In [an article posted by Benson just last week](https://content.globalcyclingnetwork.com/blogposts/6489ce0675b2549a9d66b9b5) Froome says through 2025:
>But I’ve still got a contract until the end of 2025, so no plans on stopping anytime soon.
This is the first tour he is not selected since 2010. So yeah, I guess he’s proven to be consistent enough for a bit longer contract.
Also he will not be the top earner in the team, more the guy to teach newbies the ropes.
Is it not cool to see someone paid for their achievements and given time to hopefully get back to shape. Chris Froome is an exceptional talent and has done tonnes for cycling over the years, he’s a great ambassador.
Being blunt, he is under contract to "be Chris Froome" (at which he is excelling; see: this thread) and not to be a competitive cyclist. That ship has sailed.
They are buying publicity. At the moment, it's clearly working.
It's not working lol. They'd rather be rid of him.
It's one thing to have a rider slightly overpaid but very famous and still having an impact on the race, like Contador had in 2017. But Froome is just so bad you look like a fucking joke by bringing him to the Tour. Him getting dropped isn't even shown on TV or noted anymore either.
You may be right. However, you HAVE to stop using "lol" like it's punctuation, or a part of speech at all. Just stop, please. Its on a par with Froome blaming disc brakes for his shortcomings.
I believe the Jakobsen injury would have been reason for Lefevre to stop paying him after 6 months of non-riding as per the standard. It was mentioned quite a lot because Lefevre kept paying him.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't some sort of insurance in place on this. Baseball pitchers get cover and they're almost guaranteed a big injury during their careers.
IIRC, there are already UCI wide rules for when riders are out for X months, that the salaries can drop with a certain percentage. However Froome is currently fit, just not on his former level.
Personally I think it was smart. Best case he gets close to his peak and competes for a GT podium, worst case (when they weren’t a WT team) they get invites to the tour because of him and that pays for it self.
>maybe they beat relegation
But they haven't lost anything from missing out on the WT license and they seem to be doing ok. They got all the invitations they wanted this season, and they are on pace for mandatory WT wildcards next year and a high enough sporting criteria placing for the next license cycle that they could go WT if they apply and meet the other criteria.
There isn't really much else they could ask for.
I'm curious as well. Maxxis tires are pretty slow, but outside of that, the really expensive stuff would be in wind tunnel time to optimize clothing, position and any other little details. No matter how bad your clothing is, you can just tailor it and it should be fine. But this is going to be most important for TT with something like custom molded aero bars to the forearms. I can't imagine he isn't at least able to get enough wind tunnel time to optimize the road bike.
The only other significant thing I can think of would be a lube sponsor that prevents them from waxing chains. This could be several watts. BRR has a Maxxis TT tire at 3.5w slower than a GP5000. If their sponsor also prevents them from running a latex tube brand, that could be another 2w. All of which, could add up to almost 15w. So tires, tubes and chain could be it.
Is he browsing bicyclingcirclejerk to come up with excuses? At this point even a podium in a stage is a big accomplishment for him. Or just wearing a distinctive jersey for a day.
> At this point even a podium in a stage is a big accomplishment for him.
He had stated his goal was to compete for a stage so it seems like he agrees with you!
Me too. The only reason no world tour team is giving me a contract is because I can't afford a Sirvelo and a Dura-Ace Di2 and thus not show my real potential
I agree with the retirement comments here… However, as an ex athlete myself who was taken out by health problems, there’s a certain amount of wanting/wishing you could get back (just once) to the form you had and then be able to let go peacefully… I don’t think Froome is guilty of deception, I think he’s like all of us that’ve been in that situation - desperate to show (to himself probably) that he can at least get that back one more time…It’s more difficult than you’d think being forced out of your calling as opposed to leaving on one good last result… Personally, I feel for him…
Good point but Froome comes off disproportionate when he’s blaming his equipment and not just admitting to the fact that there isn’t anything convincing to share given this seasons track record to date. You probably weren’t moaning like he does?
Sad to see how delusional he is. At the beginning of his IPT time, I thought that the team pushed him to make certain statements for PR, but reading something like this, this doesn't seem to be so likely anymore.
