Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Matteo.]

They are hasty judgments.
I expected more up to date. But let's not forget that he was discharged from the team for months, so find the right motivation to prepare a GT when you do not feel the confidence and support of anyone, it is difficult.
besides he knew there were also Nibali and Aru, and after what happened in the Giro, as he could prepare with serenity the Vuelta?
better to wait Giro 2016 when he will be at the helm of the sky (I hope) to make judgments

 

[Red Rick]

They are hasty judgments.
I expected more up to date. But let's not forget that he was discharged from the team for months, so find the right motivation to prepare a GT when you do not feel the confidence and support of anyone, it is difficult.
besides he knew there were also Nibali and Aru, and after what happened in the Giro, as he could prepare with serenity the Vuelta?
better to wait Giro 2016 when he will be at the helm of the sky (I hope) to make judgments

What is there to do? He did 2 GT's back to back, and before you can start training for next season you need to fully recover from that. All he can do is not go fully Betancur and do some light training. Besides that, it doesn't really matter as long as it's not detrimental to his recovery

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Watching todays stage at the Vuleta. All those Bertie haters going on about how useless he was in the giro and the tour look a bit stupid now. Buy their standard Aru is now the best Climber in the world

But Aru IS the best climber in the world

Fabio Aru just lol´ed this.

So did his long lost brother

 

[LaFlorecita]

Interesting, this article says that according to the organizers of Coppa Bernocchi, Alberto will most likely race
http://www.cyclingpro.net/spaziociclismo/continental/coppa-bernocchi-2015-confermato-nibali-e-molto-probabilmente-contador

 

[Squirbos_19]

That's good news, it's a bit of a waste to finish the season after the Tour and not race again until February. Hopefully he races a couple other classics as well.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

That's good news, it's a bit of a waste to finish the season after the Tour and not race again until February. Hopefully he races a couple other classics as well.

Should be ok, no pressure, make the race a little bit, every decent result is nice

 

[Miburo]

Contador looks way more impressive after today right?

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Contador looks way more impressive after today right?

Opened this thread just to say that. Getting 5th in that Tour looks pretty heroic now.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

Contador looks way more impressive after today right?

Opened this thread just to say that. Getting 5th in that Tour looks pretty heroic now.

If he didn't crash it would have been 4th

 

[Miburo]

It's pretty obvious who is the best GC rider in this generation after today.

Look at quintana and froome. So where are all the contador haters now? LMAO

And Aru proved me wrong, he's really good and contador had to fight against that team in the giro.

I think today people finally realised what Contador was up against and what challenge it really was

 

[Angliru]

Re:

It's pretty obvious who is the best GC rider in this generation after today.

Look at quintana and froome. So where are all the contador haters now? LMAO

And Aru proved me wrong, he's really good and contador had to fight against that team in the giro.

I think today people finally realised what Contador was up against and what challenge it really was

No, there will still be a chosen few who still will try to minimize/tear down Contador's season to build up another rider's by comparison.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I must say, seeing how Quintana, Valverde and Froome are struggling, Alberto's performance at the Tour is looking more and more impressive.

 

[Scarponi]

Re: Re:

Contador looks way more impressive after today right?

Opened this thread just to say that. Getting 5th in that Tour looks pretty heroic now.

Contador has a 1st in the giro and 5th in the tour twice now and a double GT season in 2008. How is this even up for debate

 

[The Hitch]

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

 

[Scarponi]

Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

Froome could tell me all year next year he will peak for the tour and vuelta, win the tour in one stage as he has done and still wouldn't come anywhere in the vuelta

 

[Miburo]

Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

You can compare it with 2011 since contador didn't aim the tour that year but just took it along.

And of course it's still an indication, you even said it yourself, he was the fav for the vuelta. That was a ridiculous statement though, your argument was that froome peaked for 6 months in 2013 so he can win the vuelta now...

And astana drained him in the giro, not sure how hard that is to understand. Contador didn't expect astana to be that good, no one did. That *** over his tour prep but he was still 5th.

Imo giro-tour is also harder than tour-vuelta. You said it yourself, giro 1st week was insanely hard so not sure what you're getting at...

