I’m not a big fan of Chris Froome. I have written a couple posts about not liking Bradley Wiggins much. (And here.) (Or here.) I have never talked to Froome or really heard him say too much stupid stuff, but his actions speak louder than words sometimes.
Froome has been following in Bradley’s footsteps and has been training on Tenerife, a Spanish Island that he, Nibali and Contador all trained on this year before the Tour de France. Chris complained about lack of doping controls on Tenerife, which is admirable. I’ve written a couple times about how screwy it is for thes guys to be doing this, but, they just keep on doing it.
But Chris must not think that the Tenerife training, that the past 3 Tour de France winners have done, is good for the Tour of Spain, because he decided to fly over to the United States and train with, who, yes, Levi Leiphemer. (And no, he’s not racing either Utah or Colorado.)
Yep, I saw a photo on Facebook a few days ago showing Chris, broken arm and all, riding in Sonama County with Levi. Man, how about that? You’re the previous years Tour de France winner and a rider that speaks out against doping, and then, nearly while the Tour is still going on, you pack up your bags and fly 9 time zones away to ride with a confessed doping cyclist, that the rest of the sport won’t give a contract to after serving his suspension. What does that show to the racing public?
In this day and age of the sport, you need to walk the walk if you talk the talk. He’s not doing that. Okay, maybe he will never go to Tenerife again to train because of the lack of testing and general suspension that the island attracts. But going out of his way to train with Levi?
Even Levi admits here, that he shouldn’t be racing National level, or I assum,e World level events – “I actually agree with your sentiment and it wouldn’t make sense for me to show up to national level races and compete.” (If you haven’t read those comments, you should click the link and read some them. Good comments from Matt Cooke and Jamie Driscoll.) But it’s good form for last year’s Tour winner to be training with him? I think not.
If he, and all the other current GC winners of the Grand Tours have signed off on all this altitude training for 3 week races, plus he flies all they way over here to be jet lagged, why is he breaking the regiment and training in Northern California and not in Colorado? Either it is the correct preparation for a Grand Tour or it isn’t. And why is he flying nearly half way around the world and calling up Levi to take him out on a ride? Maybe he’s just not interested in the correct preparation for the Tour of Spainand doesn’t give a shit and is just going to explore the world some to train?
Okay, maybe he was just out riding and happened upon Levis. And he’s such a nice guy that he felt obligated to ride with him. If that is the case, then this whole post is utterly wrong. But, that is very, very unlikely.
I think whole deal stinks, plain and simple.
They kind of look surprised in the photo, huh?
The dry air must be good for Froome’s “ashtma”. The answer needs to be, thanks for the invite Levi but you’re toxic. Tenerife was also a favorite training spot for Lance and Ferrari.
Maybe the training there is actually really good. And if we can assume that Froome is all in for the Vuelta logically you would want someone who’s trained for a grand tour to be your guide out on the road. A human GPS if you will. Or maybe it’s just two giant a-holes hanging out comparing all the crap they spew.
I just don’t see the connection either, unless Froome also likes yippy little dogs…or is just obsessed with Odessa
Ask Och, he’ll know
must hurt to be a hater 😀
You know Levi won the Downieville XC race over the weekend… donating the money he took out of Jason Moeschler’s pocket to the local trail building club, right?
He’s wanting some of Levi’s stem?
Unbelievable. Not sure why the promoter is okay with the message this sends.
http://reviews.mtbr.com/photo-gallery-downieville-classic-2014
Hey everybody, the business-side of the sport of cycling says doping is okay. Juice up!
BTW, unbelievable area to ride. Weeks (plural) of riding there and just a little further north.