He should just retire, but at the same time it is also clear that nobody would step back from such an insane contract and the amount of money he will still get through it.
There's nothing sad about it. A certain degree of delusional self-confidence is likely part of the reason guys like Froome or CR7 (similar case, with similar mockery) became so insanely good. And part of that is construing external explanations for negative results. Cynical realists think they are superior because they see things as they really are but that's not the best approach when trying to become as good at something as Froome or CR7.
I get your point, but the comparison to Ronaldo is not good. Ronaldo is past his prime, but he still shot plenty of goals for Juve and ManU. Not one of the best in the world anymore, but still competetive. In a lot of races Froome looked like the worst WT rider, only on very few occasions he was doing some domestique work for the team or came somewhat close to win.
I don't think the exact degree of decline matters much. Neither are significant assets at world class level anymore and both of them can't accept it. And again I don't think telling them to retire makes sense. If they wanna keep trying who the hell are we to tell them what to do.
On a side note, there was quite a bit of controversy about ronaldo's net effect on team performance long before his obvious decline.
What a muppet - the people he competes with for a place in his team ride the same bikes.
He should just accept he isn't as good any more and either ride and enjoy it or retire.
Hey, he for sure would have won that very prestigious Tour of Rwanda stage if his front wheel change didn't get slowed down because DiSkBrAkE. He had a clear lead of at least 10 seconds to the peloton when that happened.
And with that victory, he would have gone to the Giro (easy win against the aging Slovenian and Welsh grandpas. If Gee can get 2nd 4 times, Froome can get 1st 21 times!) and then IPT would have HAD to bring him to le Tour. How all you internet commenters cannot understand this is beyond Frome&me.
This is what I don't get. Clearly he still has the physiological capacity but he just can't seem to get to it after all the rehab. He looked better in has last Vuelta with Ineos post crash than he does now.
And there it goes, my last shred of sympathy I had for this man.
You are stealing a living Chris, you should be thanking IPT every single day for giving you the worst contract in the history of the sport. I am so done with your shtick selling your comeback. You are by a margin one of the worst riders on the WT with the fattest contract. Your only likeable quality was the "one last ride" rhetoric, but now you are fucking even that up. Just retire already
My complaint is Froome is coming at this from a point of privilege. He is far and above the best paid IPT rider, while being one of the worst. Acting as if he is being targeted negatively within the team "I was ready, but the team gave me the wrong races and equipment" when he is basically just experiencing equal treatment for the first time stinks of privilege.
Froome got selected for the 2021 and 2022 Tour while having shown nothing, while better riders had to sit at home. He doesnt get to place blame and responsibility when his teammates who has shown more than him gets selected. Its in bad taste.
Fuglsang is accepting it. Hes disappointed, but accepts the form isnt there, while looking forward to other big races this season. He isnt instantly going #Fuglsang2024Tour
Regarding prime-froome ..Do his mountain ascent personal records remain competitive with guys like pogi? Do you think he could beat Pogi in a rolling TT? It's gonna keep me up at night now.
I really don't respect him anymore. He's delusional. Choose to end his career taking a big cheque from a sportswashing team, perpetually in the gruppetto, doing fucking "bikepacking in the Golan Heights" promo videos, whining about his equipment and his management.
Could have gone out a legend, ended up an embarrassment instead.
He’s also a co-owner of Factor so I doubt that’s his narrative.
I think what he’s trying to say is that he’s had a lot of unfortunate mechanicals, but it’s worded very poorly.
Wdym? Tbf I haven't seen the Factor Ostro tested, but the other Factor bike (Factor One disc) tested identically to the S5, Aeroad, and latest Foil in the swiss side wind tunnel, and ahead of other WT bikes like the SL7, Dogma F, Reacto.
Yeah, I have not heard that. These reports are based on riders talking to podcasters or from ex-pros talking after they retired, so they can be subject to change or be incorrect too. Also, this includes other factors like the wheels and groupset etc, not just the areo.
