Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Matteo.]

Re:

If he attacks on the mur, then i think he's gonna be really good. If he loses there like 20 sec, and even though it's really early in the tour i think he'll have no chance.

He 'll finish in top 5, i'm quite sure

What's so obviously wrong there? Even if a loss of 20 seconds were not at all indicative of climbing form later on, which is absurd, a loss of 20 seconds itself decreases a rider's chance to win the Tour appreciably.

a loss of 20s for a rider like Alberto is an absurd, it will never happen. I accept bets

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

Bertie his the greatest rider of his generation.

Contador survived many 'generations'.

A small bit of armstrong. The schlecks, menchov, sastre, evans. And now he's still there with the new ones.

I'm convinced Contador will win the Tour. Never had such a strong feeling last years, it was all about just the overall excitement of the Tour but this year, right now, I feel like I'm just about to witness Contador's win and double.

2011 he failed, this year he will succeed. And he will win Alpe d'huez.

He has a good chance if he's the first of the GC guys after the first week. If he can pull that off, i'll be a hugh step

It's a remarkable stretch of staying at or near the top.

 

[BlurryVII]

Contador has left Lugano and he is now training in la Sierra around Madrid, as he usually does just before the Tour with climbs like navacerrada, morcuero, bola del mundo.

I'd say he is now testing his form and his numbers, he has some personal time records there to compare with last years.
He probably already knows by now if he has the form / wattage to win the Tour.

 

[RownhamHill]

Re:

If he attacks on the mur, then i think he's gonna be really good. If he loses there like 20 sec, and even though it's really early in the tour i think he'll have no chance.

So you're saying if he's really good, he'll be really good. But if he's rubbish he'll be rubbish.

What happens if he just follows wheels?

 

[SeriousSam]

Then we are none the wiser and the wait for the first big summit finish where every Big 4 will want to swing the Armstrongian hammer continues

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

If he attacks on the mur, then i think he's gonna be really good. If he loses there like 20 sec, and even though it's really early in the tour i think he'll have no chance.

So you're saying if he's really good, he'll be really good. But if he's rubbish he'll be rubbish.

What happens if he just follows wheels?

I've never seen a contador that dropped the wheels, to then start flying a week after. Giro'08, he only could follow wheels, never got better for example.

If he follows then it's fine, not amazing by all means since i think contador will attack if he can. Contador is very simple to figure out from that perspective, when he just follows he's usually not good but this is only the mur so following is fine.

 

[arvc40]

Contador to have GC lead on favs after TT and then win stage 3

 

[rm7]

Contadors tactics on Huy will surely depend on the ITT result. Everybody wants to be as high as possible in GC before the cobble stage, because of the team car regulations.

If he can attack, then I think he will whether he is in front or not. EVERY second counts in this tour, especially until stage 10. There would be a massive difference if he was 5 seconds behind ex Froome or Quintana, or 5 seconds ahead. Is he the one that have to attack, or just follow wheels and then counter.

 

[rm7]

Contador to have GC lead on favs after TT and then win stage 3

Dreamscenario

But I think Contador, Nibali and Froome will be inside 10-15 seconds all three. Contador and Froome with maybe a LITTLE advantage over Nibali.

Quintana will drop 18-20 seconds to the best of the three. He'll then loose some seconds on Huy again.

 

[Kwibus]

Thread almost dissapeared from page 1. What the hell is the Contador fanclub doing?

 

[gunara]

Re:

Thread almost dissapeared from page 1. What the hell is the Contador fanclub doing?

Every time it 'almost' happenned (not that close, actually), someone came up with something like this

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Thread almost dissapeared from page 1. What the hell is the Contador fanclub doing?

Every time it 'almost' happenned (not that close, actually), someone came up with something like this

Yeah, quite funny

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

Thread almost dissapeared from page 1. What the hell is the Contador fanclub doing?

Every time it 'almost' happenned (not that close, actually), someone came up with something like this

Yeah, quite funny

BUMP

 

[46&twoWheels]

Thanks.

Before the Finestre, I thought it was near the top instead was shown '' the other way ''. So I tried to analyze better the key stages during the last week.
-Great In ITT (he went on to say that he felt 100% only on that day, that's very important!)
- Not so good (on the whole) on the Mortirolo, when he was obviously cumbersome and rigid
- Very well on ologno always on the pedals as not seen for some time
- Bad on Finestre but not crisis. He has managed seemingly quiet.

I think these are erratic performance symptom of a condition good but not as great as last year, so I think that the Giro was only 80% of the form and the objective will be to approach the 100% during the Tour

It could be seen either way. A win is always a win. There are many other performances which show the opposite. A near the top form, it's hard to quantify.
The Crono was outrageous. His performance on Mortirolo was quite impressive. Cumbersome??

