Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[valaverde7]

Re: Re:

But what about burning the teammates of the other teams and leave the leaders isolated? In that case, he could attack when there are still 100 km to go,and then I don't think Movistar would use Valverde to bring back Contador since it would totally eliminate all the options that Valverde has for the podium.

I see what you mean but eliminating all the teammates from Sky AND Movistar with 100 km to go ? It doesn't seem realistic, unless Tinkoff is unbelievably strong.

Even if it happens, then what? We'll have all the leaders isolated, and no one will let Alberto go either way, so it still comes down to how good the legs are.

Yes, but my point is that in that scenario Alberto is a rider with a lot of experience and probably he knows much better how to read the race in this situation. I am sure Froome would blow up if this happens.
Additionally, we are seeing that during the whole tour Alberto cannot face Froome in the lass mountain pass because he has been always beaten, so he should try to do something different.

However, I think you are right and it doesn't seem a very realistic situation, but I also see that the leader' teams are very exhausted and Nibali could be a very good ally.

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

I doubt Contador was going to attack on the descent even without the Barguil incident. He was positioned pretty far back and that actually helped him miss the kamikaze move. Without rain, gaining time on the descent was going to require a gap at the top. When that did not happen after his attack, the best option was to conserve energy and follow wheels to the line. Why he sprinted at the end is the puzzling move, but it might help the morale a bit.

If he really wanted to attack on the descend he would have followed Nibs. I think its a mental thing, he is not sure about his body. His body and mind have not synced up. The sprint at the end was probably for morale. We all hoping he has some nuclear plan for the Alps. ...we'll see.

Nibali finally got his free pass. Contador should follow Nibali .. well if he has the form. Wasn't Nibali shave about 30 seconds at the end? It's a little too late, but he might be finishing better than Contador as far as getting the stage win. I think the only way he could overhaul Valverde or TJ, is by risking everything with whatever form now. He might blow up in the process and lost it all. But at least if he wants to win a stage he gotta be 8+ behind like Nibali to have a chance. Other than that, he would just either hang with TJ/Valverde or got dropped all together... which is pretty painful for us to watch. I'd rather have him risking it all..

 

[valaverde7]

Re: Re:

Valverde is a cheap rider, he would do anything to keep his 4th place. Same for Van Garderen, if Contador goes for a long range attack, he'll have Movistar (who also have to defend Quintana's 2nd spot), Sky and BMC chasing him. So Froome has nothing to do, he'll just cruise in until Paris.

Froome just never moves as long as he has teammates with him, so Alberto has no other choice than make the difference on strength in the last climb.

I can't even begin to imagine a scenario where Alberto would really put both Sky and Movistar in a bad situation. Especially given his poor form right now

But what about burning the teammates of the other teams and leave the leaders isolated? In that case, he could attack when there are still 100 km to go,and then I don't think Movistar would use Valverde to bring back Contador since it would totally eliminate all the options that Valverde has for the podium.

that's a good option. But you need the form to back that up. Currently Contador form probably either the same as TJ/Valverde or just a tad below. To be exact, god knows. He has been ups and down in the past 2 weeks. Also, I don't think Oleg will let Contador risking his podium if he still has a chance. He probably disagrees and don't care about podium, but it would be nice to honor his teammate hard work by at least reaching to podium. Unless if the goal for him now is to win stage only and forget the podium. If he got drop in the Alps and got no chance anymore for podium, what's different 4 or 10th either? Then throw the gauntlet, attack long range and win a stage.

Not sure how do you want interpret this:

"There's absolutely no chance I'm in the same form as I was at the Giro d'Italia earlier this season, obviously. It was a dream to try to win both the Giro and the Tour, but it's not easy to do. You start the race and it's a very hard first week, and you don't have the sensations that you know will lead you to victory.

what he got is his mental stubbornness and some luck. Maybe Fuente De can happen. One can hope.

If he doesn't want to risk the podium then we are going to get bored in the alps.

 

[Poursuivant]

I am convinced he will try something from afar, Sky were only down to Poels and Thomas eith Froome on a cat. 2, I think AC will try something on Thursday or Friday.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Re: Re:

Valverde is a cheap rider, he would do anything to keep his 4th place. Same for Van Garderen, if Contador goes for a long range attack, he'll have Movistar (who also have to defend Quintana's 2nd spot), Sky and BMC chasing him. So Froome has nothing to do, he'll just cruise in until Paris.

Froome just never moves as long as he has teammates with him, so Alberto has no other choice than make the difference on strength in the last climb.

