great and best of luck to him.

He's won 7 Grand tours. Only Merckx, Hinault and Anquetil have won more. That experience of how to win and the Skyborg mentality has to be worth a lot to a team. Worth the salary they're paying him? - probably not but good on him to be honest. Earn the cash while you can.

[sibrown4]

Road captain confirmed.
Suspect Froome knows that he's nowhere near being competitive but is hoping that he can be a bit better again in the TdF, then step up again in the Vuelta and then maybe come back stronger next year.

No, he'll never be the rider he was, but as long as he can carry bottles, do some work on key stages and be there to help with the tactical decisions he can probably do a job for the team. If he's there as leader then it would be pretty sad to watch, but if he's going with no aspirations of winning but to do a specific role for the team then great and best of luck to him.

He's won 7 Grand tours. Only Merckx, Hinault and Anquetil have won more. That experience of how to win and the Skyborg mentality has to be worth a lot to a team. Worth the salary they're paying him? - probably not but good on him to be honest. Earn the cash while you can.

The kudos of having him for the sponsors probably justifies his pay in their eyes. Its the draw of his name and not really for what he can now do on a bike.

[forestfan]

Surprising how few have beaten that total, given how people tend to dominate an era to an extent. I know, almost nobody tends to have a serious go at all three in one year. And there’s a few others on 7, including Contador who was stripped of at least one title.

Froome is also one of only seven men to have won all three during their career, looking at the all-time list.