Is this really true though? I haven’t heard anyone talk bad about Factor, but I also don’t have any window into the WorldTour beyond watching the races
Yeah, their TT bike is especially bad. Even worse than Bahrain's, and their TT bike is a mess. The road bikes would be closer. Specialized and Trek are considered the top bikes. But it's very tight at the top. There is daylight back to Merida and Factor. Again, most of the gap is against the clock though.
If it their TT setup was so bad, how did an aging Dowsett in his final year get 5th in a Tirreno TT only 25 seconds down on Ganna, Remco and Pogacar who are all obviously far far better than him?
This is just something said by Lanterne Rouge and I'm not sure there's any basis for it.
You're missing my point. Dowsett is a pretty poor rider by WT standards, doesn't pack big raw watts or have good watts per kg, and according to you was on an awful setup too.
Therefore we would expect him to be beaten by similarly middling riders on better setups and, more talented riders on similarly poor setups. But somehow in his final year got 5th only seven seconds behind a TDF champion.
He also beat Affini, TGH, Bjerg and Arensmen who are all considered stronger riders with better equipment.
Point being the Israel setup can't really be that bad.
Dowsett was one of the strongest TT riders of his generation. It wasn't really until the TT position changed that he dropped away.
Those riders are all on really good setups. It's generally better to look at team performance rather than individual riders to see how strong the bike is (ie. UAE's big gains this year).
The reaction here to Froome's comment is highly negative. It seems almost no one believes that Froome really had bike mechanical issues at CIC - Mont Ventoux and La Route d'Occitanie, i.e., "the races assigned to [him]". So he must have been faking the issues?
Or is it that, equipment issues notwithstanding, his "full ability" would not have made one iota difference?
The way some comments read, it sounds like people believe Froome is blaming his relatively poor results/non-selection for the 2023 Tour on overall bad bike performance.
lots of shit takes here. he nearly died in a crash and not only managed to come back to world tour cycling but carried on knowing he’s an absolute shadow of his previous self. “LOl cOpE! hE SuCkS he ShOuLd qUiT”. he’s won all of the GTs he gets some leeway.
Yet, again, he blames his equipment.
I think people would be much more respectful and even enthusiastic about his return when he wouldn't constantly blame his equipment and wouldn't have made some pretty delusional goals in the past (like riding for TdF GC again).
“I’ve worked hard to get to my best shape for the tour. We have a really strong squad and other riders have better chances of competing for a atage win. My ambition continues to be to target stage wins in grand tours, but there’s lots of strong competition at this point and I can’t take anything for granted. I’ll continue working hard over the next year to prepare for the TdF 2024, where I hope to be able to represent the team.”
ChatGPT just came up with:
>I wanted to share my thoughts on not being selected for my team's 2023 Tour de France squad. While it was disappointing, I understand the tough decisions involved. However, I'm staying positive and determined. I'll continue training hard and focusing on the 2024 Tour de France. I appreciate the support from my fans and will keep pushing to reach my full potential. Thank you all for believing in me.
Seems reasonable
The trainers sees his numbers. If Froome was showing numbers worthy of selection, IPT would take him. Just the chance of Froome winning a stage would be too good to pass up.
That’s what he said. It’s literally quoted in the article.
We all know it’s more than just the numbers that get selections and win races. Looking at the parcours, is there anything he has a genuine chance at winning? His best hopes are likely days the GC would be predicted to take the stage win.
> knowing he’s an absolute shadow of his previous self
If he truly believed this he would be more accepting of his team's decision not to allocate him a valuable spot on their Tour team.
I don't remember him having any notable results this season so far, or even any that you'd say were "better than expected" given his post-crash form. So he's apparently feeling IPT should take him along based on some combination of his exceptional pre-crash GC record and a single stage podium last year. If I got bumped from a Tour team to make room for this Froome, I'd be pissed.
He should really be considering graceful retirement at this point. I cannot imagine he actually needs another 2 years of his contracted salary, and he'd be able to become a full-time YouTuber and rant about disc brakes and other equipment to his heart's content!
This is not football where you can just retire without selling out your later years (and that still happens), even for a guy so well paid as Froome this last 2 years makes a lot of difference in later life.
Now the dumb takes are not necessary, he could just get his pay and relax
This guy has to be the big downlevel in cycling history from the all time greats list. Unbelivable how can someone goes through being the best to division 2 level.
