Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Carols]

Re:

Alberto 2016 schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice
Volta a Catalunya
Pais Vasco
Dauphiné
Tour de France
Olympics RR and ITT

The Final season

He has never won Algarve has he? Shame it's his first race of the season, it would be difficult to win.

It would be nice if he could take home a medal at the Olympics!!!

 

[LaFlorecita]

He won Algarve in 2009 and 2010 he has not "officially" won Catalunya though and of course Dauphiné

 

[Jakub]

Re:

Alberto 2016 schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice
Volta a Catalunya
Pais Vasco
Dauphiné
Tour de France
Olympics RR and ITT

So the question is: when (=in which races) is he gonna be in which form? I mean he certainly wants to be 100% during Tour and the whole season should slave this target, but what does it mean practically?

Also I don't really understand how do professional cyclists control their form. Let's say I want to mini peak for Paris NIce and pek for Tour. How do I do it? what does it mean for my training? How do I do that I peak for P/N and in Catulunya I am worse?

 

[portugal11]

contador's mini peak is always in pais vasco

 

[robin440]

Re: Re:

Alberto 2016 schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice
Volta a Catalunya
Pais Vasco
Dauphiné
Tour de France
Olympics RR and ITT

So the question is: when (=in which races) is he gonna be in which form? I mean he certainly wants to be 100% during Tour and the whole season should slave this target, but what does it mean practically?

Also I don't really understand how do professional cyclists control their form. Let's say I want to mini peak for Paris NIce and pek for Tour. How do I do it? what does it mean for my training? How do I do that I peak for P/N and in Catulunya I am worse?

Thats a very good question!

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Alberto 2016 schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice
Volta a Catalunya
Pais Vasco
Dauphiné
Tour de France
Olympics RR and ITT

So the question is: when (=in which races) is he gonna be in which form? I mean he certainly wants to be 100% during Tour and the whole season should slave this target, but what does it mean practically?

Also I don't really understand how do professional cyclists control their form. Let's say I want to mini peak for Paris NIce and pek for Tour. How do I do it? what does it mean for my training? How do I do that I peak for P/N and in Catulunya I am worse?

I'm not sure if anyone can really know, but my guess is he'll do pretty well in all the races, similar to 2014. If you want to use the term "mini" peak, my guess is he'd have that around Pais Vasco because after that he'll be taking a break.

 

[webbie146]

Re: Re:

Alberto 2016 schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice
Volta a Catalunya
Pais Vasco
Dauphiné
Tour de France
Olympics RR and ITT

So the question is: when (=in which races) is he gonna be in which form? I mean he certainly wants to be 100% during Tour and the whole season should slave this target, but what does it mean practically?

Also I don't really understand how do professional cyclists control their form. Let's say I want to mini peak for Paris NIce and pek for Tour. How do I do it? what does it mean for my training? How do I do that I peak for P/N and in Catulunya I am worse?

It's just a question of alternating his training program. in the winter he will focus on doing many long hour rides with a low intensity building a good base form for the season, often including some extra strength/core training.

Then at the beginning of the season intensity of the training starts to ramp up, and very gradually he will lose weight while increasing or maintaining his power. He will have his 'mini-peak' and then take the gass of a little bit for atleast a week. Then training will resume but the focus will be different. He will focus more on climbs that are plus 40+ min, at high attitude. The tour requires a different training schedule then some 1 week rides.

During the tour he will be better then during his mini peak earlier in the year. He will be lighter + better at long efforts.

I've read that Lance in 2004 after the Winter training program did a test on a mountain and already pushed 440W during a long effort. Still in the beginning of the year he would drop often. It was all a question about lowering his weight about 5/7kg and maintaining that 440w.

for Contador it could be very much the same, absolute watt output won't be much higher but he will be lighter, + better at high intensity stuff.

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

Alberto 2016 schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice
Volta a Catalunya
Pais Vasco
Dauphiné
Tour de France
Olympics RR and ITT

So the question is: when (=in which races) is he gonna be in which form? I mean he certainly wants to be 100% during Tour and the whole season should slave this target, but what does it mean practically?

Also I don't really understand how do professional cyclists control their form. Let's say I want to mini peak for Paris NIce and pek for Tour. How do I do it? what does it mean for my training? How do I do that I peak for P/N and in Catulunya I am worse?

It's just a question of alternating his training program. in the winter he will focus on doing many long hour rides with a low intensity building a good base form for the season, often including some extra strength/core training.