I can't even begin to imagine a scenario where Alberto would really put both Sky and Movistar in a bad situation. Especially given his poor form right now

But what about burning the teammates of the other teams and leave the leaders isolated? In that case, he could attack when there are still 100 km to go,and then I don't think Movistar would use Valverde to bring back Contador since it would totally eliminate all the options that Valverde has for the podium.

that's a good option. But you need the form to back that up. Currently Contador form probably either the same as TJ/Valverde or just a tad below. To be exact, god knows. He has been ups and down in the past 2 weeks. Also, I don't think Oleg will let Contador risking his podium if he still has a chance. He probably disagrees and don't care about podium, but it would be nice to honor his teammate hard work by at least reaching to podium. Unless if the goal for him now is to win stage only and forget the podium. If he got drop in the Alps and got no chance anymore for podium, what's different 4 or 10th either? Then throw the gauntlet, attack long range and win a stage.

Not sure how do you want interpret this:

"There's absolutely no chance I'm in the same form as I was at the Giro d'Italia earlier this season, obviously. It was a dream to try to win both the Giro and the Tour, but it's not easy to do. You start the race and it's a very hard first week, and you don't have the sensations that you know will lead you to victory.

what he got is his mental stubbornness and some luck. Maybe Fuente De can happen. One can hope.

Contador has looked better than TJ on every climb except one, which was very short and steep. He usually has Valverde's number on long climbs, too. I still think Contador in 3rd is the most likely scenario.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Despite the glamour of stage 20, I agree that Friday is the stage where a long distance attack has the best possibility of sticking. The last 80 km are all climbing or descent. It also starts off with a cat 1 as an appetizer, so SKY's weaker riders could theoretically be ambushed early on the stage, forcing Thomas and Poels to work hard from the beginning. If Tinkoff puts someone up the road on Thursday, that is also a good possibility.

 

[jilbiker]

Tinkoff says "Sagan is the best in this TDF". Contador says "it was a dream to win Giro and TDF in the same year".....a Dream....well that should seal it up that his team and he himself have shelved this project. We are still hoping that this is all mind games and there is a nuclear option waiting in the Alps. I just re-watched Flolyd Landis 120km attack that he won by 5.5 minutes. Is that now our own dream for Bertie in the Alps(well discounting the junk that came with that attack)??

 

[ray j willings]

Re: Re:

Tinko blew it apart on the last climb ,great stuff . Bertie just not got the legs.

His attack wasn't bad, but no one would let him go. Valverde reacted immediately, and then Froome could lose the gap. Nibali was allowed to ride away, a shame the others still view Alberto as such a big threat.

Its Bertie , He's always a threat to them. They cannot risk letting him go.
Bertie does not care about the podium. He will risk everything if he can win and Froome knows even a few seconds here could cost him if Bertie pulls off a long one. There is still something that tells me he has a chance.
its Bertie ,anything is possible

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Tinkoff says "Sagan is the best in this TDF". Contador says "it was a dream to win Giro and TDF in the same year".....a Dream....well that should seal it up that his team and he himself have shelved this project. We are still hoping that this is all mind games and there is a nuclear option waiting in the Alps. I just re-watched Flolyd Landis 120km attack that he won by 5.5 minutes. Is that now our own dream for Bertie in the Alps(well discounting the junk that came with that attack)??

Nah, I think they have realized it's really not going to happen..
I have given up too, I just hope he will attack

 

[ray j willings]

Re: Re:

Tinkoff says "Sagan is the best in this TDF". Contador says "it was a dream to win Giro and TDF in the same year".....a Dream....well that should seal it up that his team and he himself have shelved this project. We are still hoping that this is all mind games and there is a nuclear option waiting in the Alps. I just re-watched Flolyd Landis 120km attack that he won by 5.5 minutes. Is that now our own dream for Bertie in the Alps(well discounting the junk that came with that attack)??

Nah, I think they have realized it's really not going to happen..
I have given up too, I just hope he will attack

I owe you this ,,,,,Don't give up , Its Bertie. Just one good day that's all it takes and BOOOOOOOM.
He's done it before. No surrender.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

Valverde is a cheap rider, he would do anything to keep his 4th place. Same for Van Garderen, if Contador goes for a long range attack, he'll have Movistar (who also have to defend Quintana's 2nd spot), Sky and BMC chasing him. So Froome has nothing to do, he'll just cruise in until Paris.

Froome just never moves as long as he has teammates with him, so Alberto has no other choice than make the difference on strength in the last climb.

I can't even begin to imagine a scenario where Alberto would really put both Sky and Movistar in a bad situation. Especially given his poor form right now

But what about burning the teammates of the other teams and leave the leaders isolated? In that case, he could attack when there are still 100 km to go,and then I don't think Movistar would use Valverde to bring back Contador since it would totally eliminate all the options that Valverde has for the podium.

