Froome moving on !

[MichaelB]

Dunno about that. This new crop of young fellas and ladies seems to want to race and win everything, like they did up until Hinault's day. Sheesh, Marianne Vos has been doing it since she was an embryo. Nowadays VinnegardIcantspellhisname is an outlier in only popping up in TDF prep races.

True, Pogi is probably the closest to the Merckx type.

Be interesting to see him in 5 years !

[jasonc]

Froome to do Arctic Race of Norway

[MichaelB]

Froome to do Arctic Race of Norway

4 Stages and 643km.

How many hours will he lose ?

Will he finish ?

[fat and old]

Will he finish ?

What, the sign in? Maybe.

[MichaelB]

Will he finish ?

What, the sign in? Maybe.

1st three stages have > 2,500m climbing in each, and the last has 1,800m.

I reckon dropped like a sack of mouldy taters

[warthog1]

Why is he still riding I wonder? Can't be too uplifting or enjoyable being spat out the back all of the time.

[MichaelB]

Why is he still riding I wonder? Can't be too uplifting or enjoyable being spat out the back all of the time.

Misguided self belief thinking he can still make it …

[warthog1]

Why is he still riding I wonder? Can't be too uplifting or enjoyable being spat out the back all of the time.

Misguided self belief thinking he can still make it …

I was thinking poor financial management. Needs the moulah?

[MichaelB]

He's a part owner of Factor, so maybe still a good advertising link ? Also, maybe on road testing and feedback ?

Whatever it is, it can't be for results ....

[warthog1]

True. They aren't ever coming again.

[MichaelB]

1 stage done :

85th (of 108) and same time as the other 91 riders.

Will the hill at the start crack him ....

[elantra]

1 stage done :

85th (of 108) and same time as the other 91 riders.

Will the hill at the start crack him ....

Stage 1 : Victory to Alexander Kristoff in a hectic bunch sprint.

Here is a very watchable stage highlights which opens with a confident looking Chris Froome and finishes with Alexander Kristoff giving a jubilant interview.

https://youtu.be/bIbxTVEFFVw?si=iqE6Nm2vNw6KSgZb

[MichaelB]

And Kristoff nabs a 2nd stage win !

Froomey finishes the stage, again in the eighties.

86th of 106 finishers (two DNF's) and 4:02 down (last of the IPT team, and all others finish on 0:00)

Now he's 82nd on GC, 4:22 down on Kristoff.

Stage 3 : Nasty little climb at the end, but 155km with 2,715m elevation gain.

[fat and old]

Yeah, but he's killing Pierre LaTour! GO FROOMAY, GO. CRUSH THE FRENCHIE!!!!!!

[foo on patrol]

Yeah, but he's killing Pierre LaTour! GO FROOMAY, GO. CRUSH THE FRENCHIE!!!!!!

Foo

[find_bruce]

& LaTour got the message that he was riding like carp & withdrew

[MichaelB]

He's made it through the 3rd Stage, looking good to finish in the Top 100.

He managed 77th on the stage (Latern Rouge for IPT) a gallant 7:21 behind the stage winner and almost 6min behind the penultimate IPT rider.

Despite finishing 77th, he now slipped to 85th on GC (down 2) to 12:34 arrears of 104 riders (two DNS on stage).

Only 5 more need to DNF/DNS on the final stage and he guaranteed to stay in the Top 100 !

Go froomedog !



157km and a sedate 1,880 meters gain

[fat and old]

& LaTour got the message that he was riding like carp & withdrew

Is he ex French military?

[MichaelB]

He's made it through the 3rd Stage, looking good to finish in the Top 100.

He managed 77th on the stage (Latern Rouge for IPT) a gallant 7:21 behind the stage winner and almost 6min behind the penultimate IPT rider.

Despite finishing 77th, he now slipped to 85th on GC (down 2) to 12:34 arrears of 104 riders (two DNS on stage).

Only 5 more need to DNF/DNS on the final stage and he guaranteed to stay in the Top 100 !

Go froomedog !



157km and a sedate 1,880 meters gain

WOOT !!!

He finished a stage race !!

99th on Stage and only 11:28 back from the leader.

3 x DNF's, so 101 finishers overall.

Froomedog finished in 89th on GC (losing a further 4 places) (AT) 24:12 down, a healthy 20min up on the Lantern Rouge !

His record so far this year ;
29 race days
4,035km ridden
27th on GC at Tour du Rwanda
Tirreno-ADriaticto - DNS Stage 5
47th at Mercan 'Tour Classic Ales-Maritimes
81st on GC at Dauhphine
103rd on GC at Sibiu Cycling Tour
89th on GC at Artic Tour of Norway

UCI Points haul in 2024 = 0

[fat and old]

UCI Points haul in 2024 = 0

To be fair, F&O UCI total =0 as well

Paid a damn sight less too

[fat and old]

Speaking to Velo earlier this month at the Arctic Race of Norway, Froome hinted at retirement, but said he would like to try to race the Tour de France one more time.

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/roa ... -a-espana/

I’d like to race the TDF once. Just once. But being useless I guess I’m in the same boat as Froomay

[MichaelB]

Speaking to Velo earlier this month at the Arctic Race of Norway, Froome hinted at retirement, but said he would like to try to race the Tour de France one more time.

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/roa ... -a-espana/

I’d like to race the TDF once. Just once. But being useless I guess I’m in the same boat as Froomay

He may "like" all he wants, but unless he has a miracle turn around in form, he ain't going anywhere near a WT race anytime soon.

I mean, if he actually won a lower tier race or even finished on the podium consistently, maybe......

[fat and old]

He’s really delusional aye? Kinda like a Trump lite. I don’t get why he keeps allowing himself to be portrayed this way?

[MichaelB]

To underscore the lack of points contribution by Froome, his last season before the big crash, 2018, he scored 2,111 points

From there on, understandably for the 1st few years, it was low. Prior crash - Blue, Crash year - Orange, Post Crash - Red

2016 - 3,771 points
2017 - 3,692 points
2018 - 2,111 points
2019 - 50.5 UCI Points
2020 - 0 and a 15 point penalty
2021 - 18 points
2022 - 40 points
2023 - 8 points
2024 (YTD) - 0 points

Sheesh

[MichaelB]

He's missing the limelight and still nothing listed for the remainder of 2024.

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/chr ... w-honestly

Chris Froome had hoped to race the Tour de France this year but was not selected. Ever since, he has just been filling in the calendar where the team asks him to; but hopes to return still next year. At the end of the Vuelta a España, he talked with the Spanish media, recalling some of his most memorable moments in the race.

He does not know if he will race again in 2025: "I'm still waiting for them to give me the calendar," he says; and regarding his final career goal? "To ride the Tour again and win a race again, although I know it's difficult."

Surely he's gotta understand that he's just not capable any more of racing at that top level ?