The reason why all these guys go to Tenerife to train is because it’s an awesome place to train. The weather is like southern California and it’s an easy flight from Europe. It’s a very popular tourist destination, and for pro cyclists, there are not the fan distractions that there are in Europe. Tenerife is one of The Grand Canary Islands, which are off the coast of Africa and owned by Spain. European amateur and pro cyclists have been going there for a long time for all the reasons above. But the even bigger reason is because of Mt. Tiede. Mt. Tiede is a 12,198 ft high volcanoe and you can ride to the top right from sea level on great roads without much traffic and in perfect weather. If you want to improve your racing on high altitude alpine style roads and not suffer in dismal weather while doing so, then Tenerife and Mt. Tiede are perfect. I have been there, stayed there and ridden up Teide myself. From a purely training perspective, it’s hard to beat. There’s even a beach in the village and lots of international cuisine. It’s basically a tourist spot that at times is overrun with Brits, Germans, and Scandinavians escaping the cold weather of northern Europe.
But, Chris Froome training with Levi in Santa Rosa? That is proof yet again that to be a pro cyclist, even a Tour winner; one does not need to be a genius. From a P.R. point of view, to be out training with Levi when you name is Chris Froome is a truly bonehead move. Maybe Levi knows where to get the best “asthma medicine”. Why not call Lance and George and get them out there too? Maybe call Och and Carmichael and have them devise some “training plans”. I don’t think that Sir Dave Brailsford would be too thrilled with the pics of Froomy keeping company with Levi. Suddenly, Froomy loses credibility points massively and Wiggo is again looking pretty good..
THIS JUST IN- Media sources in Europe have stated that the reason Froomy is hooking up with Levi is that they both share a love and compassion for yippy dogs. That’s right, Chris Froome is a yippy dog activist and this ride was not a training session, but in fact a summit meeting to deal with the plight of yippy dogs the world over. Yippy dog enthusiasts all over the globe are sleeping better tonight… despite the constant (and I DO mean constant) high pitched barking.
Tenerife because it’s close enough to avoid jet-lag, yet still far enough away to be a PITA for the doping control boys to get to. It would be wise to hire a sample collector who actually lives there (at which point all of the top riders would then suddenly shift to a new favorite place).
Message that promoter sees: $
Gerrycurl,
You’re surely right about the lack of testers on the small island of Tenerife and that there are those who exploit that. There are also many honest, hardworking and clean athletes who go there for all the legit reasons.
Here’s some news for you, though. California is even farther away from Europe than Tenerife and countless cities in California are bigger than the entire island of Tenerife. Not to mention that California is just one state in a country of fifty. And, California is bigger than most, if not every country in Europe. I’ve never even heard of a doping tester being spotted in California. I’m sure there are some out there, somewhere; but the point is that if you are someone who is looking for a great place to dope and to hide your doping from the doping authotities, then you need look no further than the good ole US of A and California has great weather to boot. As a training locale for any athlete, California has all the positive as well as the negative attributes of Tenerife, whether he or she be dirty as hell or as pure as the driven snow. It’s always the people who screw it up and not the locale.
Now excuse me, I have to go take Buster, my yippy dog/pit bull mix off his chain and out for a bite to eat.
The promoter making maybe $100 is worth encouraging doping?
That’s what we’re talking about.
I recommend the Spanish beef. Yippy lil dogs can’t resist the stuff.
Froome is a así hola. I hate him!
Not a froome fan, but you’re basically saying that Froome isn’t allowed to talk, chat or ride with any of the EPO generation? Is is he still allowed to chat to Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, and the others? Or is that also a no, no in your simplified black/white good/evil view?
What if Froome was fed up of training in Tenerife, got in touch with Levi and decided to train there, what’s wrong with that?
Bobbi- Sure Froome can hang with Merckx, Hinault or Indurain. I’m pretty sure their names weren’t redacted by USADA. But an outspoken anti-doping Tour winner going out of his way to train with Levi, an un-remorseful, doper, is something that shouldn’t be overlooked by the cycling community.
We have had huge issues with this for years and years. There is no built-in fudge factor here for these guys nowadays.
Boobi, what color is the sky in your world?
During the last day of the tour Froome was in California and he talked about going out to ride with Talansky. Wonder what happened to that?
Is there a hotel at significant altitude? Because most of the benefits come from sleeping high and training low.
