Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

I agree it would be worrying if he gets dropped by Froome here. Remember, he could follow Froome on Mur de Huy until he (Alberto) tried to follow Purito in a steep corner and blew up. 800m @7% shouldn't be an issue.

Are you really serious? He could follow Froome there because Froome hold back. He dropped when Purito and Froome went full gas.

Sometimes it's just better to be realistic.

That's not what I saw.

But Purito attacked with 400 meter to go, after the steep corner. Froome and Gallopin followed, and Contador dropped at that point. So i don't know which video you saw.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

@miburo , none in this discussion said something like that

Then you're not paying attention. Fleur don't lie

 

[Carols]

Re:

Contador was right on Purito's wheel at the crash on the right side of the road, ended up 8 seconds behind the group Purito bridged to. Sigh.

This was today???

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

Contador was right on Purito's wheel at the crash on the right side of the road, ended up 8 seconds behind the group Purito bridged to. Sigh.

This was today???

Yeah today, he was on Purito's wheel with a good momentum when the crash happened, then next thing you know Purito bridged to the Sagan group at front and we see Contador behind sitting down and watching behind for no reason waiting for Valverde to take a pull.

He pretty much lost 11 seconds to Purito there.

 

[rm7]

Re: Re:

Contador was right on Purito's wheel at the crash on the right side of the road, ended up 8 seconds behind the group Purito bridged to. Sigh.

This was today???

Yeah today, he was on Purito's wheel with a good momentum when the crash happened, then next thing you know Purito bridged to the Sagan group at front and we see Contador behind sitting down and watching behind for no reason waiting for Valverde to take a pull.

He pretty much lost 11 seconds to Purito there.

Are you saying he was dropped or left behind because of the crash? I didn't see it. I only saw he was on Valverde's wheel moments after, but not that he was at Purtios wheel.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Blurry, you are making me depressed.

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

Contador was right on Purito's wheel at the crash on the right side of the road, ended up 8 seconds behind the group Purito bridged to. Sigh.

This was today???

Yeah today, he was on Purito's wheel with a good momentum when the crash happened, then next thing you know Purito bridged to the Sagan group at front and we see Contador behind sitting down and watching behind for no reason waiting for Valverde to take a pull.

He pretty much lost 11 seconds to Purito there.

Are you saying he was dropped or left behind because of the crash? I didn't see it. I only saw he was on Valverde's wheel moments after, but not that he was at Purtios wheel.

You just have to rewatch the chopper's view of the crash, you'll see Purito and Contador flying past the crash on the right side of the road.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

You just have to rewatch the chopper's view of the crash, you'll see Purito and Contador flying past the crash on the right side of the road.

He lost contact on the flat run-in to the finish.

 

[rm7]

Yeah I just saw. JRod and Contador took the right side and rode past the crash, and Rod bridged to the group, but Contador didn't and was caught by Valverde.

But I wouldn't expect Contador to glose that gap in a finish like this.

 

[Netserk]

Contador just did a Froome and cynically took advantage of poor Tony's crash and took it easy afterwards.

 

[bajbar]

Re: Re:

Contador was right on Purito's wheel at the crash on the right side of the road, ended up 8 seconds behind the group Purito bridged to. Sigh.

This was today???

Yeah today, he was on Purito's wheel with a good momentum when the crash happened, then next thing you know Purito bridged to the Sagan group at front and we see Contador behind sitting down and watching behind for no reason waiting for Valverde to take a pull.

He pretty much lost 11 seconds to Purito there.

Are you saying he was dropped or left behind because of the crash? I didn't see it. I only saw he was on Valverde's wheel moments after, but not that he was at Purtios wheel.

You just have to rewatch the chopper's view of the crash, you'll see Purito and Contador flying past the crash on the right side of the road.

Why would he bother? unless he wanted to help Sagan (which i doubt very much)

 

[blackmamba]

Everyone whining about Contador must really have alzheimer the DUDE just won the giro a month ago and if you know anything about cycling you would know everyone says its impossible to do the giro-tour double at this age of cycling just keep that in mind holy moly. (had to type it when I actually saw something as stupid as contador was finished ROFL )

 

[Metabolol]

I don't see the big deal with that time gap though. He lost more speed than Rodriguez as they went by Froome and after that is hard to say if he went full gas chasing a more explosive Rodriguez.

