Chris Froome in discussions over a mid-season transfer?

[DieselnDust]

Bernal did get lucky last tour with that shortened stage, although he does have bags of talent. He has always come across with a sense of humility, and a good attitude (which is what Brailsford liked), hard to see him usurping team mate Froome. But that was then, now is now, things have changed.

 

 

I really wouldn;t call him lucky in the sense that luck payed him more favour than anyone else. He as off the front when the stage was stopped at the top of the climb. He made his racing winning by then. It could have been a bigger gap, perhaps a smaller one, we'll never know because history shows the stage stopped at the top of Col d' Iseran. Fact is he had the form to win.

 

I'm really quite excited to see where Alaphilippe is in terms of form. He Hasn't had the classics run up to give us a sense of where he is but having kept yellow for so long to finally collapse on Stage 19 must have given he and the team something to think about.

 

with the extra month to prepare and with very little racing to sharpen race craft and lot of fresh legs we might see one of the fastest tours since the Pharmstrong era

[J Wakefield]

Edit - no reply.  

Edited July 13, 2020 by J Wakefield

[J Wakefield]

I always love how people can argue whose guess is better...

 

There is NO indication of form, so we are all talking about 'then'. Who knows, maybe the lockdown has taken it's toll mentally on some of the big names. Their conditioning isn't working re timing etc etc...

 

Some guys might have had an amazing out of contest out of testing dope up during lock down and are looking and feeling stronger than a long haired Sampson. 

 

None of us know. 

 

While I appreciate John has 'inside info' being part of the setup at UAE and a well respected coach to many, he is also playing the 'before' game.

 

We are all pretty caught up in the big names as the past is all we have to go on. I am hoping for a breakout nobody in the shape of his life getting in a few breaks early and suddenly 'oh dear! The names are all 6 minutes adrift with 12 days of racing to go.......

 

Agree with this post and point and everyone is playing the before game. Everyone here is.

[Shebeen]

I always love how people can argue whose guess is better...

 

There is NO indication of form, so we are all talking about 'then'. Who knows, maybe the lockdown has taken it's toll mentally on some of the big names. Their conditioning isn't working re timing etc etc...

 

Some guys might have had an amazing out of contest out of testing dope up during lock down and are looking and feeling stronger than a long haired Sampson. 

 

None of us know. 

 

While I appreciate John has 'inside info' being part of the setup at UAE and a well respected coach to many, he is also playing the 'before' game.

 

We are all pretty caught up in the big names as the past is all we have to go on. I am hoping for a breakout nobody in the shape of his life getting in a few breaks early and suddenly 'oh dear! The names are all 6 minutes adrift with 12 days of racing to go.......

 

firstly, I'm assuming that wada/drugs testers haves not been able to get around as much as before (or has lockdown meant that riders were easier to find at home?). the colombians have been sort of notorious for not having anything whilst they train at home - is everyone got the same rope this time - who knows.

 

secondly, i like that samson99 liked the post despite the fact that no one knows who Sampson is..

[100Tours]

Personally I find this quite a sad ending for Chris. Brailsford 'deciding not to renew his contract' stings a bit.

 

I think he has played a meaningful leadership role at Sky/Ineos, and he was the poster boy for being loyal to the team - he worked for the team when asked, and he grew to lead the team from within - this (I think) gives you license to ask others to do the same for you. He also has a fair amount of respect from the peleton which makes his team members want to ride for him. I'm not sure what team is waiting for him at ISN, but right now it feels a bit like the NTT experience which has had a few late career stars, but never seemed to assemble a team around them.

 

I am cautious on the South Americans capabilities to lead a team (maybe this is just from seeing the Movistar experience) - Quintana has been perpetually moody and selfish and never made the jump to actually leading the team. Carapaz and Bernal have yet to demonstrate leadership, and I don't think that Brailsford can fill any gaps here from inside of the team car - time will tell. So it's Team versus Machine next year The teams that actually look like teams are Quickstep (the wolfpack - I like that ), Sunweb (we are one collective..), Mitchelton, EF, and I liked Sky under Wiggo and Froome.

 

Maybe he manages to pull something out of the hat next year, but IMHO it would have made a better story for him to have retired out of Ineos.

[Cav']

Edit - no reply.

Got your reply via email notification, was actually a very decent response to me. (Apologies for the twatting, I get worked up easily)

[kosmonooit]

I'm with you 100Tours, it's seemingly not a happy ending,

 

Bernal might have the legs but he does not have the maturity to pick up where Chris will be leaving off. Many of his victories have been down to clever tactics, Chris and Nico were a great team. However there is a lot of young talent there for a new skool  winning team to take shape, ie Tao GH