Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Jspear]

I don't see Contador as a top favorite for Rio. Sure, he is a great climber but on the climb which will be included he will have problems to ride away from everyone. And when many riders come over the top together he can only try an attack in the flat, which is unlikely to succeed. If it ends in a reduced sprint he doesnt have a chance too.

Do you know how long the climb is? How steep?
If he wants to win he'll simply have to have great form. I haven't seen much of the profile. Would it be nearly impossible to do a strong attack on the climb, build a lead, maybe extend it on the descent, and survive till the end on the flats?

 

[sacrifice&hardwork]

Re: Re:

He has already ridden some parts of the course; you can be sure he'll take it seriously and will train for it.

Really? Interesting yes I am sure it is a serious goal for him

Ok. Maybe it wasn't the actual course but he was inspecting the area back in 2013, remember laflorecita when he was in Rio and rode up to see Christ the Redeemer?

https://youtu.be/WRCElECSBQ0

He said,

hacer los Juegos Olímpicos porque creo que son duros y quizá se me pueden adaptar por una vez”.

On his 2016 race calendar, ride the Olympics because I believe they're hard and can maybe favor me for once re the course.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

He has already ridden some parts of the course; you can be sure he'll take it seriously and will train for it.

Really? Interesting yes I am sure it is a serious goal for him

Ok. Maybe it wasn't the actual course but he was inspecting the area back in 2013, remember laflorecita when he was in Rio and rode up to see Christ the Redeemer?

https://youtu.be/WRCElECSBQ0

He said,

hacer los Juegos Olímpicos porque creo que son duros y quizá se me pueden adaptar por una vez”.

On his 2016 race calendar, ride the Olympics because I believe they're hard and can maybe favor me for once re the course.

Ah yes, I remember

Nice video, I hadn't seen that one yet

 

[Malmeren]

Contador should ride giro, Rio and vuelta next year. That would be a nice triple combo to finish off on. Screw the tour...

At least he should consider the parcours before deciding. A very tt-heavy tour would make it unlikely, I think, for him to beat Froome.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Contador should ride giro, Rio and vuelta next year. That would be a nice triple combo to finish off on. Screw the tour...

At least he should consider the parcours before deciding. A very tt-heavy tour would make it unlikely, I think, for him to beat Froome.

When Alberto is in good shape, he can deliver very good TT performances. In fact, in his last 3 GT wins, he beat all his GC rivals in the long ITT, even though many people expected him to lose time in those ITTs beforehand.
2012 Vuelta ITT, people thought Froome would take time, Alberto took 22s, and even after the flat part he was 9s ahead IIRC.
2014 Vuelta ITT, people thought Froome would take time, Alberto took almost 1 minute.
2015 Giro ITT, people though Uran and Porte would take time, Alberto took minutes on both.
I've learned that as long as Alberto is in decent shape, I won't have to worry about the ITTs. He almost always delivers. If he doesn't win next year's TDF, it will be because he simply isn't good enough.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Contador should ride giro, Rio and vuelta next year. That would be a nice triple combo to finish off on. Screw the tour...

At least he should consider the parcours before deciding. A very tt-heavy tour would make it unlikely, I think, for him to beat Froome.

When Alberto is in good shape, he can deliver very good TT performances. In fact, in his last 3 GT wins, he beat all his GC rivals in the long ITT, even though many people expected him to lose time in those ITTs beforehand.
2012 Vuelta ITT, people thought Froome would take time, Alberto took 22s, and even after the flat part he was 9s ahead IIRC.
2014 Vuelta ITT, people thought Froome would take time, Alberto took almost 1 minute.
2015 Giro ITT, people though Uran and Porte would take time, Alberto took minutes on both.
I've learned that as long as Alberto is in decent shape, I won't have to worry about the ITTs. He almost always delivers. If he doesn't win next year's TDF, it will be because he simply isn't good enough.

Yeah, his tt'ing way more dependent on his shape. He's always, amongst the 10 best climbers in the race, every single time. That's in contrast with Nibali, who can ride decent tt's while getting dropped on a cat 3 hill.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Contador should ride giro, Rio and vuelta next year. That would be a nice triple combo to finish off on. Screw the tour...