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Re:

I must say, seeing how Quintana, Valverde and Froome are struggling, Alberto's performance at the Tour is looking more and more impressive.

now that is finding solace.

Solace will be AC winning the Tdf 2016 - we hope.

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

You can compare it with 2011 since contador didn't aim the tour that year but just took it along.

And of course it's still an indication, you even said it yourself, he was the fav for the vuelta. That was a ridiculous statement though, your argument was that froome peaked for 6 months in 2013 so he can win the vuelta now...

And astana drained him in the giro, not sure how hard that is to understand. Contador didn't expect astana to be that good, no one did. That **** over his tour prep but he was still 5th.

Imo giro-tour is also harder than tour-vuelta. You said it yourself, giro 1st week was insanely hard so not sure what you're getting at...

I think intelligence is a part of cycle racing. Contador has won races before on intelligence- outsmarting his opponents.

therefore I don't buy - Contador thought the Giro would be easy, as an excuse.

You have to be some sort of *** moron to think the Giro - especially with THAT profile (which btw I said before the Giro was the hardest week 1 of a gt ive ever seen) would be easy. If he really thought, especially with the joke of the team Oleg gave him, that he could win that race easy, he needs his brain examined.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

Why didn't Contador reach that level this year? Because he conciously went into the Giro undercooked, still won it, despite all crashes, team disadvantage, etc. And then got 5th in a Tour despite being fried completely. Froome is fried completely, and loses 8 minutes today.

And PSM was also a matter of a lot of riders underperforming. Gesink power output wasn't unexpected, however his trainers believed he'd get 12th by climbing that speed.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I must say, seeing how Quintana, Valverde and Froome are struggling, Alberto's performance at the Tour is looking more and more impressive.

now that is finding solace.

Solace will be AC winning the Tdf 2016 - we hope.

It will happen

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

You can compare it with 2011 since contador didn't aim the tour that year but just took it along.

Yes I think Contador 2011 was way better. Way better in the Giro. Way better in the Tour.

Contador 2011 could have won the Tour Vuelta this year. I think Froome 2013 could have done it too (even with super Horner over there).

BTW I don't think Froome particularly cares about the Vuelta. I was one of the people who said before the race I think he might doing it as one of Sky's dumb PR tricks - look he wasn't able to win 2 gts back to back. If he were doping he would have managed it easy like Armstrong and Ulrich and Ricco and Di Luca managed every year, errrr.

So just because he isn't doing well here, as I expected, doesn't mean to me its not possible for him to win 2 gts back to back.
He's just won the Tour - the big aim, he's got another book probably in the line (need to cash in) a knighthood potentially, BBC Spoty to collect in a few months etc. No way is he fully focused on this.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

You can compare it with 2011 since contador didn't aim the tour that year but just took it along.

And of course it's still an indication, you even said it yourself, he was the fav for the vuelta. That was a ridiculous statement though, your argument was that froome peaked for 6 months in 2013 so he can win the vuelta now...

And astana drained him in the giro, not sure how hard that is to understand. Contador didn't expect astana to be that good, no one did. That **** over his tour prep but he was still 5th.

Imo giro-tour is also harder than tour-vuelta. You said it yourself, giro 1st week was insanely hard so not sure what you're getting at...

I think intelligence is a part of cycle racing. Contador has won races before on intelligence- outsmarting his opponents.

therefore I don't buy - Contador thought the Giro would be easy, as an excuse.

You have to be some sort of **** moron to think the Giro - especially with THAT profile (which btw I said before the Giro was the hardest week 1 of a gt ive ever seen) would be easy. If he really thought, especially with the joke of the team Oleg gave him, that he could win that race easy, he needs his brain examined.

Of course Alberto didn't expect it to be easy, that is just bullcrap and I have no idea where you got that from. To have a shot at the double he had to enter the Giro below his peak shape.

About his Giro team, it was a good team, they were brilliant on the flat and on paper their team looked good for the mountains but Roman was not at his usual level. No team could match Astana, it wasn't a shame that Tinkoff couldn't either.

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

And PSM was also a matter of a lot of riders underperforming.

Reading this forum, and in particularly posts from people who constantly want to undermine Froome and Wiggos performances (be it fans in the clinic or haters outside the clinic) I get the impression that every single *** day of racing for the last 5 years has been underperformed. By everybody.
All the time.

