Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Arnout]

So now, 1 stage and then staring on Aru's azz last week ...to conserve energy of course

Oh my god, your signature is absolutely hilarious. How is Quintana the best climber since Pantani? Like what the ****? He still hasn't shown much yet and would get absolutely trashed by a top form Contador .

This guy is SO overrated and overhyped, it's a joke.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to think this. I'm not saying he's rubbish - he's clearly not that. But I think he's got to do something this TdF to really live up to the billing he gets.

Quintana doesn't even come close to so many climbers I've seen since Pantani, I don't even know where does that reputation come from. Is it his "fitting" name? Or the fact that he is colombian and apparently got some incredible "genetics" to make ppl think he is some sort of a legend while he still hasn't achieved jack **** to be called so?

He is a good climber, and stage racer. But it doesn't go further. His attacks are quite harmless. I mean he'd never ever drop a decent Contador.

Then there are some other ppl who think he's got like a huuuuuuge room of improvement; that's part of the Quintana legend, he will be invincible one day Seems like they haven't heard of riders who shine at a young age then progressively fade.

You're hilarious, thanks for the laugh.

 

[Singer01]

Re:

Did someone just say Contador is not a pure climber? Leave the building please, he's one of the most natural climbers we have seen...it's just that he is so polished all over that people neglect that his climbing is his main strength...Quintana a more pure climber? You're only suggesting that because Quintana is rather average everywhere else. Contador is in the top 5 climbers of all time. In fact I'd only rank Pantani and Impe above him for certain.

Gaul?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

So now that the Giro is secured, Alberto just has to focus on the Tour now. Hopefully he can seal the Tour GC early on as well so that he can concentrate on the triple.

 

[Mr.White]

So now, 1 stage and then staring on Aru's azz last week ...to conserve energy of course

Oh my god, your signature is absolutely hilarious. How is Quintana the best climber since Pantani? Like what the ****? He still hasn't shown much yet and would get absolutely trashed by a top form Contador .

This guy is SO overrated and overhyped, it's a joke.

Firstly, you reacted very quick as I have this signature for 2 years now
Nvm...Of course its not my post but I very much agree with that (probably I wouldnt have hyped so much), because I just think he is the best pure climber since Pantani according to his age (look at Pantani's palmares, he was much older),there is nothing much more to say.
Contador and Armstrong (only 2 comparable) are not pure climbers, they won their GT's with climbing AND tt,as opposite Quintana is a climber like Pantani, thats why its more comparable.
I dont predict he will be as good GT rider as AC,but I predict he will be same or more likely better climber.

Barring injuries and crashes we will know if my theory is bs comes July.
btw: He could have won that Vuelta,if he was minute away from AC after that tt imho.

Well, in that case, long way is ahead of him. Alberto Contador Velasco is already in the Pantheon of greatest climbers in history, and he stands high in there, top 10 certainly, maybe even top 5

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

Did someone just say Contador is not a pure climber? Leave the building please, he's one of the most natural climbers we have seen...it's just that he is so polished all over that people neglect that his climbing is his main strength...Quintana a more pure climber? You're only suggesting that because Quintana is rather average everywhere else. Contador is in the top 5 climbers of all time. In fact I'd only rank Pantani and Impe above him for certain.

No, he is not.He is the best stage racer of last 2 decades.One of the best GT riders of all time, but no he is not a pure climber.

btw http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pure

 

[ILovecycling]

So now, 1 stage and then staring on Aru's azz last week ...to conserve energy of course

Oh my god, your signature is absolutely hilarious. How is Quintana the best climber since Pantani? Like what the ****? He still hasn't shown much yet and would get absolutely trashed by a top form Contador .

This guy is SO overrated and overhyped, it's a joke.

Firstly, you reacted very quick as I have this signature for 2 years now
Nvm...Of course its not my post but I very much agree with that (probably I wouldnt have hyped so much), because I just think he is the best pure climber since Pantani according to his age (look at Pantani's palmares, he was much older),there is nothing much more to say.
Contador and Armstrong (only 2 comparable) are not pure climbers, they won their GT's with climbing AND tt,as opposite Quintana is a climber like Pantani, thats why its more comparable.
I dont predict he will be as good GT rider as AC,but I predict he will be same or more likely better climber.