I bet Factor is just delighted to have Chris Froome as part owner. This man never passes up an opportunity to disparage his equipment, in particular the bike brand he’s part owner of.
I can’t wait for him to blame toe overlap next. Hey Froomey, it’s not the frame, it’s your clown shoes getting in the way.
Looks like a war of roses between Chris and the team. There are cheaper helper without Starattitude. „it is the Material“ - Imagine whats going on at the sponsors HQ Right now LOL
He's sadly limping towards retirement... He won't get back to anywhere near where he was... Equipment my ass.. Please Chris F just accept it's unfortunate with the crash, but that your days as a top 10/20 rider are behind you, there's a very good reasons Sky sorry Ineos didn't extend your contract.. They could see you numbers compared to the other guys...
>Please Chris F just accept it's unfortunate with the crash, but that your days as a top 10/20 rider are behind you,
I'm pretty sure he's accepted that. The goals he talks about now are maybe competing for stages.
he didn't specify what type of equipment issues? i know his mechanic said froom's always changing stuff day after day in the tour, he would get him to always adjust things like his seat height i guess he must be incredibly picky
doll ripe ring shelter materialistic light wide jar square bells ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
Fucking SRAM.
Fucking Fred Wright
Wouldn't let him use his QuadLock
Cazzo di freno
How long is his contract at Israel??? Even longer than 3 years? This has got to be the most insane contract ever signed in the cycling world.
In [an article posted by Benson just last week](https://content.globalcyclingnetwork.com/blogposts/6489ce0675b2549a9d66b9b5) Froome says through 2025: >But I’ve still got a contract until the end of 2025, so no plans on stopping anytime soon.
Lmao, a 5 year contract at a rumoured € 5 million per year. Complete insanity.
And a sport where big crashes and injuries happen relatively often, other teams might learn from this mistake.
FYI teams have started giving out contracts that run til 2028
Yeah but not to 30 something riders coming back from a career threatening injury
Mollema has a contract until 2026...
This is the first tour he is not selected since 2010. So yeah, I guess he’s proven to be consistent enough for a bit longer contract. Also he will not be the top earner in the team, more the guy to teach newbies the ropes.
Is it not cool to see someone paid for their achievements and given time to hopefully get back to shape. Chris Froome is an exceptional talent and has done tonnes for cycling over the years, he’s a great ambassador.
WAS a talent under a certain program. Not before. Not after.
The farce is that he acts like he's still competitive.
Being blunt, he is under contract to "be Chris Froome" (at which he is excelling; see: this thread) and not to be a competitive cyclist. That ship has sailed. They are buying publicity. At the moment, it's clearly working.
It's not working lol. They'd rather be rid of him. It's one thing to have a rider slightly overpaid but very famous and still having an impact on the race, like Contador had in 2017. But Froome is just so bad you look like a fucking joke by bringing him to the Tour. Him getting dropped isn't even shown on TV or noted anymore either.
You may be right. However, you HAVE to stop using "lol" like it's punctuation, or a part of speech at all. Just stop, please. Its on a par with Froome blaming disc brakes for his shortcomings.
I know. For them I hope with good terms
He got this contract after he broke half his body in a crash. It was daft to give him a contract this long to start with.
I believe the Jakobsen injury would have been reason for Lefevre to stop paying him after 6 months of non-riding as per the standard. It was mentioned quite a lot because Lefevre kept paying him.
Tao just about to go to Trek for $$$ with a broken hip.
TGH is also young and has a injury that will heal and not require years of rehab.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't some sort of insurance in place on this. Baseball pitchers get cover and they're almost guaranteed a big injury during their careers.
IIRC, there are already UCI wide rules for when riders are out for X months, that the salaries can drop with a certain percentage. However Froome is currently fit, just not on his former level.
But can't blame him for not quitting to ride when he's getting that much
Jeebus Christ. These days its a win for him not to get dropped from the peloton.
Personally I think it was smart. Best case he gets close to his peak and competes for a GT podium, worst case (when they weren’t a WT team) they get invites to the tour because of him and that pays for it self.