2012 was underperformed by all riders. And not just the Tour, the whole *** season. Then 2013 too. It was underperformed. Again the whole season and especially the Tour. 2011 was also underperformed (Actually 2011 i can kind of buy since its the one year times were slower). 2010 was also obviously underperformed because Menchov almost won in the tt and Schleck got close to Contador. Now 2015 is also underperformed.

At some point its not underperformed but simply - performed.

The reason people think this is becasue they see riders at their best one day and then years later expect every single rider to hit that peak. To be at that best form they only ever really had for one day.

That's not how it works. Its very difficult to hit your peak. Every single race is full of some riders who underperform and some who overperform and some who are as expected.

Its idiotic to say - oh but Gesink came 6th, we thought he would be 12th. If that's how it worked there would be no betting industry because everyone would always no the precise order every stage will finish in.

Froome on PSM put a minute into Quintana and 2 into Contador. And you are giving me data from Gesink? He put a minute into the next best rider, and the next best rider is Nairo Quintana. That's all I need to know. That + 6.1 w/kg for 40 minutes.

Underperformed my ass. He gave them a whooping they'll never forget.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

You can compare it with 2011 since contador didn't aim the tour that year but just took it along.

Yes I think Contador 2011 was way better. Way better in the Giro. Way better in the Tour.

Contador 2011 could have won the Tour Vuelta this year. I think Froome 2013 could have done it too (even with super Horner over there).

BTW I don't think Froome particularly cares about the Vuelta. I was one of the people who said before the race I think he might doing it as one of Sky's dumb PR tricks - look he wasn't able to win 2 gts back to back. If he were doping he would have managed it easy like Armstrong and Ulrich and Ricco and Di Luca managed every year, errrr.

So just because he isn't doing well here, as I expected, doesn't mean to me its not possible for him to win 2 gts back to back.
He's just won the Tour - the big aim, he's got another book probably in the line (need to cash in) a knighthood potentially, BBC Spoty to collect in a few months etc. No way is he fully focused on this.

Hitch what *** is this, go praise Froome in the Froome thread FFS. This is the Alberto thread, why are you talking as if Froome is a god and Alberto is an amateur.

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

The difference is Froome's aim wasn't to win the Tour- Vuelta. His aim was to win the Tour and then, why not, ride the Vuelta, nothing to lose, cos he's already won the big prize that marks you down as the best gt rider of the year.

Contador's aim was to win Giro- Tour. To not quite hit full peak at the Giro. To save it for the Tour.

Froome on PSM btw was like better than Contador's entire Giro combined btw. He showed way higher form in the TDF than Contador has shown this year, or really at any point in his career since 2009. Hypothetical biased estimations of how fast he "would have" climbed in 2014 aside.

You can compare it with 2011 since contador didn't aim the tour that year but just took it along.

Yes I think Contador 2011 was way better. Way better in the Giro. Way better in the Tour.

Contador 2011 could have won the Tour Vuelta this year. I think Froome 2013 could have done it too (even with super Horner over there).

BTW I don't think Froome particularly cares about the Vuelta. I was one of the people who said before the race I think he might doing it as one of Sky's dumb PR tricks - look he wasn't able to win 2 gts back to back. If he were doping he would have managed it easy like Armstrong and Ulrich and Ricco and Di Luca managed every year, errrr.

So just because he isn't doing well here, as I expected, doesn't mean to me its not possible for him to win 2 gts back to back.
He's just won the Tour - the big aim, he's got another book probably in the line (need to cash in) a knighthood potentially, BBC Spoty to collect in a few months etc. No way is he fully focused on this.

Hitch what *** is this, go praise Froome in the Froome thread FFS. This is the Alberto thread, why are you talking as if Froome is a god and Alberto is an amateur.

Didn't you bring Froome up before I had even posted?

I must say, seeing how Quintana, Valverde and Froome are struggling, Alberto's performance at the Tour is looking more and more impressive.

If you can bring Froome into the discussion I can post about him.

Yes I think he's the best gt rider in the world right now. He proved it by winning the TDF this year and the last time he finished it as well.