A Britain or Briton has just won the TDF and no one gives a?
Discussion
Eh? I am certain i've never seen so many road bikes out there than at the moment, ph has got a thread as long as the lions and ashes series, and it has been a pretty top news item pretty much everywhere.
Sadly a small royal sprog has decided to make an appearence, but i'm sure Chris Froome, thanks to a lady macbeth style fiance/manager will be a common feature in the media. Granted he's not as enigmatic as Wiggins, and for some he's not quite british enough, but he won in impressive style, though he's unlikely to get a hero's return to the UK as he's never lived here.
Twice, in two years, by tao different British riders, amazing.
Sadly a small royal sprog has decided to make an appearence, but i'm sure Chris Froome, thanks to a lady macbeth style fiance/manager will be a common feature in the media. Granted he's not as enigmatic as Wiggins, and for some he's not quite british enough, but he won in impressive style, though he's unlikely to get a hero's return to the UK as he's never lived here.
Twice, in two years, by tao different British riders, amazing.
MonkeyHanger said:
They do give a ( ) but due to the unique way that PH works, the TdF discussion is over in Sports 
Bloody silly place to put it It still seems that compared to the Wiggins media circus that went into overdrive this time last year, that Froome is either invisible or just not British !
WeirdNeville said:
Yup.
Wiggins was the first Briton to ever win the Tour De France.
Froome is the second.
Which gets you the mention in the history books?
Many people care deeply. I care about it more than I care about any of our football teams "achievements", or cricket or rugby for that matter. I care about it enough to stay up until 1am+ each night watching stages live for the last 3 weeks.
It's awesome, and a brilliant body of work by Brailsford et al to bring the UK such success in the last 10 years.
The rest of the world is struggling to see which way we went in this "new era" (I use the term guardedly) of cycling.
There is a very, very small part of me - not that part - which is tempted to be a little bit smug. British cycling is coming into its own as doping is being consigned to the past: I know it's a massive over-simplification but just maybe we used to be nowhere because every other bWiggins was the first Briton to ever win the Tour De France.
Froome is the second.
Which gets you the mention in the history books?
Many people care deeply. I care about it more than I care about any of our football teams "achievements", or cricket or rugby for that matter. I care about it enough to stay up until 1am+ each night watching stages live for the last 3 weeks.
It's awesome, and a brilliant body of work by Brailsford et al to bring the UK such success in the last 10 years.
The rest of the world is struggling to see which way we went in this "new era" (I use the term guardedly) of cycling.
d was cheating and we weren't.Personally, I feel that Chris Froome is struggling because of his background and (apparent) lack of personality.
The whole Kenya/South Africa born/schooled thing, along with his accent, just doesn't endear him to the average British non-cyclist. Wiggins had the facial hair, the 'down to earth' music taste, and the accent of a common English man. Non-cyclists took to him, because he did things his way, with a little bit of individuality.
Another assist for publicity after Wiggins' Tour win was the whole Olympics hoo-haa, with Team GB jerseys out in numbers, and Wiggins being that much more 'British' than Froome. Ultimately, I think Froome is probably the better cyclist. He could quite easily have usurped Wiggins in last year's Tour, he controlled this one well, and looks like he'll go on to be a contender for some time to come. Bradley Wiggins won last year's Tour, and that Olympic gold, but Froome placed second in the TdF, and took a Bronze in the 'lympics too, although that has been conveniently swept away by the media.
What is not helping at the moment is the apparent animosity between Froome and Wiggins, and since many folk had already elevated Wiggins to 'hero' status, replacing him with Froome would feel disloyal.
Ultimately, despite Froome's success, I think if I were a sponsor/advertiser with something to sell, I'd want Bradley Wiggins to front my campaign over Chris Froome, at least for the time being.
The whole Kenya/South Africa born/schooled thing, along with his accent, just doesn't endear him to the average British non-cyclist. Wiggins had the facial hair, the 'down to earth' music taste, and the accent of a common English man. Non-cyclists took to him, because he did things his way, with a little bit of individuality.
Another assist for publicity after Wiggins' Tour win was the whole Olympics hoo-haa, with Team GB jerseys out in numbers, and Wiggins being that much more 'British' than Froome. Ultimately, I think Froome is probably the better cyclist. He could quite easily have usurped Wiggins in last year's Tour, he controlled this one well, and looks like he'll go on to be a contender for some time to come. Bradley Wiggins won last year's Tour, and that Olympic gold, but Froome placed second in the TdF, and took a Bronze in the 'lympics too, although that has been conveniently swept away by the media.
What is not helping at the moment is the apparent animosity between Froome and Wiggins, and since many folk had already elevated Wiggins to 'hero' status, replacing him with Froome would feel disloyal.
Ultimately, despite Froome's success, I think if I were a sponsor/advertiser with something to sell, I'd want Bradley Wiggins to front my campaign over Chris Froome, at least for the time being.
IroningMan said:
There is a very, very small part of me - not that part - which is tempted to be a little bit smug. British cycling is coming into its own as doping is being consigned to the past: I know it's a massive over-simplification but just maybe we used to be nowhere because every other bd was cheating and we weren't.
We hardly even get the chance to dope! British riders struggled with the lack of a British team, any young British rider would have to join a Continental team, typically from Northern Europe and tough it out against French, Belgian and Dutch riders who were ultiamtely favoured over the plucky Brit... d was cheating and we weren't.As I said on the TdF thread, its interesting that Alex Dowsett arrived at Movistar from Sky at the start of this year to find Movistar employing many of the same training methods as Sky so its clear that Sky were being watched in 2012!
