Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[rhubroma]

Re: Re:

Is his weight confirmed and how much was it by the time last year? Personally i cant see a difference with the exception of perhaps his face which seems a bit "rounder".

I am confident you have something there. Like i pointed out a couple of days ago i wouldnt be surprised if the foundation for his eventual victory lays already in the first week in where he have kept a spare kilo for more powers in this one TT, do a thrilling race over the cobbles (i have a feeling they will try to distance Froome/Quintana here), and to have a mixture of power and explosiveness on Mur. Come the mountain if the plan holds he will be back in 2014 figures for damage control or just keeping an eye on things assuming he doesnt feel all that.

But the downside with the strategy of riding off that extra kilo has always been external factors like how the race is developing or the weather. Ullrich did it in 1998 but was unable to ride that off with a exceptionally slow first week and of course not helped with the Festina scandal. Some riders even gain weights on the road like Indurain 1996 when it rained the whole first week (that race also started in Holland). Now i dont think AC has any similarity with these individuals who seems to be a more stocky type naturally and i am confident this approach is the right one assuming my/our speculations is right of course.

Note his answer to a question during the press conference "where would you like to be after the first week?" He said "20 minutes higher the person in 2nd place" They laughed but I think there is a glimpse into what he is thinking. If and only if there is a hit from the Giro it will be in the 3rd week, the GC folks are already nervous about the first week, why not hit them in the first week, pile up enough time time and wheel suck/chill the rest of the tdf.He certainly enjoyed the "comfort" of time buffer in the Giro where he could chill in the last mtf stage.

Eating well yes, but eating too much expends a lot of energy digesting, which isn't good for recovery.

I think he needs to arrive at the mountains as lean as he was at last year's Tour, since he probably will want to drop everyone a couple of times to win the race. I can't see him winning the race if he isn't the best in the mountains.

 

[Alcanelo]

Contador will need to drop everyone on the mountains as early as possible and then track attacks after that...ideally he'd lose the jersey again by 10 seconds or so before the last few climbing stages and then attack again to snatch it back. Anything else will cause him to bonk as the kitchen sink will be thrown at him day after day if he has the jersey the whole way.

 

[The_Cheech]

Re:

Contador will need to drop everyone on the mountains as early as possible and then track attacks after that...ideally he'd lose the jersey again by 10 seconds or so before the last few climbing stages and then attack again to snatch it back. Anything else will cause him to bonk as the kitchen sink will be thrown at him day after day if he has the jersey the whole way.

Alberto looked reasonably good today.

With such a third week-heavy TdF I can see him preparing more for the mountain stages than the ITT.

Nibali's performance is a tell-tale sign that he intends making the first week super-duper hard.

 

[BlurryVII]

Average TT, don't really know what to make of it. We'll see what happens on Huy, if he struggles to follow there will be some doubts.

 

[Kwibus]

Hey Hey Fleur post the pic!!! what a way to start Le Tour! congratz!!

Indeed fleur. Give us pics pleaaaase!
If you really don't like to post your own face then just blur it with photoshop or paint, but we must see pics!

i'm jealous btw!

I put some pics on my twitter account, I'm not going to put them in here for everyone to see )

I'll try to find you on twitter then.
Name there is fleur?

Edit: wow Flo! Nice picture with everyone!
If I was there to help you then you'd definately had a pic with Alberto too

Good work

The more I read here the more I get the feeling i should've went to Utrecht the days before saturday...

you should be ashamed if I was from nederlands I would have been there 24/7 (in front of hotel )

I got a job, a wife and a kid. Not possible

 

[46&twoWheels]

Contador passed the finish line with a pretty strained face. He looked different from the other big 3

 

[Kwibus]

I'll try to find you on twitter then.
Name there is fleur?

Edit: wow Flo! Nice picture with everyone!
If I was there to help you then you'd definately had a pic with Alberto too

Good work

The more I read here the more I get the feeling i should've went to Utrecht the days before saturday...

I dunno, Alberto didn't pose for pics for anyone, signed some stuff and got into the bus then when he exited I managed to snap a pic of me with him in the back he did stop and smile for a split second but I wasn't quick enough to snap another pic

I understand, but if I was there I would make very sure that you are his biggest fan ever, no doubt. He can't leave his biggest fan ever just like that

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Average TT, don't really know what to make of it. We'll see what happens on Huy, if he struggles to follow there will be some doubts.

I agree.
Maybe i expected him 5s faster , but nothing more . On Huy we'll see if he can really win the Tour. If he will be out of top 5 , i have more and more doubts

 

[cellardoor]

His TT was certainly nothing to write home about, but at the same time I'm happy he minimised his loss to Froome very well. The overriding feeling I have is not to read too much into this other than the main favourites are all there or thereabouts.

 

[arvc40]

Re:

Contador passed the finish line with a pretty strained face. He looked different from the other big 3

Agree..... But I don't think that was his cup of tea today. I reckon Contador and quintana came out of that pretty well. Watching it I thought Froome would have been a little quicker.