If you look at the mileage and the profile of the Alpine stages you'll see that leaders can only be isolated with 100km to go if their teammates stay in the hotel.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Tinkoff says "Sagan is the best in this TDF". Contador says "it was a dream to win Giro and TDF in the same year".....a Dream....well that should seal it up that his team and he himself have shelved this project. We are still hoping that this is all mind games and there is a nuclear option waiting in the Alps. I just re-watched Flolyd Landis 120km attack that he won by 5.5 minutes. Is that now our own dream for Bertie in the Alps(well discounting the junk that came with that attack)??

Nah, I think they have realized it's really not going to happen..
I have given up too, I just hope he will attack

I owe you this ,,,,,Don't give up , Its Bertie. Just one good day that's all it takes and BOOOOOOOM.
He's done it before. No surrender.

Yes of course, he's Bertie and he will make it an exciting race at least

 

[Matt92]

I tend to keep my hopes low, but I can't help thinking Conty and Nibs will try to shake the Tour upside down sometime this week

 

[damian13ster]

I tend to keep my hopes low, but I can't help thinking Conty and Nibs will try to shake the Tour upside down sometime this week

Wasnt that an expectation for past 2 weeks? So far nothing but getting dropped from Contador, and only small little digs from Nibali followed by getting dropped, except for today.

 

[Matt92]

I tend to keep my hopes low, but I can't help thinking Conty and Nibs will try to shake the Tour upside down sometime this week

Wasnt that an expectation for past 2 weeks? So far nothing but getting dropped from Contador, and only small little digs from Nibali followed by getting dropped, except for today.

Well, Nibali was completely out of shape (or sick or whatever) on the Pyrenees, he was dropped from a 30-strong peloton on APSM and bonked on a 3rd category climb like Cauterets. He seems to be getting better, and Bertie is not as bad as the first MTF seemed to suggest. Only in the final week will they find a route that suits long-range attacks, and I'm pretty sure none of them cares about getting 4th or 7th or whatever.
Of course, everything depends on the legs they have, so I'm hopeful because they seemed decent in the last few days, though far from their best shape.

 

[ninjadriver]

Re: Re:

Tinkoff says "Sagan is the best in this TDF". Contador says "it was a dream to win Giro and TDF in the same year".....a Dream....well that should seal it up that his team and he himself have shelved this project. We are still hoping that this is all mind games and there is a nuclear option waiting in the Alps. I just re-watched Flolyd Landis 120km attack that he won by 5.5 minutes. Is that now our own dream for Bertie in the Alps(well discounting the junk that came with that attack)??

Nah, I think they have realized it's really not going to happen..
I have given up too, I just hope he will attack

I owe you this ,,,,,Don't give up , Its Bertie. Just one good day that's all it takes and BOOOOOOOM.
He's done it before. No surrender.

Landis had superhuman legs on that fateful day in 2006, and a comparison of him to 2015 Contador I don't think is a relevant one.

Once again, Contador had ZERO SHOT to back up his exhausting Giro with a TDF win. Plus, he clearly doesn't have the legs to do a 100km attack, let alone a 1km attack. I forget on which stage Contador "attacked" last week (right after Nibali's failed attack, and right before Valverde's) - the GC guys didn't even go with Alberto, and he gave up his attack after maybe 50 meters. He has no legs. You can see it when he's pushing out of the saddle. Normally, he floats like Cassius Clay, butterflying up and down. In this Tour, he's swinging side-to-side while pushing his legs down with his shoulders and hips, obviously struggling and demonstrating no real power.

Too bad he didn't abandon in week 1 and target the Vuelta.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I tend to keep my hopes low, but I can't help thinking Conty and Nibs will try to shake the Tour upside down sometime this week

Wasnt that an expectation for past 2 weeks? So far nothing but getting dropped from Contador, and only small little digs from Nibali followed by getting dropped, except for today.

You are so biased. Contador attacked on stage 12 and today, just like Nibali. Nibali put in one additional attack on stage 14. How can you say Contador has only been getting dropped and tried nothing?? Nibali put in some small digs, Contador did too but let's just ignore that?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Tinkoff says "Sagan is the best in this TDF". Contador says "it was a dream to win Giro and TDF in the same year".....a Dream....well that should seal it up that his team and he himself have shelved this project. We are still hoping that this is all mind games and there is a nuclear option waiting in the Alps. I just re-watched Flolyd Landis 120km attack that he won by 5.5 minutes. Is that now our own dream for Bertie in the Alps(well discounting the junk that came with that attack)??