Vladimir said:
What makes it more amazing is our lack of mountains and that 90% of the population seems to hate cyclists.
..bit not that amazing if you know that Wiggins lived in France for years, and Froome resides in Monaco. ;-) I think yellowjack is spot on with Froome's Saffa/Kenya history not making him feel like "one of us".
To me, Froome is actually a very good example of someone being "British". "British" to me is just something sterile that we have on our passports. It's not something to get passionate about.
I struggle to take any interest in Froome because he's not something I relate to. Brits are fundamentally English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish. They're not Kenyan.
My "support the Brit" component of watching the tour was totally taken up by Geraint Thomas, David Millar and Mark Cavendish. There wasn't much room left for Froome, and any time I did have for him went straight out of the window with his petulant whining on Twitter about Contador daring to fall off a bike in front of him!
In fact, Twitter is probably the best illustration of my point of view. Thomas, Millar and Cavendish are brilliant on there, and following them really adds to the experience of watching them race. Froome's tweets, on the other hand, are almost as stilted and painful as David Cameron's.
I struggle to take any interest in Froome because he's not something I relate to. Brits are fundamentally English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish. They're not Kenyan.
My "support the Brit" component of watching the tour was totally taken up by Geraint Thomas, David Millar and Mark Cavendish. There wasn't much room left for Froome, and any time I did have for him went straight out of the window with his petulant whining on Twitter about Contador daring to fall off a bike in front of him!
In fact, Twitter is probably the best illustration of my point of view. Thomas, Millar and Cavendish are brilliant on there, and following them really adds to the experience of watching them race. Froome's tweets, on the other hand, are almost as stilted and painful as David Cameron's.
Usget said:
IroningMan said:
because every other bd was cheating and we weren't.
Millar?d was cheating and we weren't.I'm sure we'd all like to think that in the same situation we would shun the doping and walk away from the sport with our heads held high but thats just b
ks, if you said to me 15 years ago, you can be a pro cyclist if you allow this doctor to give you some injections "to aid recovery", i'd be first in the queue for the needle...The Froome-British thing is made difficult because he first fell under DB's radar in 2006 when Froome was 22 years old so Froome riding as a Brit is somewhat clinical compared to the likes of Mo Farah had been in London since he was in his early teens...
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 23 July 14:44
Kermit power said:
To me, Froome is actually a very good example of someone being "British". "British" to me is just something sterile that we have on our passports. It's not something to get passionate about.
I struggle to take any interest in Froome because he's not something I relate to. Brits are fundamentally English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish. They're not Kenyan.
Froome's entire heritage/family tree is British (not Kenyan funnily enough I struggle to take any interest in Froome because he's not something I relate to. Brits are fundamentally English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish. They're not Kenyan.
), if he wants to "return to his roots" and compete as a Brit who is anyone to tell him otherwise? He seems a likeable guy to me. you seem to underestimate the massive effect the doping revelations have had on the sport.
very few people(specifically public, not just cycling fans) really beleive drugs have gone from the tdf. cycling will be tarnished for this for years, especially if so little has been widely publicised about getting drugs out of the sport.
very few people(specifically public, not just cycling fans) really beleive drugs have gone from the tdf. cycling will be tarnished for this for years, especially if so little has been widely publicised about getting drugs out of the sport.
Efbe said:
you seem to underestimate the massive effect the doping revelations have had on the sport.
very few people(specifically public, not just cycling fans) really beleive drugs have gone from the tdf. cycling will be tarnished for this for years, especially if so little has been widely publicised about getting drugs out of the sport.
That's my problem, the way Froome rode away from the best in the world looked a little to much like the old days. If he were Spanish or Italian it would raise eyebrows over here. very few people(specifically public, not just cycling fans) really beleive drugs have gone from the tdf. cycling will be tarnished for this for years, especially if so little has been widely publicised about getting drugs out of the sport.
SuperHangOn said:
Froome's entire heritage/family tree is British (not Kenyan funnily enough ), if he wants to "return to his roots" and compete as a Brit who is anyone to tell him otherwise? He seems a likeable guy to me.
I'm not saying he doesn't come across as a nice guy, but if you watch his interviews, when people are asking him what it means to win, his answers are along the lines of "I'd love to see it help increase the spread of cycling amongst young Africans".), if he wants to "return to his roots" and compete as a Brit who is anyone to tell him otherwise? He seems a likeable guy to me. He's never lived here as far as I'm aware - or at most did so for a year or two - and now lives in Monaco. He started out representing Kenya (which in many sports would've precluded him from ever being able to represent GB at all) before shifting allegiance.
I don't have a problem with him doing that. After all, whilst it's our entertainment, it's his profession, and not one he'll be able to keep at for anything like as long as the rest of us can work in our own professions.
However, I'm far to cynical to believe that he wouldn't still be happily riding for Kenya if the Kenyan cycling setup had the same sort of budget and success as Team GB does.
If I'd been in his place, I wouldn't have done anything differently, but he's still a professional Brit.
lynus2004 said:
That's my problem, the way Froome rode away from the best in the world looked a little to much like the old days. If he were Spanish or Italian it would raise eyebrows over here.
you and the rest of the world.thing is, it's not your problem; it's cycling's problem. they broke it, they need to fix it.
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