Sky TdF team...

[suzeworld]

Ironically, just reading BW's second autobiography (my time) and the bit where he says Sky had learnt their lesson about needing a second string in case the main GC contender gets smashed up in Le Tour.

ERM ...... Shome mishtake there then.

In his own words in his own book he makes much of his times spent supporting other riders, his willingness to do that in a variety of contexts....So, I don't see why he couldn't be allowed to bring his formidable fire-power and experience to this year's contest, in support of Froome

Well, my own opinion is that Froome is a whiney brat who made that option too difficult, but really, we don't know, do we!

 

[suzeworld]

BTW, regardless of who is in better form and likely to win on this course ... which no doubt IS Froome, I still find BW much more fun to support, and do have some sympathy with the poster who mentioned the Steve Davis effect. Froome is not an endearing character to me.

Hey ho, I'll still enjoy it and cheer any rider over any stage line. They're all awesome, really.

 

[Va Va Froome]

They should be able to keep Wiggins happy by sending him to the Vuelta as team leader. Might even win the bloody thing and end up as the first Brit to have won the Vuelta! Then he'd have to miss next year's TdF too as he tried to complete the set in the 2015 Giro!!!

 

[jifdave]

They should be able to keep Wiggins happy by sending him to the Vuelta as team leader. Might even win the bloody thing and end up as the first Brit to have won the Vuelta! Then he'd have to miss next year's TdF too as he tried to complete the set in the 2015 Giro!!!

He is riding the vuelta as practice for the world TT so don't expect him to go for gc

 

[zizou]

In his own words in his own book he makes much of his times spent supporting other riders, his willingness to do that in a variety of contexts....So, I don't see why he couldn't be allowed to bring his formidable fire-power and experience to this year's contest, in support of Froome

Well, my own opinion is that Froome is a whiney brat who made that option too difficult, but really, we don't know, do we!

The key point being in his own words. His record of doing on the road rather than paper is a bit more mixed

 

[suzeworld]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/20...rouge-max-leonard-reviews-cycling-tour-france

Taking of autobiogs, Mr Froome has got his out.
Read a revue here. Apparently it starts with him sacrificing stolen bunnies to his pet snakes.
Natural born killers.

 

[raindog]

Apparently it starts with him sacrificing stolen bunnies to his pet snakes.

That makes you laugh?

 

[tug benson]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/20...rouge-max-leonard-reviews-cycling-tour-france

Taking of autobiogs, Mr Froome has got his out.
Read a revue here. Apparently it starts with him sacrificing stolen bunnies to his pet snakes.
Natural born killers.

And if you read his book he goes on to say even as an adult the horror of doing that still hurts him and he feels guilty about it

 

[Apollonius]

Look, can we all stop being silly about Froome. If you look at him in the flesh and see the way his team look up to him you will know he is no spoilt brat prima donna. They adore him and will lay it all out for him. Wiggins gets respect too, but people sometimes have to tread carefully round him and he needs a lot of nurturing from Shane Sutton mostly.
I am someone who has returned to cycling as a rider and a fan after being on the fringes only for most of my adult life - work does this to you! I appreciate what Sky and all their riders have done for UK cycling. They more than anybody put cycling into the fashionable, cool even, place it is today. You may no like this, but it has done a lot for cycling in this country. Yorkshire this weekend is going to be massive - right up there with the Olympics. Sky, and Wiggins, and Froome too have done enormous amounts to bring this to us. Enjoy and be glad.

 

[RobNewcastle]

There's some total bollocks being spoken about Froome here presumably from Wiggins fans. In a podcast I listened to recently discussing the Froome/Wiggins tour selection issue they mentioned a comment from David Walsh who travelled with sky last year. He talks about the scene in the bus/hotel after Froome got completely isolated in the Pyrenees last year when all his teammates wilted. There wasn't an ounce of aggression towards teammates and just full respect for the efforts they'd put in on the day even though it'd been a disaster. That hardly smacks of the type of person people are making Froome out to be on here.

We don't know the full story but for whatever reason Wiggins and Froome don't get on. Brailsford has made a sensible decision, Froome can win the tour Wiggins couldn't and ultimately hasn't been selected. Move on people.

 

[Va Va Froome]

Look, can we all stop being silly about Froome. If you look at him in the flesh and see the way his team look up to him you will know he is no spoilt brat prima donna. They adore him and will lay it all out for him. Wiggins gets respect too, but people sometimes have to tread carefully round him and he needs a lot of nurturing from Shane Sutton mostly.
I am someone who has returned to cycling as a rider and a fan after being on the fringes only for most of my adult life - work does this to you! I appreciate what Sky and all their riders have done for UK cycling. They more than anybody put cycling into the fashionable, cool even, place it is today. You may no like this, but it has done a lot for cycling in this country. Yorkshire this weekend is going to be massive - right up there with the Olympics. Sky, and Wiggins, and Froome too have done enormous amounts to bring this to us. Enjoy and be glad.

Snap. As a countryside kid, I loved going on bike rides but as I grew older bikes just sort of fell out of my life.

Team Sky, Wiggins and Cavandish were a pretty big part of getting me back into cycling. As was my compatriot, Chris Hoy, by winning all those Olympic medals. And it was following Froome-dog on the ITV TdF programme last year that enticed me to buy a road bike and sign up to the Cycle Chat website!

Yup, all it took was 20-odd Olympic medals and a couple of Tour de France victories but they convinced me to get off my couch and get back into it - and I've never been healthier in over a decade!

 

[Crackle]

It's good tnat TeamSky has inspired so many. It was the TdF on channel4, years ago, which got me into pro racing, I hope most of you go on to appreciate the wider sport as well, that's not meant to be patronising, it's meant to infer that there's even more to enjoy if you do.

 

[thom]

There's some total bollocks being spoken about Froome here presumably from Wiggins fans. In a podcast I listened to recently discussing the Froome/Wiggins tour selection issue they mentioned a comment from David Walsh who travelled with sky last year. He talks about the scene in the bus/hotel after Froome got completely isolated in the Pyrenees last year when all his teammates wilted. There wasn't an ounce of aggression towards teammates and just full respect for the efforts they'd put in on the day even though it'd been a disaster. That hardly smacks of the type of person people are making Froome out to be on here.

We don't know the full story but for whatever reason Wiggins and Froome don't get on. Brailsford has made a sensible decision, Froome can win the tour Wiggins couldn't and ultimately hasn't been selected. Move on people.

The way I see it is people haven't quite got their heads around Froome's personality and how truely awesome he is as a rider. It takes time and such is the sad way with people in the UK, perhaps a bit of vulnerability and failure along the way before some cycling fans will identify with him and warm to him.
The overlap to Wiggins hasn't helped with the Wiggo fanatics but cycling fans with a bit more discernment have worked this out - Froome is a hell of a GC rider, with an iindividual ability and propensity to attack the very best of the peloton in the mountains that I'm stunned people don't already find a league ahead the entertainment that Wiggo rose to be able to do.

 

[RobNewcastle]

Exactly. For all that Wiggins has done for British cycling which has been immense and an amazing achievement winning the tour together with his really entertaining personality (dry humour etc). I'd watch Froome any day over Wiggins just in terms of excitement and especially on the big climbs. Got nowt to do with personality.

 

[albion]

Well, I just look at what they do.

I think most partisanship, not based on ability or the now, does the sport a disservice.