Barring injuries and crashes we will know if my theory is bs comes July. ;-)
btw: He could have won that Vuelta,if he was minute away from AC after that tt imho.

Well, in that case, long way is ahead of him. Alberto Contador Velasco is already in the Pantheon of greatest climbers in history, and he stands high in there, top 10 certainly, maybe even top 5

Yep, you are right.When there is time (after Giro prob), I will write my list of best climbers.
Like I said, we'll se in July,I expect improved Quintana.


But back to topic, this great thread doesnt deserve to be about other riders

 

[Miburo]

Re:

So now that the Giro is secured, Alberto just has to focus on the Tour now. Hopefully he can seal the Tour GC early on as well so that he can concentrate on the triple.

It won't be that easy but i defintely think contador has an advantage in the fact that they're 3 really big GC threats and not just 1.

If no one of them crashes and they're all in really good shape, this should be the best tour of the last 15 years. Those are the 2 big if's though lol

 

[LaFlorecita]

I think Alberto is a tricky case, after all we all know the deal "he started out as a TTer, his first pro win was a TT" but don't forget that first win was an uphill TT and he did not start out as a TTer, he was picked up as a TTer by ONCE because he won the U23 TT Nats.
BUT even as a junior, he was pretty much a climber, he never won races but won like 15-16 KOM prizes in his first two years .
I would say Contador is not a pure climber because he can TT very well, but I can see why people see him as one because he seems to be born to climb, with the perfect body shape and his climbing style looks so natural.

 

[Mr.White]

If a pure climber is a rider who can only climb great, and is bad in other aspects of racing, than Contador isn't one of those. But if a pure climber is a rider who can climb great, no matter what other qualities he has, than he certainly fits in this category. That's my opinion

 

[Alcanelo]

Re:

If a pure climber is a rider who can only climb great, and is bad in other aspects of racing, than Contador isn't one of those. But if a pure climber is a rider who can climb great, no matter what other qualities he has, than he certainly fits in this category. That's my opinion

Exactly the latter.

 

[Fernandez]

Bahamontes was chosen the greatest climber in Tour history. So its more or less saying best climber ever.

 

[BlurryVII]

So now, 1 stage and then staring on Aru's azz last week ...to conserve energy of course

Oh my god, your signature is absolutely hilarious. How is Quintana the best climber since Pantani? Like what the ****? He still hasn't shown much yet and would get absolutely trashed by a top form Contador .

This guy is SO overrated and overhyped, it's a joke.

Firstly, you reacted very quick as I have this signature for 2 years now
Nvm...Of course its not my post but I very much agree with that (probably I wouldnt have hyped so much), because I just think he is the best pure climber since Pantani according to his age (look at Pantani's palmares, he was much older),there is nothing much more to say.
Contador and Armstrong (only 2 comparable) are not pure climbers, they won their GT's with climbing AND tt,as opposite Quintana is a climber like Pantani, thats why its more comparable.
I dont predict he will be as good GT rider as AC,but I predict he will be same or more likely better climber.

Barring injuries and crashes we will know if my theory is bs comes July.
btw: He could have won that Vuelta,if he was minute away from AC after that tt imho.

Likely a better climber? Good luck to Quintana going better than Contador 09' or any peak Contador in the mountains. Which is almost impossible.

Whether AC is good in TT or not, does not exclude him from being a pure climber or does not make him a "worse" climber . This is ridiculous thinking. He is one of best climbers of all time, TT or not, in fact he was known for his climbing abilities as a junior, and improved his TT later in his career at Astana with Bruyneel. Contador is a pure climber.