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

Didnt like what i saw at all but it also looked as if there was a case of strong wind going on and/or trouble with adopting a comfortable position. I take a little comfort in the fact that the other contenders were going more or less in the same manner. Huy will give a clearer picture.

 

[Jelantik]

I guess he did an ok ITT. Maybe he never get settled with his rythm or something. He does look laboring at the end. I was hoping for more, but this is the first day. Nibali looks really good. Froome and Contador almost the same. Pinot and Tejay got ahead start. See how they fare in the mountain.

EDIT:
just looked the result. He already lost 15 seconds to Nibali and 8 seconds to Froomey. I hope he won't bleeding more in the cobble from Nibali.

 

[rhubroma]

Pantani started the 98 Tour terribly and then built back up to top shape during the course. However, there is something about Contador that isn't very convincing. Perhaps its because he won the Giro without winning a mountain stage and even got dropped on the Colle della Finestra.

Whereas when Pantani won the 98 Giro he was the strongest in the mountains, but then had to start the Tour undertone to have any chance of coming back up to his climbing level. Martinelli said that was their strategy and it worked.

However we simply haven't seen any indication that Contador is on track for being at his best level soon. He's been undertone the whole season and thus it's like, ok, um, still waiting Alberto, give us a sign. That sign has been missing all year and I'm starting to wonder if he simply hasn't gotten it together in time.

Sure he was just 7 seconds behind Froome, but 15 seconds behind Nibali? A Contador in top shape gives Nibali 15 seconds on a course like today and, as we have seen in the last couple of TTs, finishes ahead of Froome. Today has only left more doubt than provided answers.

 

[Big Doopie]

Re:

Pantani started the 98 Tour terribly and then built back up to top shape during the course....

lol at comparing with Pantani.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Sheesh guys, chill. 8s lost to Froome is absolutely normal.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Contador passed the finish line with a pretty strained face. He looked different from the other big 3

Agree..... But I don't think that was his cup of tea today. I reckon Contador and quintana came out of that pretty well. Watching it I thought Froome would have been a little quicker.

Froome definitely looked quicker when he came past, must have been the high cadence, and it seemed like there was an eternity between Valverde and Contador - it was actually only 1 minute + 1 second.

 

[Metabolol]

But he lost time to Nibali which isn't normal and Froome didn't ride as well as I had expected.

 

[rhubroma]

Re: Re:

Pantani started the 98 Tour terribly and then built back up to top shape during the course....

lol at comparing with Pantani.

Come, come now, the comparison is pertinent in so far he's the last to have won both Giro and Tour in the same year.

At any rate, I expected more from Contador in terms of where he seems to be at physically. He simply doesn't look like a rider who has won the Giro and aims to win the Tour.

I was already skeptical after Colle della Finestra and my skepticism has only increased over the last couple of days.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

But he lost time to Nibali which isn't normal and Froome didn't ride as well as I had expected.

Maybe Nibali just rode a great ITT. No, Contador didn't ride a great ITT, but there's no reason to panic either, it was a decent effort.

 

[cellardoor]

Re: Re:

Pantani started the 98 Tour terribly and then built back up to top shape during the course....

lol at comparing with Pantani.

Come, come now, the comparison is pertinent in so far he's the last to have won both Giro and Tour in the same year.

At any rate, I expected more from Contador in terms of where he seems to be at physically. He simply doesn't look like a rider who has won the Giro and aims to win the Tour.

I was already skeptical after Colle della Finestra and my skepticism has only increased over the last couple of days.

As rm7 pointed out, Basso in 2005 is probably a better comparison. He lost a minute to Valverde, Mancebo etc on the first serious mountain stage and went on to win that tour

 

[hulkhogansknees]

I don't think Contador looked very good today so I actually think it is very acceptable that he only lost 8 seconds to Froome considering Contador might have had a semi-bad day. But maybe it is just wishful thinking. Only time will tell.

 

[cellardoor]

Re: Re:

Contador passed the finish line with a pretty strained face. He looked different from the other big 3

Agree..... But I don't think that was his cup of tea today. I reckon Contador and quintana came out of that pretty well. Watching it I thought Froome would have been a little quicker.

Froome definitely looked quicker when he came past, must have been the high cadence, and it seemed like there was an eternity between Valverde and Contador - it was actually only 1 minute + 1 second.

Surprised you say that because, as has been mentioned in the Froome thread, looked like he was pushing a big gear.

 

[Carols]

My Guess is the 'sensations' were not good. He appeared to be struggling throughout and got his placing on guts IMO. Hopefully the sensations improve.

 

[Miburo]

It's fine, on the mur we'll known more and even then you've to wait until the real MTF to see how good he is.

But i would sign any day for only losing 8s to Froome. The 15s on nibali kinda sucks but i can live with it.

 

[blackmamba]

People relax Contador is not set to come into the Tour with peak form so this is okei no need to panic (same with froome) sure both could possible hoped for 10-15 sec better but honestly id be more worried if Contador was flying today, its 3 weeks keep that in mind.