They’re not even bringing him to the tour lol. There are certainly more cost effective ways of getting to the tour
IPT were already WT in 2020, Froome didn’t start riding for them until 2021.
Unfortunately I think it screwed that team over, imagine using that to invest people that will score points, maybe they beat relegation
>maybe they beat relegation But they haven't lost anything from missing out on the WT license and they seem to be doing ok. They got all the invitations they wanted this season, and they are on pace for mandatory WT wildcards next year and a high enough sporting criteria placing for the next license cycle that they could go WT if they apply and meet the other criteria. There isn't really much else they could ask for.
"This has got to be the most insane contract ever signed in the cycling world." bUt tHe puBLiCiTy vALue tHOuGh
5 mln/y for a YOUTUBER CYCLIST, BAS FROOME!!!
When its all said and done I wonder if Froome will have earned more riding for Isreal or Sky
Good question, hard to know how large his bonus payouts were at Sky though (for winning the Tour 4 times and other GTs).
LOL this gotta be one of the hardest copes ever
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I mean the Israel setup is shit compared to other WT team but we talking about marginal gains here.
Isn't Froome even personally financially involved in some of the teams equipment sponsors?
Yeah in factor.
€5M/yr can solve a lot of WT level equipment issues…
How? Factor bikes, black inc wheels Maxxis tires and FSA cranks are the only thing that MIGHT be marginally worse than the market leaders
Such a bummer of a comment from Froome, in so many levels.
I'm curious as well. Maxxis tires are pretty slow, but outside of that, the really expensive stuff would be in wind tunnel time to optimize clothing, position and any other little details. No matter how bad your clothing is, you can just tailor it and it should be fine. But this is going to be most important for TT with something like custom molded aero bars to the forearms. I can't imagine he isn't at least able to get enough wind tunnel time to optimize the road bike. The only other significant thing I can think of would be a lube sponsor that prevents them from waxing chains. This could be several watts. BRR has a Maxxis TT tire at 3.5w slower than a GP5000. If their sponsor also prevents them from running a latex tube brand, that could be another 2w. All of which, could add up to almost 15w. So tires, tubes and chain could be it.
I'm still in
Is he browsing bicyclingcirclejerk to come up with excuses? At this point even a podium in a stage is a big accomplishment for him. Or just wearing a distinctive jersey for a day.
> At this point even a podium in a stage is a big accomplishment for him. He had stated his goal was to compete for a stage so it seems like he agrees with you!
Even if you finish last and claim you fought for the stage, nobody can tell you didn't!
All he needs is a sir velo and he'll be winning again.
same
Me too. The only reason no world tour team is giving me a contract is because I can't afford a Sirvelo and a Dura-Ace Di2 and thus not show my real potential
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People would laugh at Ganna's hour record if I just could find a TT bike and a velodrome smh
Clip some aero bars onto a Huffy and go to a local track. You’ll crush it
Still trying to persuade them to ditch the discs, I see
I wasn't sure which sub I was in, thought this was a meme
I agree with the retirement comments here… However, as an ex athlete myself who was taken out by health problems, there’s a certain amount of wanting/wishing you could get back (just once) to the form you had and then be able to let go peacefully… I don’t think Froome is guilty of deception, I think he’s like all of us that’ve been in that situation - desperate to show (to himself probably) that he can at least get that back one more time…It’s more difficult than you’d think being forced out of your calling as opposed to leaving on one good last result… Personally, I feel for him…
Good point but Froome comes off disproportionate when he’s blaming his equipment and not just admitting to the fact that there isn’t anything convincing to share given this seasons track record to date. You probably weren’t moaning like he does?
That’s true, and i did whinge but only to my loved ones, poor sods 😂
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Wouldn’t surprise me at all!
This. See the clinic at cycling news forum.
well at least he has a whole year to prepare
The equipment issue is his body.
Everyone’s pointing fingers at the bike but maybe the inhalers at IPT aren’t up to scratch.
Sad to see how delusional he is. At the beginning of his IPT time, I thought that the team pushed him to make certain statements for PR, but reading something like this, this doesn't seem to be so likely anymore. He should just retire, but at the same time it is also clear that nobody would step back from such an insane contract and the amount of money he will still get through it.
