Froome out of TdF

The Froome Era is over. He’ll never win another tour, sadly.

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I hope my post doesn’t reach others in jest, however, people fail to realize cycling is a type-a “man’s man” sport. I hear the words “cheat”, “doper,” etc. In all walks of life, people will do what he or she has to do when millions of dollars are at stake. Is Froome cheating? Who knows! Look at the baseball parks when Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa were blasting homeruns. People, who didn’t give a rats buttocks about baseball, began coming to the ballpark in droves to watch these phenomenal beings hit homeruns. Homeruns are fun. Walks are boring. Look at the Armstrong era, and what his cycling prowess brought to the table. People in the US didn’t follow cycling much, but a lot followed Lance. Point is, the fans want their players juiced. It brought money in, and made the game exciting. It is what it is. It’s very sad to me that Froome’s career, in all intents and purposes, is over. I wish him recovery, and goodwill; however, that’s not enough at this point

Yes, he has on a recon before.

I’m going to respectfully disagree with @kbeers81 and others that are saying (or implying) that Chris Froome’s career is over. I’m re-reading a book by Matt Fitzgerald titled How Bad Do You Want It? and in there is the story of a guy that goes by the name of Greg LeMond.

In short, Greg took a shotgun blast in the back (at point blank range?) from his brother-in-law while out turkey hunting. Physically, he was broken and people wrote him off but he dug deep mentally, came back to the pro peloton, then went on to win the final stage AND overall GC of the 1989 TdF on the last day by snatching victory from Laurent Fignon by 8 seconds.

The point is, we don’t know Froome’s grit but my guess is we haven’t seen anything yet.

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Fractured right femur, elbow and ribs is latest update

@pwandoff I hope you’re right!!! I really do

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Yes this is the spirit he needs to get back on the bike. His family and team must be in real difficulty right now dealing with this, but I hope for their sake more than the fans that Froome does come back from this and wins a Tour. Wiggins characterises Froome as super competitive, really mentally strong on the inside. That whole calm, business-like demeanour is only one half of his real persona. I’d believe it too, no way can you be a GT guy season after season without having the greatest drive of all people.

It’s too hard.

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It’s ok. There will be plenty of time to come back and acknowledge we are correct. :grin:

Lemond was 26 when he got shot. Froome is 35. The oldest person to win the tour (way back when money was sound) was 37. The tour is something you can’t win if you’re too young or if you’re too old. Couple that with a pretty serious leg injury…The Froome Era is over. He’ll never win another tour.

Ineos are looking pretty smart for keeping Thomas out of the Giro now.

@Brennus I think age is the key factor here…I’d agree he’s sadly done

Fair enough but history will prove me correct :grinning:

In all honesty, this story line will be fun to see unfold no matter what happens. There are plenty of stories where athletes have won despite the odds, i.e. Matt Hayman winning the 2018 Paris-Roubaix (38 at the time) against Tom Boonen. Granted, it’s not a GT but it is impressive 6 weeks after a fracture and training primarily on the turbo.

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I didn’t understand all the gloom and doom talk about his open femoral fracture until I realized that “open” is a compound fracture, as in, bone sticking out of the skin. Suddenly it seems orders of magnitude more serious. Yikes. Makes the elbow and ribs seem trivial.

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If it is a compound (open) fracture of the femur then he won’t be looking at something as simple as a hip replacement. Hip replacements are only used for neck of femur fractures, these don’t tend to be open/ compound. Open/compound fractures of the femur tend to be midshaft fractures which (even when closed) are very serious injuries

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We’ve got a sportsman at the top of his game getting very seriously injured. There’s a husband/father/son in hospital with serious injuries. No matter what your thoughts are guys, please try and show a little respect.

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Will Egan Bernal be in the Tour?

Yes. I suppose there’s an opening for Sivakov (if he wasn’t already), or TG-H (if he’s over his collarbone).

I just listened to an interview on the radio with David Brailsford.

Froome crashed at 54kph into a wall, luckily almost next to a parked ambulance so received immediate attention and was taken to hospital. From there he was airlifted to a more suitable hospital where he underwent surgery, seems hip is also broken.

It was serious enough that they flew his wife over to be with him, it was a big crash and Brailsford said he is concerned.

On a more positive note Froome’s wife tweeted on his account she hopes to share a message from him tomorrow

Wout Poels gave an interview to a Dutch news organization after the TT, he said he was shaking for an hour after the crash.

He said he had seen a lot of crashes, but nothing like this.
Let’s hope the surgery was successful for Froome.

I don’t think many people have seen compound fractures of the femur. I imagine it’s a bit gruesome to say the least. Impact must have been massive to break the femur which iirc is hardest bone in the body to break.

:crossed_fingers: for Froome!

Thinking about this, the sheer deceleration must have been brutal. Ok, I don’t know if he hit the wall head-on but at 54KPH, that must be akin to a car accident, without the protective shell.

Reports this morning are saying he is in ICU after the surgery.