Anyway,as a whole I agree with you,there has to be some (F)room(e) for improvement otherwise he wouldn't be competitive also for the Tour

 

[BlurryVII]

Looks like Nibali is in form, hopefully karma doesn't bite him and he doesn't crash because I want him dropped on the climbs.

Yes I'm talking about karma because I still haven't forgot how Astana got at the front and upped the pace when Contador crashed last year. But I don't wish him that, it'd be too easy for him.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

Looks like Nibali is in form, hopefully karma doesn't bite him and he doesn't crash because I want him dropped on the climbs.

Yes I'm talking about karma because I still haven't forgot how Astana got at the front and upped the pace when Contador crashed last year. But I don't wish him that, it'd be too easy for him.

well let's just hope all 4 contenders stay upright. So we got to see who's the best. Instead of figuring out woulda coulda shoulda later on and all year long . Last year tour is quiet an unfortunate. No disrespect to the winner and the podium. The biggest race on the planet should be battled between the top best rider w/o accident. But .. it's a bike racing. I guess, luck will play role too...

I hope contador can ride the cobble better than last year. Not just trying to lose less time, but to gain time (wishful thinking ). I hate to see Nibali speeding up again and leaving him a gap of 2+ minutes like last year. Sagan seems to peak his form nicely. Benna just got 3rd place on ITT, so his form too is coming together nicely. Hopefully with Sagan, Benna piloting upfront, it would make a big difference this year for Contador on the cobble.

 

[Jelantik]

Contador has left Lugano and he is now training in la Sierra around Madrid, as he usually does just before the Tour with climbs like navacerrada, morcuero, bola del mundo.

I'd say he is now testing his form and his numbers, he has some personal time records there to compare with last years.
He probably already knows by now if he has the form / wattage to win the Tour.

hmm, I wonder what it would be... *cue in jeopardy music*

 

[LaFlorecita]

The team just need to make sure Contador starts every cobbled section at or near the front. Last year, he started the first section all the way at the front and got over it just fine. The second section, he was nowhere to be seen, and as the group stretched out on the cobbles, he was way way behind Nibali.

 

[Matteo.]

Re: 2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 3: Rapallo – Sestri Levante 13

That's right, and let's not forget that it was raining. This year, 90% will be dry and in addition there will Sagan. I don't know if others captains will have much better gregarious

The team just need to make sure Contador starts every cobbled section at or near the front. Last year, he started the first section all the way at the front and got over it just fine. The second section, he was nowhere to be seen, and as the group stretched out on the cobbles, he was way way behind Nibali.

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

Re:

Yes I'm talking about karma because I still haven't forgot how Astana got at the front and upped the pace when Contador crashed last year. But I don't wish him that, it'd be too easy for him.

Good memory! Except that of course that's not what happened. Blurry mind strikes again...

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: 2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 3: Rapallo – Sestri Levante 13

That's right, and let's not forget that it was raining. This year, 90% will be dry and in addition there will Sagan. I don't know if others captains will have much better gregarious

The team just need to make sure Contador starts every cobbled section at or near the front. Last year, he started the first section all the way at the front and got over it just fine. The second section, he was nowhere to be seen, and as the group stretched out on the cobbles, he was way way behind Nibali.

This, and the stage will be easier than last year (the route), I think he will lose some time but it should be from 20-40 secs with this kind of team

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

Yes I'm talking about karma because I still haven't forgot how Astana got at the front and upped the pace when Contador crashed last year. But I don't wish him that, it'd be too easy for him.

Good memory! Except that of course that's not what happened. Blurry mind strikes again...

Except that's what happened.

 

[Wallenquist]

Not sure if it was mentioned here. Nothing confirmed ofc but if Contador wins Tour he will almost certain ride the Vuelta.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

The team just need to make sure Contador starts every cobbled section at or near the front. Last year, he started the first section all the way at the front and got over it just fine. The second section, he was nowhere to be seen, and as the group stretched out on the cobbles, he was way way behind Nibali.

It was Contador that couldnt keep up. His teammates were still at the front until they realised he was gone.
He was really weak on the cobbles last year imo.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

The team just need to make sure Contador starts every cobbled section at or near the front. Last year, he started the first section all the way at the front and got over it just fine. The second section, he was nowhere to be seen, and as the group stretched out on the cobbles, he was way way behind Nibali.

It was Contador that couldnt keep up. His teammates were still at the front until they realised he was gone.
He was really weak on the cobbles last year imo.

No really, watch the stage again. He started the first section at the front and got over it without any major issues (he wasn't super comfortable but then again it was the first section) then at the start of the 2nd section he was way back. I'm not saying he would/could have followed Nibali but the difference would have been smaller at the end of that section and maybe he could have caught Nibali on the regular roads after the 2nd cobbled section.

Edit: I just checked, he rides the entire 1st section in third wheel behind Bennati and Vanmarcke, and indeed, just before the 2nd section he is nowhere near the front