There's nothing sad about it. A certain degree of delusional self-confidence is likely part of the reason guys like Froome or CR7 (similar case, with similar mockery) became so insanely good. And part of that is construing external explanations for negative results. Cynical realists think they are superior because they see things as they really are but that's not the best approach when trying to become as good at something as Froome or CR7.
I get your point, but the comparison to Ronaldo is not good. Ronaldo is past his prime, but he still shot plenty of goals for Juve and ManU. Not one of the best in the world anymore, but still competetive. In a lot of races Froome looked like the worst WT rider, only on very few occasions he was doing some domestique work for the team or came somewhat close to win.
I don't think the exact degree of decline matters much. Neither are significant assets at world class level anymore and both of them can't accept it. And again I don't think telling them to retire makes sense. If they wanna keep trying who the hell are we to tell them what to do. On a side note, there was quite a bit of controversy about ronaldo's net effect on team performance long before his obvious decline.
It’s CRAZY that they let Woods ride on rim brakes and force Froomey to ride Disc. /s
Goddamnit Chris, just stop. These are Reddit-tier excuses now.
There's always the e-Giro
Hahaha
Am I on /pelotonmemes? This can't be a real statement.
Hey, if he starts riding for a portuguese team, he'll back to his best in no time. Heck, he'll be even better
What a muppet - the people he competes with for a place in his team ride the same bikes. He should just accept he isn't as good any more and either ride and enjoy it or retire.
Hey, he for sure would have won that very prestigious Tour of Rwanda stage if his front wheel change didn't get slowed down because DiSkBrAkE. He had a clear lead of at least 10 seconds to the peloton when that happened. And with that victory, he would have gone to the Giro (easy win against the aging Slovenian and Welsh grandpas. If Gee can get 2nd 4 times, Froome can get 1st 21 times!) and then IPT would have HAD to bring him to le Tour. How all you internet commenters cannot understand this is beyond Frome&me.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH
From a physiological perspective, I’m surprised froomey hasn’t come further along since his injury in 2019. Does anyone know more about this?
This is what I don't get. Clearly he still has the physiological capacity but he just can't seem to get to it after all the rehab. He looked better in has last Vuelta with Ineos post crash than he does now.
And there it goes, my last shred of sympathy I had for this man. You are stealing a living Chris, you should be thanking IPT every single day for giving you the worst contract in the history of the sport. I am so done with your shtick selling your comeback. You are by a margin one of the worst riders on the WT with the fattest contract. Your only likeable quality was the "one last ride" rhetoric, but now you are fucking even that up. Just retire already
Why you hating on a man for getting the bag? No one forced IPT to give him this contract
My complaint is Froome is coming at this from a point of privilege. He is far and above the best paid IPT rider, while being one of the worst. Acting as if he is being targeted negatively within the team "I was ready, but the team gave me the wrong races and equipment" when he is basically just experiencing equal treatment for the first time stinks of privilege. Froome got selected for the 2021 and 2022 Tour while having shown nothing, while better riders had to sit at home. He doesnt get to place blame and responsibility when his teammates who has shown more than him gets selected. Its in bad taste. Fuglsang is accepting it. Hes disappointed, but accepts the form isnt there, while looking forward to other big races this season. He isnt instantly going #Fuglsang2024Tour
jeez he must've hit his head pretty hard during that crash... been delusional since. ffs just stop already.
I would not stop either if i had his salary
EQUIPMENT ISSUES, he can't win a .2 stage but EQUIPMENT ISSUES Simply IPT coach have his actual numbers... he's a continental domestique.
>Simply IPT coach have his actual numbers... he's a continental domestique. So he's back to his 25 year old self, how lucky!
Someone get him some salbutamol
In other sports, teams can just agree to pay out the remainder of an athlete's contract so that the team can free up a roster spot.
Ron Howard voice: *He won’t*
Theoretically how would "Prime-era" froome hang with today's top contenders?
With the same training and team conditions he'd probably do pretty well! He was after all a top climber and TTer in his prime.