Also, I have no idea how you can say Quintana could've won that Vuelta 14' with 1 minute off Contador, which really shows how much you overrate this rider, it's ridiculous, you think it's the Tour 13 or.. ? . Good luck dropping Contador in last year's Vuelta. LOL

 

[BlurryVII]

It's fun because Quintana was dropped on La Zubia in the Vuelta 14', and also on Valdelineares by AC, if Rodriguez and his Katusha teammate wasn't there, Quintana would have never closed the gap to Contador. I don't even know how you can say he could've won that Vuelta given Contador's level in the 3rd week.

 

[perico]

I've watched the sport for 35 years and whether or not he is a pure climber or not is irrelevant. He's one of the three best climbers I've seen, maybe even the best.

 

[Alcanelo]

I've watched the sport for 35 years and whether or not he is a pure climber or not is irrelevant. He's one of the three best climbers I've seen, maybe even the best.

This

10 chars

 

[BlurryVII]

I've watched the sport for 35 years and whether or not he is a pure climber or not is irrelevant. He's one of the three best climbers I've seen, maybe even the best.

Agreed. Whether he's considered a pure climber or not is irrelevant, as long as he can climb faster than the pure climbers

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

Did someone just say Contador is not a pure climber? Leave the building please, he's one of the most natural climbers we have seen...it's just that he is so polished all over that people neglect that his climbing is his main strength...Quintana a more pure climber? You're only suggesting that because Quintana is rather average everywhere else. Contador is in the top 5 climbers of all time. In fact I'd only rank Pantani and Impe above him for certain.

No, he is not.He is the best stage racer of last 2 decades.One of the best GT riders of all time, but no he is not a pure climber.

btw http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pure

So "pure" climbers are those riders that are not quite as good at climbing as the best GT climbers like Armstrong and Contador, and worse at everything else?

I've watched the sport for 35 years and whether or not he is a pure climber or not is irrelevant. He's one of the three best climbers I've seen, maybe even the best.

Agreed. Whether he's considered a pure climber or not is irrelevant, as long as he can climb faster than the pure climbers

Exactly. The reality is that Quintana will never be as good a climber as Lance Armstrong.

 

[Mr.White]

Ok, he definitely is not "pure", but is a hell of a climber

 

[Ramira]

This is a great argument about semantics!

I would put it this way, Contador is not a pure climber. But if you look purely at his climbing he's among the best of the last two decades.

Now how good he is exactly is hard to say, because cycling has changed so much in the last 20 years due to stuff that's not for this forum. So it's very hard to compare him with the likes of Pantani or Ullrich (or that Armstrong chap).

But we can say that when he was at or near his best only Andy Schleck has ever been able to stay with him. And even as a fan of Schlecklet I have to admit I think at that time Andy was probably closer to peak form than Contador was (just look at the closing TT in 2010).

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re:

If a pure climber is a rider who can only climb great, and is bad in other aspects of racing, than Contador isn't one of those. But if a pure climber is a rider who can climb great, no matter what other qualities he has, than he certainly fits in this category. That's my opinion

A pure climber is typically one of those real lightweight people 50-55 kg small frame. eg Purito, Pozzovivo, Quintana. They cannot do anything else.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

Did someone just say Contador is not a pure climber? Leave the building please, he's one of the most natural climbers we have seen...it's just that he is so polished all over that people neglect that his climbing is his main strength...Quintana a more pure climber? You're only suggesting that because Quintana is rather average everywhere else. Contador is in the top 5 climbers of all time. In fact I'd only rank Pantani and Impe above him for certain.

No, he is not.He is the best stage racer of last 2 decades.One of the best GT riders of all time, but no he is not a pure climber.

btw http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pure

So "pure" climbers are those riders that are not quite as good at climbing as the best GT climbers like Armstrong and Contador, and worse at everything else?
yep, thats a pure climber for me (and I guess for almost everybody else who knows that word )

 

[LaFlorecita]

 

[infeXio]

He looked like he was on a training ride with Landa

 

[SeriousSam]

He looked less comfortable than Landa

 

[Alcanelo]

Didn't go full gas there....knew Aru is weak and will toy that out for the rest of the week. Landa is strong though