They actually choose Tenerife for some of those reasons, but the main reason is the ability to sleep at altitude and train at lower elevation. They all stay at the same hotel: http://www.parador.es/en/paradores/parador-de-las-canadas-del-teide , which sits at 2300 m. They decsend from there to the lower roads which offer non stop climbing in any direction. They finish their training rides with any one of the 5 climbs back up to the caldera basin where the hotel sits. I am not familiar with California, but I do believe there are places where this same situation can be recreated. Colorado has the altitude but lacks the resistance of training at sea level.
It’s only a matter of time before this guy gets caught! The next pic will be him and Ricco training with Ferrari. This guy is a total fraud!
Steve- I would love to hear your thoughts about the Hincapie Development Team. Seems like a former doper shouldn’t have his name on a junior team.
Exactly. Levi is a big tool. Jason is a hard working guy and rightfully deserved that money.
Careful. Froomie’s fiancé will catch wind of this and come kick some serious ass.
The parents should keep all of their kids away from Hincappie, and then Carmichael, and then Och.
Peter Stetina trains a LOT with Levi. What are your thoughts on THAT Steve?
I talked to his uncle, Wayne, about that. I think it sets a bad example.
Wayne Stetina is a stud X 10. I hope Peter listens to his uncle and steers clear of shady characters. If Peter is one-tenth the man Uncle Wayne is, he’ll steer clear of these miscreants. Wayne Stetina and Steve Tilford represent what cycling should be.
Tenerife = hideaway from controls and access to local pharmacies. Wake up.
That’s true and a good comment. Pros do gravitate to The Parador and take advantage of the sleep high altitude, train low altitude training protocol. It’s proven to be an extremely good, or maybe the outright best method for increasing rbc’s legally. You put that together with the great roads available and you have an ideal training setup. For many other athletes who are on tight budgets, they stay down near the beach. Lots of accomodations and at times, it’s very cheap. Perfect for getting in lots of miles while escaping the winter weather.
The latter. Who needs a guide to find 5 roads that are all over the interwebs?
Probably needs to hook up a new source of xenon for the team out there.
George actually has very little day to day involvement with either the pro team or the junior squad. He’s not a coach or director. The director of the pro team (Thomas Craven) is very anti-PED’s and based on conversations I have had with him and other coach/directors of the team they would not associate with a situation where the expectation is anything other than to race clean.
Besides it was his brother who technically started the clothing company and the team. The fact that George’s name was how it was branded doesn’t mean much. Having said that you do not have to support George, buy their clothes, or even root for the team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g5focjvEoo
THE END.
THIS scandalless approach to UCI ProWorld racing demands SANCTION !
My Tweet :
@BrianCooksonUCI @gaudryt Get a load of THIS https://stevetilford.com/2014/08/05/froome-skipping-tenerife-to-train-with-levi-in-california/#comments Gr8 PR 4 ProWorld UCI Tours! Vuelta Prep or F U ?
Where are the ” 2013 anti Doping Tests from the 100th Le Tour ? The ONLY Le Tour that had NO DOPERS Announced in recent memory !
Mc Quaid was in the ” Influencing People mode ” , last July/Aug ?
Time UCI got HONEST and revealed WHAT WE ALL KNOW , there were Dopers CAUGHT ! Now we need to know WHO !
Hi Steve. I like your approach to cycling and enjoy your pieces.
Did you read this interview with Froome by Paul Kimmage? I wasn’t sure what to think before reading it, but came away almost certain that Froome is lying. I mean having Leinders in your room at 2am giving you a steroid cream at the Vuelta which you then almost win soon after Brailsford was looking to give you the flick…and more…
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/paul-kimmage-chris-froome-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-part-2-30394950.html
this article made me so angry I went on a 260km ride against Froome and Team Sky.
http://www.strava.com/activities/174124498
Team Lie suck
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I guess if you do an affadavit for USADA you are seen in many ppl’s eyes as a repentant doper, just because you see Levi a different way, it does not mean that others see him your way