Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[The Hitch]

Attack may have been tactical. Astana was forming a good train so Contador just went for it thereby getting rid of all the Astana doms (but 1 who caught up).

 

[Miburo]

The group still had 30 guys left i think and contador reduced it to 3 in one attack.

Easy going stage, rather easy climb and he does that with 1 attack.

And i think Aru will think twice before doing an attack saterday now.

 

[metaCYCLE]

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

The group still had 30 guys left i think and contador reduced it to 3 in one attack.

Easy going stage, rather easy climb and he does that with 1 attack.

And i think Aru will think twice before doing an attack saterday now.

He'll still try. Even though he's supposedly improved his TT leaps and bounds, he cannot just hang on and wait for the TT like Porte can. If he wins the Giro, it will be because he gains time in the mountains. He needs to use the superiority of his team wisely, it doesn't seem like he'll be able to drop them mano a mano

 

[hfer07]

well - I guess today's performance put to rest all the nonsense about his form


I just hope now with the Maglia Rosa He can switch shoe colors to something more pleasing!!

 

[BlurryVII]

Contador not at his peak, yet causing mayhem already with that devastating acceleration. Aru was dropped if Porte wasn't there to rescue him. The italian definetely looked the weakest but Porte couldn't make any difference as well and he's not gonna improve towards week 3.

Saturday's climb looks like Verbier, 7.5 % gradient consistent. It should be hard enough for Contador.

 

[ray j willings]

I am a big Bertie fan and I am not as convinced as some of you. IMO Bertie did not look that at ease. I think a top form Bertie would have made that attack stick. I do still think he his strong enough to win but for me he does not look anywhere near as sharp as he did for most of last season.
I hope I am wrong and like Hitch said it could have been a tactical move. He also could have the Tour in the back of his mind and not thinking about reaching top top form until July. I hope so.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Berto in pink looks so strange. Nice though

 

[Velolover2]

That was some of the fastest 6 km on a mountain (albeit a medium mountain) I've seen.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

The group still had 30 guys left i think and contador reduced it to 3 in one attack.

Easy going stage, rather easy climb and he does that with 1 attack.

And i think Aru will think twice before doing an attack saterday now.

He'll still try. Even though he's supposedly improved his TT leaps and bounds, he cannot just hang on and wait for the TT like Porte can. If he wins the Giro, it will be because he gains time in the mountains. He needs to use the superiority of his team wisely, it doesn't seem like he'll be able to drop them mano a mano

Time to put you on ignore. Or you're a troll or you've no clue what you're talking about.

Concluding that on stage 5, on an easy climb

 

[Jspear]

No doubt he'll be looking to give the jersey up. Hard to say who wants it and who will try to get in a breakaway to get it.

 

[BlurryVII]

Re:

I am a big Bertie fan and I am not as convinced as some of you. IMO Bertie did not look that at ease. I think a top form Bertie would have made that attack stick. I do still think he his strong enough to win but for me he does not look anywhere near as sharp as he did for most of last season.
I hope I am wrong and like Hitch said it could have been a tactical move. He also could have the Tour in the back of his mind and not thinking about reaching top top form until July. I hope so.

Eh, fortunately he's not at his best yet, he has the Tour after the Giro, don't forget. He said before the Giro, he is below the level he was last year before the Tour.

Also another factor is the gradient which definetely wasn't steep enough. But I can tell you that attack was a sustained one, I'm confident he'd have made differences if the other two or should I say Porte didn't bridge the gap.

That attack looked a bit like the ones he was doing on Arrate at Pais Vasco 2014, wasn't hard enough to drop Valverde.

 

[The Hitch]

Re:

Berto in pink looks so strange.

He's been in it more than any other active cyclist in the peloton (I think).

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

Berto in pink looks so strange.

He's been in it more than any other active cyclist in the peloton (I think).

Yeah, two days more than Basso.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

The group still had 30 guys left i think and contador reduced it to 3 in one attack.

Easy going stage, rather easy climb and he does that with 1 attack.

And i think Aru will think twice before doing an attack saterday now.

He'll still try. Even though he's supposedly improved his TT leaps and bounds, he cannot just hang on and wait for the TT like Porte can. If he wins the Giro, it will be because he gains time in the mountains. He needs to use the superiority of his team wisely, it doesn't seem like he'll be able to drop them mano a mano

Time to put you on ignore. Or you're a troll or you've no clue what you're talking about.