At least he should consider the parcours before deciding. A very tt-heavy tour would make it unlikely, I think, for him to beat Froome.

When Alberto is in good shape, he can deliver very good TT performances. In fact, in his last 3 GT wins, he beat all his GC rivals in the long ITT, even though many people expected him to lose time in those ITTs beforehand.
2012 Vuelta ITT, people thought Froome would take time, Alberto took 22s, and even after the flat part he was 9s ahead IIRC.
2014 Vuelta ITT, people thought Froome would take time, Alberto took almost 1 minute.
2015 Giro ITT, people though Uran and Porte would take time, Alberto took minutes on both.
I've learned that as long as Alberto is in decent shape, I won't have to worry about the ITTs. He almost always delivers. If he doesn't win next year's TDF, it will be because he simply isn't good enough.

Or crashes, or gets sick or has a mechanical that loses him lots of time....the list is endless really But if he is in good shape it won't be the ITT .

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

I'm looking forward to Rio and hope he'll give it a true shot as i know he will. I hope Minguez will have sorted out the internals by then because Valverde and Purito will also be present and that means trouble.

 

[ILovecycling]

How big is the gap between champs elysses and olympic RR?
If its more than 3 weeks then I can see a probelm, if its not, then Alberto ftw

 

[Red Rick]

He's not gonna quit after winning the Tour and Olympic gold, he's gonna quit after also winning the Vuelta after that

Obviously

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

How big is the gap between champs elysses and olympic RR?
If its more than 3 weeks then I can see a probelm, if its not, then Alberto ftw

Champs Elysees is 24 july I think, and Olympic RR 6 August

 

[Miburo]

Re:

He's not gonna quit after winning the Tour and Olympic gold, he's gonna quit after also winning the Vuelta after that

Obviously

He won't quit next year anyways lol

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

How big is the gap between champs elysses and olympic RR?
If its more than 3 weeks then I can see a probelm, if its not, then Alberto ftw

Champs Elysees is 24 july I think, and Olympic RR 6 August

Great!!!
Then 'only' great 2014 form is needed

Vamos!

 

[ray j willings]

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

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

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

 

[Red Rick]

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

Somewhere in Astana there's an abandoned orphanage, with an old closet, which is secretly a long forgotten passage to another world. A world, in which Aru is indeed the best climber in the world

 

[Scarponi]

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

Somewhere in Astana there's an abandoned orphanage, with an old closet, which is secretly a long forgotten passage to another world. A world, in which Aru is indeed the best climber in the world

And Rein taamaree was breaking records in the lead up to the Tour

 

[Electress]

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

Somewhere in Astana there's an abandoned orphanage, with an old closet, which is secretly a long forgotten passage to another world. A world, in which Aru is indeed the best climber in the world

Ha! Looks like that's where they stored Landa's climbing ability after the Giro, too. Now, where's that Taxus fella?

This Vuelta is…odd. Giro definitely the best race of the season, and not only because of Alberto winning. Raced from the get-go; Astana antics; Contador solo-ing a good chunk of the thing. Tour was pretty meh compard to how it was touted with GC not really igniting in the mountains and this Vuelta…kind of undercooked thus far. Missing a real protagonist like Alberto tbf. Have to see but by the third week, a lot of people will be v. cooked, I think. May be a 'who's clinging on best' versus who's winning'. Esp. after the crahses and stickybottlegate stuff.

 

[ray j willings]

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

Somewhere in Astana there's an abandoned orphanage, with an old closet, which is secretly a long forgotten passage to another world. A world, in which Aru is indeed the best climber in the world

Looks like that's where they stored Landa's climbing ability after the Giro, too. Now, where's that Taxus fella?

This is what happens to me nearly every time I read a Taxus post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CS7j5I6aOc

 

[Red Rick]

I'd say Chaves and Dumoulin are decent protagonists

 

[Red Rick]

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

Somewhere in Astana there's an abandoned orphanage, with an old closet, which is secretly a long forgotten passage to another world. A world, in which Aru is indeed the best climber in the world

Looks like that's where they stored Landa's climbing ability after the Giro, too. Now, where's that Taxus fella?

This is what happens to me nearly every time I read a Taxus post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CS7j5I6aOc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FopyRHHlt3M

 

[No_Balls]

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.

 

[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