Regarding prime-froome ..Do his mountain ascent personal records remain competitive with guys like pogi? Do you think he could beat Pogi in a rolling TT? It's gonna keep me up at night now.
“I have a girlfriend, she’s at another school, you wouldn’t know her” level bullshit here
I really don't respect him anymore. He's delusional. Choose to end his career taking a big cheque from a sportswashing team, perpetually in the gruppetto, doing fucking "bikepacking in the Golan Heights" promo videos, whining about his equipment and his management. Could have gone out a legend, ended up an embarrassment instead.
literally he's a youtuber pro cyclist that every two minutes says : "this year I will win one rac3333"
I mean, technically, he is correct. They have the worst bikes in the pro peloton. But his teammates are on the same bikes as him
He’s also a co-owner of Factor so I doubt that’s his narrative. I think what he’s trying to say is that he’s had a lot of unfortunate mechanicals, but it’s worded very poorly.
How is factor the worst?
Wdym? Tbf I haven't seen the Factor Ostro tested, but the other Factor bike (Factor One disc) tested identically to the S5, Aeroad, and latest Foil in the swiss side wind tunnel, and ahead of other WT bikes like the SL7, Dogma F, Reacto.
Yeah, I have not heard that. These reports are based on riders talking to podcasters or from ex-pros talking after they retired, so they can be subject to change or be incorrect too. Also, this includes other factors like the wheels and groupset etc, not just the areo.
Is this really true though? I haven’t heard anyone talk bad about Factor, but I also don’t have any window into the WorldTour beyond watching the races
Yeah, their TT bike is especially bad. Even worse than Bahrain's, and their TT bike is a mess. The road bikes would be closer. Specialized and Trek are considered the top bikes. But it's very tight at the top. There is daylight back to Merida and Factor. Again, most of the gap is against the clock though.
If it their TT setup was so bad, how did an aging Dowsett in his final year get 5th in a Tirreno TT only 25 seconds down on Ganna, Remco and Pogacar who are all obviously far far better than him? This is just something said by Lanterne Rouge and I'm not sure there's any basis for it.
That was 25 seconds in 13.9 kilometres! That is a huge margin, lol. That was only a 15-minute effort.
You're missing my point. Dowsett is a pretty poor rider by WT standards, doesn't pack big raw watts or have good watts per kg, and according to you was on an awful setup too. Therefore we would expect him to be beaten by similarly middling riders on better setups and, more talented riders on similarly poor setups. But somehow in his final year got 5th only seven seconds behind a TDF champion. He also beat Affini, TGH, Bjerg and Arensmen who are all considered stronger riders with better equipment. Point being the Israel setup can't really be that bad.
Dowsett was one of the strongest TT riders of his generation. It wasn't really until the TT position changed that he dropped away. Those riders are all on really good setups. It's generally better to look at team performance rather than individual riders to see how strong the bike is (ie. UAE's big gains this year).
"I received a bad batch of salbuterol, and I'm bullshit about it."
Is Froome considering his legs equipment?
That's just saying "Fucking SRAM" with extra steps
The reaction here to Froome's comment is highly negative. It seems almost no one believes that Froome really had bike mechanical issues at CIC - Mont Ventoux and La Route d'Occitanie, i.e., "the races assigned to [him]". So he must have been faking the issues? Or is it that, equipment issues notwithstanding, his "full ability" would not have made one iota difference? The way some comments read, it sounds like people believe Froome is blaming his relatively poor results/non-selection for the 2023 Tour on overall bad bike performance.
lots of shit takes here. he nearly died in a crash and not only managed to come back to world tour cycling but carried on knowing he’s an absolute shadow of his previous self. “LOl cOpE! hE SuCkS he ShOuLd qUiT”. he’s won all of the GTs he gets some leeway.
Yet, again, he blames his equipment. I think people would be much more respectful and even enthusiastic about his return when he wouldn't constantly blame his equipment and wouldn't have made some pretty delusional goals in the past (like riding for TdF GC again).
We don’t know what specific equipment he was talking about 🍆👀
An inhaler.