Concluding that on stage 5, on an easy climb

It actually didn't seem like he'd be able to drop them mano a mano before the Giro even started. You seem to have trouble with uncertainty. I guess you'll be sitting on the fence till after the Giro?

 

[Electress]

Re:

I am a big Bertie fan and I am not as convinced as some of you. IMO Bertie did not look that at ease. I think a top form Bertie would have made that attack stick. I do still think he his strong enough to win but for me he does not look anywhere near as sharp as he did for most of last season.
I hope I am wrong and like Hitch said it could have been a tactical move. He also could have the Tour in the back of his mind and not thinking about reaching top top form until July. I hope so.

I don't disagree. I think he's on four cylinders, but I think he'll improve over the rest of the Giro. So I'm happy with that.

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

The group still had 30 guys left i think and contador reduced it to 3 in one attack.

Easy going stage, rather easy climb and he does that with 1 attack.

And i think Aru will think twice before doing an attack saterday now.

He'll still try. Even though he's supposedly improved his TT leaps and bounds, he cannot just hang on and wait for the TT like Porte can. If he wins the Giro, it will be because he gains time in the mountains. He needs to use the superiority of his team wisely, it doesn't seem like he'll be able to drop them mano a mano

Time to put you on ignore. Or you're a troll or you've no clue what you're talking about.

Concluding that on stage 5, on an easy climb

It actually didn't seem like he'd be able to drop them mano a mano before the Giro even started. You seem to have trouble with uncertainty. I guess you'll be sitting on the fence till after the Giro?

Yeah but now he definetely looks like he can drop them both.

What's exactly the point of refering to what happened before the Giro?

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

The Big 3 look to be closely matched in the mountains. I thought Aru would be the strongest but seeing how he seemed to have some trouble closing down the attack from Contador, whereas Richie didn't even really breathe hard just leisurely riding up to Bert, I give the edge to the Devil for now.

I agree with you. But once contador attack, even the gradient aren't that hard, he is already creating a gap. Porte attacked, contador just follow him easily. So that's a good news for Contador. Maybe Porte 2.0 with his marginal gain has improved improved a lot. Today is hardly to really know if they are that strong. But the 3 are closely matched. Uran keeps bleeding seconds. If Contador and Aru can get to 2+ of Uran before stage 14, they can at least concentrate on Porte.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

No doubt he'll be looking to give the jersey up. Hard to say who wants it and who will try to get in a breakaway to get it.

the question is who will they give it too? maybe tonight there's a lot of lobbying going on between oleg and the other team DS. Curious, who are they going to give it too? Please not freaking orica again. Some other team who can control the breakaway so TS boy can rest.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Berto in pink looks so strange.

He's been in it more than any other active cyclist in the peloton (I think).

Well yes. But it's a darker pink this time and it's such a long time ago. I'm not complaining though

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

well - I guess today's performance put to rest all the nonsense about his form


I just hope now with the Maglia Rosa He can switch shoe colors to something more pleasing!!

you mean pink shoes?

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

The group still had 30 guys left i think and contador reduced it to 3 in one attack.

Easy going stage, rather easy climb and he does that with 1 attack.

And i think Aru will think twice before doing an attack saterday now.

He'll still try. Even though he's supposedly improved his TT leaps and bounds, he cannot just hang on and wait for the TT like Porte can. If he wins the Giro, it will be because he gains time in the mountains. He needs to use the superiority of his team wisely, it doesn't seem like he'll be able to drop them mano a mano

Time to put you on ignore. Or you're a troll or you've no clue what you're talking about.

Concluding that on stage 5, on an easy climb

It actually didn't seem like he'd be able to drop them mano a mano before the Giro even started. You seem to have trouble with uncertainty. I guess you'll be sitting on the fence till after the Giro?

Yeah but now he definetely looks like he can drop them both.

What's exactly the point of refering to what happened before the Giro?

Aru definitely looks like he can drop them both? What? If I didn't know better, I'd think you're thinking I was talking about Contador. That would also explain the heated response I got.

 

[sir fly]

Contador looks determined, but it's almost certain this Giro will take out of him more than he's been hoping it will.
Astana and Aru will push him further than he pushed himself in 2011.. And there's Richie, too.

 

[Metabolol]

Very good sustained attack by Alberto, I'm not sure Aru would have closed the gap on his own.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Berto in pink looks so strange.

He's been in it more than any other active cyclist in the peloton (I think).

Yeah, two days more than Basso.

You had to bring up Basso LOL! Shelled on a cat 2. Jesus could do better or at least as well....

Alberto looks good in pink