Chris Froome: Brad's a difficult guy

'I don't know what the cycling equivalent of a good kicking is, but Froome deserves one. '

a frame-fit pump through the front wheel on a long descent, presumably.

I am going to wait until he has won a grand tour to judge Froome.

Two Vuelta podiums and a Tour 2nd place in support of Wiggins means he isn't quite there yet.

There is a huge difference between being a top support rider and a Tour winner.

Think back to Jean Francois Bernard, Yaroslav Popovytch and others who thrived on being part of a winning team but didn't have it to finish the job themselves.

Froomes attack yesterday was exciting but there are three weeks to go.

The sport I've played most is football and you occasionally get showboaters who try to make team mates/opponents look silly, they generally wind up with a good kicking.

I don't know what the cycling equivalent of a good kicking is, but Froome deserves one.

I recall in the Olympic road race not long afterwards, that Froome 'blew' while Wiggins continued to pull at the front for Cav.
Every cyclist has their good and bad days, to say that Froome was stronger than Wiggins in TdF 2012 based on the evidence of a couple of stages is extrapolating rather a lot.

The only thing that bothers me are Froomes sunglasses I think I will be supporting Nairo Quintana or maybe Jose Serpa purely for the quality of the moustache he had in the Giro D'Italia!

CyclingDan wrote:

Froome proved he's stronger in the mountains last year when he could of kept on racing and dropped Wiggins

that's pure conjecture. Sure he went up the road: could he have stayed out? we don't know. When he tried it again vs Cobo in the Vuelta, Cobo reeled him back in. Could he have gained enough time to make up for the shortcomings in the TT? maybe, maybe not. Sky's team orders that you so loathe gave them a 1-2 on the podium. whatever else you think about racing, the point of it is to win.

'Froome proved he's stronger in the mountains last year when he could of kept on racing and dropped Wiggins'

He did no such thing, of course. He proved that he could drop Wiggins for a few seconds if he attacked when Wiggins wasn't expecting that from a team-mate. Nothing more.

Yes, it's possible that he could have put time into him had he continued attacking his team-mate, but we won't know. He could have cracked, or Wiggins might have upped his game had the backstabbing continued.

The only thing we know for sure is that Wiggins put time into Froome in the TTs, and that Wiggins stood on the top step of the podium in Paris. Anything else is just conjecture.

I'll be shouting for Porte this year. In fact, ABF, to coin a footy-ism.

Elite sportsman is difficult guy - hold the front page. In all seriousness, as others have said, Wiggins won the TdF in 2012 so CF should shut up about it and get on with this year.

The course suits him, he seems to be in great form and he has a good team. As long as he stays out of crashes and doesn't have any serious mechanicals, he's got a very good chance to win. How many other riders have that opportunity?

That surely is. The TDF visits Corsica. The Stones play Glastonbury and Brad out of the saddle scores a 10 in the I-Spy book of Pro Riders. There's also a 10 for any Eurosport commentator who doesn't use the word 'gurning' when Tommy Voeckler appears and 10 for the first time Phil Liggert mentions Charlemagne.

I always feel sorry at this time of year for all the trolls who were venting last year about how they can listen no more to Kirby/Harmon/Liggert etc etc.. I imagine their principals have left them watching Wimbledon instead.

Are my eyes deceiving me or is that a picture of wiggins out of the saddle

This is a muck raking article, or Chris Froome is really is an egotistical prick

It's entirely unreasonable to assume that because Wiggo didn't keep up with a quick acceleration in the mountains, that he was the weaker rider.

2012 demonstrated Frome's inability to put the team ahead of his own ego and ambition.

For that reason alone, I will not be supporting his bid on le tour 2013.

I think it is academic. Wiggins won the Tour, Froome was under team orders and so we will never know.

This is sort of a muck raking article as I think Froome suggests he was a stronger climber he doesn't dispute Brad as leader. But he doesn't have to worry about that now as he has his chance. Brad's shit stirring over the Tour was a dirty tactic to be honest and if I was Froome I would be happy to have dodged that bullet, which is probably why Brailsford put Wiggins on a timeout as soon as he had an excuse.

I am pretty sure that they both paced each other. If Froome had gone off all the time at his 'speed' would he have burned himself out? Wiggo had more experience and knew when to push and when not to. The good thing is that Froome probably learned a lot more than he's letting on. Part of cycling is relying on your team mates and he'll be relying on the rest of Team Sky for this years TdF as Wiggo did last year. Froome would never have won the TdF last year; the team was there to support the team leader - Wiggo.

Im convinced that had Froome dropped Wiggins in the mountains, that despite Wiggins' prowess at TT he still wouldnt have have made up enough time to beat Froome overall?

Does anyone have to hand the amount of time that brad put into Froome in the TTs? Froome might have won it if he had dropped Wiggo, but I don't think it was a dead cert.

Chris Froome didn't win Le Tour 2012 and as long as Wiggins was riding he was always going to be number 1, so no matter how many times he digs it over that isn't going to change and he needs to get over it. Everyone 'knows' that Wiggins is a difficult character, why should he be any different with Froome than anyone else.

Froome needs to concentrate on 2013 and winning it. It won't prove he's better or worse than Wiggins, just that he's as good as Wiggins and that really should be enough.