Nah, I think they have realized it's really not going to happen..
I have given up too, I just hope he will attack

I owe you this ,,,,,Don't give up , Its Bertie. Just one good day that's all it takes and BOOOOOOOM.
He's done it before. No surrender.

Landis had superhuman legs on that fateful day in 2006, and a comparison of him to 2015 Contador I don't think is a relevant one.

Once again, Contador had ZERO SHOT to back up his exhausting Giro with a TDF win. Plus, he clearly doesn't have the legs to do a 100km attack, let alone a 1km attack. I forget on which stage Contador "attacked" last week (right after Nibali's failed attack, and right before Valverde's) - the GC guys didn't even go with Alberto, and he gave up his attack after maybe 50 meters. He has no legs. You can see it when he's pushing out of the saddle. Normally, he floats like Cassius Clay, butterflying up and down. In this Tour, he's swinging side-to-side while pushing his legs down with his shoulders and hips, obviously struggling and demonstrating no real power.

Too bad he didn't abandon in week 1 and target the Vuelta.

There we go again....
Froome, Quintana, Van Garderen, Valverde could all have crashed out in the first week and then he would have an easy ride in yellow towards Paris. So no, he didn't have "ZERO SHOT". Calm down.

 

[damian13ster]

I tend to keep my hopes low, but I can't help thinking Conty and Nibs will try to shake the Tour upside down sometime this week

Wasnt that an expectation for past 2 weeks? So far nothing but getting dropped from Contador, and only small little digs from Nibali followed by getting dropped, except for today.

You are so biased. Contador attacked on stage 12 and today, just like Nibali. Nibali put in one additional attack on stage 14. How can you say Contador has only been getting dropped and tried nothing?? Nibali put in some small digs, Contador did too but let's just ignore that?

Okay, getting away for 10m and being pulled back right away does not count as an attack in my book. Why do you have a problem with that? Nibali actually did get away (he was allowed on some stages to be pulled back later and he got away today) for a duration longer than 30 seconds so I count it as an attack.
So far between both of them (well, Nibali until today) its nothing but empty words, both from riders, and especially the fans (some posts are comedy gold)

Stop looking for issues everywhere!

 

[Jelantik]

I actually fancies that Nibali and Contador joins forces to ambush with a long range attack. Not that they are going to win TDF. But they can decide the make of the podium list. Just for the fun of it Even that, it's still going to be exciting. If contador goes, valverde will have to go. Then TJ has to follow. And quintana has no choice to follow.. and froome will not leave quintana out of his sight. Then it would be mano a mano in some 100km to go. Astana and TS send riders in breakaway, and the rest of them join force to ride really really hard to shelf off sky domestique. Nibali got nothing to loose. For contador, if he doesn't care about podium, he got nothing to loose either. When people got nothing to loose, they can be lethal. But that's all just fantasies. Oleg probably prefers podium than gamble it all. Dunno.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Okay, getting away for 10m and being pulled back right away does not count as an attack in my book. Why do you have a problem with that? Nibali actually did get away (he was allowed on some stages to be pulled back later and he got away today) for a duration longer than 30 seconds so I count it as an attack.
So far between both of them (well, Nibali until today) its nothing but empty words, both from riders, and especially the fans (some posts are comedy gold)

Stop looking for issues everywhere!

You're the one twisting the truth to make it look worse for the guy in who's thread you're posting

 

[Miburo]

Let's compare a guy who has focused his entire season completely on the tour and was *** in all the other races with a guy who was competitive in all the races he rode this year, won the giro and also attempts to win the tour.

Damian strikes again.

 

[damian13ster]

So? I am specifically talking about this race, not the entire season (which has been subpar as well, dropped all over the place at Giro as well + no WT stage wins, etc,).
So far in Tour he is extremely disappointing. No serious (to keep Fleur happy) attacks, just dropped a ton of times and lots of empty words.
You can't be sober and pretend it is otherwise.

 

[Miburo]

Subpar? He won the giro. Which rider in recent history has won the giro and has his season called subpar? You've extremely high standards for Contador. Fighting a full *** astana team completely by himself, screwed over his shoulder.

And now he can easily podium the tour. Please tell me which rider does that in the current peloton?

And he has won the last 2 GT's.

Damian strikes again! Going for 3 in a row?

 

[Metabolol]

I can't see Alberto doing a long-range attack that sticks. The shape isn't there and he is going up against two very strong teams. Movistar will help Sky to control the race. This is a race between Nairo and Froome and most likely not much will happen.