 

[ad9898]

After the crash there is little point expending the energy, all his rivals were behind him and were going to get the same time, if he did lose 11 secs to JRod then I think he thought it's not worth expending the energy, it's highly unlikely he's going to lose the tour to JRod by 11 seconds.

 

[Big Doopie]

Interesting how weak Nibali was in the Poland Tour in this year, and a couple of weeks later back at his best in the Vuelta. So there's hope AC can pull the same trick.

Lol.

Sure he can.

But will he risk it?

 

[Carols]

After the crash there is little point expending the energy, all his rivals were behind him and were going to get the same time, if he did lose 11 secs to JRod then I think he thought it's not worth expending the energy, it's highly unlikely he's going to lose the tour to JRod by 11 seconds.

I will grasp this explanation, otherwise it's to depressing to contemplate....

 

[bajbar]

After the crash there is little point expending the energy, all his rivals were behind him and were going to get the same time, if he did lose 11 secs to JRod then I think he thought it's not worth expending the energy, it's highly unlikely he's going to lose the tour to JRod by 11 seconds.

The point is he didn't lose any time to Rodriguez (or anyone else for that matter) at the end. They just believe that not following Purito equals being weak or blowing up...

 

[TI-Raleigh]

Judgement on Contador's form should be withheld until after Stage 10. Short, explosive efforts on Huy and Bretagne seem to me to be the hardest on a rider who went deep in the Giro.

 

[damian13ster]

After the crash there is little point expending the energy, all his rivals were behind him and were going to get the same time, if he did lose 11 secs to JRod then I think he thought it's not worth expending the energy, it's highly unlikely he's going to lose the tour to JRod by 11 seconds.

The point is he didn't lose any time to Rodriguez (or anyone else for that matter) at the end. They just believe that not following Purito equals being weak or blowing up...

Unless there is a video showing that he actually tried to follow Purito, there can't be any conclusions about riders' shape from this stage

 

[Carols]

Re:

Judgement on Contador's form should be withheld until after Stage 10. Short, explosive efforts on Huy and Bretagne seem to me to be the hardest on a rider who went deep in the Giro.

It is because he went so deep in winning the Giro that there is so much cause for concern. That and the fact that he has shown little so far in this race beyond grimace faces. Okay his ITT was meh, not horrible, just meh.

 

[ad9898]

I still stand by my prediction that his 'build up' after the Giro was purely recovery, it had to be as to not overly push his body... he knew that unless he had bad luck there was little time to be lost in the first week of the tour which he would use to build his form (or drop a kilo or two) ahead of the final week and a half. Mark my words he's going to be very strong come the end of the Tour. I don't bet but if the odds are long on him winning at this point I'd put a small wager on.... You can all praise my prediction at the end of the Tour

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

Yes. Nothing else but photos/video footage that he went through hell and high water (grimacing) following that Kathusa-rider are to be accepted if we should believe he had a problem today given the circumstances.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I still stand by my prediction that his 'build up' after the Giro was purely recovery, it had to be as to not overly push his body... he knew that unless he had bad luck there was little time to be lost in the first week of the tour which he would use to build his form (or drop a kilo or two) ahead of the final week and a half. Mark my words he's going to be very strong come the end of the Tour. I don't bet but if the odds are long on him winning at this point I'd put a small wager on.... You can all praise my prediction at the end of the Tour

I agree with you, and Bjarne and Philippe Mauduit (ex-Tinkoff DS) said the same.

 

[Energy Starr]

Unless I'm mistaken, AC got the same time as JRod. Sooo...
AC absolutely did the right thing. Why would he try to close that gap. Wasted energy on Jrod's part.

 

[Publicus]

Frankly I think he expended a lot of energy getting back to the front before the red kite and the crash helped him. Really bad positioning by AC and Tinkoff over the last 3KM. I wouldn't draw any conclusions about his form however. It looked like he cruised in.