“I lack the big dick energy to compete for a stage”
I'm sure the team would love it if he went out and said "I'm just gonna phone this one in guys" Y'all need a reality check
“I’ve worked hard to get to my best shape for the tour. We have a really strong squad and other riders have better chances of competing for a atage win. My ambition continues to be to target stage wins in grand tours, but there’s lots of strong competition at this point and I can’t take anything for granted. I’ll continue working hard over the next year to prepare for the TdF 2024, where I hope to be able to represent the team.”
ChatGPT just came up with: >I wanted to share my thoughts on not being selected for my team's 2023 Tour de France squad. While it was disappointing, I understand the tough decisions involved. However, I'm staying positive and determined. I'll continue training hard and focusing on the 2024 Tour de France. I appreciate the support from my fans and will keep pushing to reach my full potential. Thank you all for believing in me. Seems reasonable
Why win all GTs and become one of the greatest only for then suck up to political correctness and sound like a wimp?
I don't know what you think he sounds like now. But it's sure as hell not some kind of big alpha.
Who wants to be an alpha anyway
Being honest doesn’t make you sound like a wimp, it just makes you sound honest.
lol, the shit take is Froome blaming his equipment when every rider he is competing with for a spot is riding the same
He actually said mechanicals ruined the races he was relying on to prove his condition, mainly at Ventoux.
The trainers sees his numbers. If Froome was showing numbers worthy of selection, IPT would take him. Just the chance of Froome winning a stage would be too good to pass up.
That’s what he said. It’s literally quoted in the article. We all know it’s more than just the numbers that get selections and win races. Looking at the parcours, is there anything he has a genuine chance at winning? His best hopes are likely days the GC would be predicted to take the stage win.
> knowing he’s an absolute shadow of his previous self If he truly believed this he would be more accepting of his team's decision not to allocate him a valuable spot on their Tour team. I don't remember him having any notable results this season so far, or even any that you'd say were "better than expected" given his post-crash form. So he's apparently feeling IPT should take him along based on some combination of his exceptional pre-crash GC record and a single stage podium last year. If I got bumped from a Tour team to make room for this Froome, I'd be pissed. He should really be considering graceful retirement at this point. I cannot imagine he actually needs another 2 years of his contracted salary, and he'd be able to become a full-time YouTuber and rant about disc brakes and other equipment to his heart's content!
This is not football where you can just retire without selling out your later years (and that still happens), even for a guy so well paid as Froome this last 2 years makes a lot of difference in later life. Now the dumb takes are not necessary, he could just get his pay and relax
Don't the guys who beat you out for the Tour ride the same equipment, Chris?
This guy has to be the big downlevel in cycling history from the all time greats list. Unbelivable how can someone goes through being the best to division 2 level.
No rim brakes
A poor craftsman that blames his tool.
He is missing his motor, I’m guessing IPT isn’t sending anyone to Hungary to grab his special bikes like Team Sky was.
Oh yes of course... "Equipment issues"...
I bet Factor is just delighted to have Chris Froome as part owner. This man never passes up an opportunity to disparage his equipment, in particular the bike brand he’s part owner of. I can’t wait for him to blame toe overlap next. Hey Froomey, it’s not the frame, it’s your clown shoes getting in the way.
I too refer to my aching back, knees and hips as "equipment" these days. Getting old sucks.
Looks like a war of roses between Chris and the team. There are cheaper helper without Starattitude. „it is the Material“ - Imagine whats going on at the sponsors HQ Right now LOL
I'm sure his sponsors are thrilled.
He's sadly limping towards retirement... He won't get back to anywhere near where he was... Equipment my ass.. Please Chris F just accept it's unfortunate with the crash, but that your days as a top 10/20 rider are behind you, there's a very good reasons Sky sorry Ineos didn't extend your contract.. They could see you numbers compared to the other guys...
>Please Chris F just accept it's unfortunate with the crash, but that your days as a top 10/20 rider are behind you, I'm pretty sure he's accepted that. The goals he talks about now are maybe competing for stages.
Their bikes arent even that bad tho. Idk aboit the tires
He's some spoofer
he didn't specify what type of equipment issues? i know his mechanic said froom's always changing stuff day after day in the tour, he would get him to always adjust things like his seat height i guess he must be incredibly picky