Then at the beginning of the season intensity of the training starts to ramp up, and very gradually he will lose weight while increasing or maintaining his power. He will have his 'mini-peak' and then take the gass of a little bit for atleast a week. Then training will resume but the focus will be different. He will focus more on climbs that are plus 40+ min, at high attitude. The tour requires a different training schedule then some 1 week rides.

During the tour he will be better then during his mini peak earlier in the year. He will be lighter + better at long efforts.

I've read that Lance in 2004 after the Winter training program did a test on a mountain and already pushed 440W during a long effort. Still in the beginning of the year he would drop often. It was all a question about lowering his weight about 5/7kg and maintaining that 440w.

for Contador it could be very much the same, absolute watt output won't be much higher but he will be lighter, + better at high intensity stuff.

Wow, thank you.
Now I am thinking about how does he lose the weight. Is it a change of diet or more demanding training or both?
For me when I ride my bike, I always need to focus on eating, eating, eating, otherwise I lose weight but it is actuall muscles I lose, so something Bertie certainly doesn't want, does he...

 

[LaFlorecita]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/16/alberto-contador-tour-de-france-olympics-end-interview?CMP=share_btn_tw

The Guardian interview

 

[LaFlorecita]

I especially love this part

“Si, si,” he exclaims. “Without doubt I’ve won nine. Look at the jersey of the Tour 2010 and the Giro 2011,” Contador says, pointing to the framed mementoes on the wall in his Foundation office. “I won both those races in a clean and honest way. Only with work and sacrifice. I put those up as an example.”

"I put those up as an example" that'll teach them

 

[roundabout]

obligatory

http://static.businessinsider.com/image/50a0fdcaecad04f60100000b/image.jpg

 

[LaFlorecita]

 

[harryh]

obligatory

http://static.businessinsider.com/image/50a0fdcaecad04f60100000b/image.jpg

The Greatest.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Alberto 2016 schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice
Volta a Catalunya
Pais Vasco
Dauphiné
Tour de France
Olympics RR and ITT

So the question is: when (=in which races) is he gonna be in which form? I mean he certainly wants to be 100% during Tour and the whole season should slave this target, but what does it mean practically?

Also I don't really understand how do professional cyclists control their form. Let's say I want to mini peak for Paris NIce and pek for Tour. How do I do it? what does it mean for my training? How do I do that I peak for P/N and in Catulunya I am worse?

It's just a question of alternating his training program. in the winter he will focus on doing many long hour rides with a low intensity building a good base form for the season, often including some extra strength/core training.

Then at the beginning of the season intensity of the training starts to ramp up, and very gradually he will lose weight while increasing or maintaining his power. He will have his 'mini-peak' and then take the gass of a little bit for atleast a week. Then training will resume but the focus will be different. He will focus more on climbs that are plus 40+ min, at high attitude. The tour requires a different training schedule then some 1 week rides.

During the tour he will be better then during his mini peak earlier in the year. He will be lighter + better at long efforts.

I've read that Lance in 2004 after the Winter training program did a test on a mountain and already pushed 440W during a long effort. Still in the beginning of the year he would drop often. It was all a question about lowering his weight about 5/7kg and maintaining that 440w.

for Contador it could be very much the same, absolute watt output won't be much higher but he will be lighter, + better at high intensity stuff.

Informative. Excellent post.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

contador's mini peak is always in pais vasco

Nah not at all.

In 2007 he peaked for paris-nice, in pais vasco he wasn't relevant except for the ITT which he finished 2nd behind samy irrc.

In 2009 and 2010 his peak was also paris-nice. Same with T-A in 2013/2014.

If you look at those races you can clearly see he was always better in those races than pais vasco, even in 2013

 

[roundabout]

In 2009 he set the record (?) up Arrate and probably had the biggest winning margin in the ITT in his pro career

 

[Miburo]

In 2009 he set the record (?) up Arrate and probably had the biggest winning margin in the ITT in his pro career

And in paris-nice he destroyed everybody, except for that hungerknuck.

And he won an ITT vs martin and wiggins (not at their prime though), way more impressive than what he did in pais vasco

Contador has always been a beast in hilly ITT

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

contador's mini peak is always in pais vasco

Nah not at all.

In 2007 he peaked for paris-nice, in pais vasco he wasn't relevant except for the ITT which he finished 2nd behind samy irrc.

In 2009 and 2010 his peak was also paris-nice. Same with T-A in 2013/2014.

If you look at those races you can clearly see he was always better in those races than pais vasco, even in 2013

contador was very impressive in pais vasco 2014, he destroyed valverde in his terrain

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Alberto 2016 schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice
Volta a Catalunya
Pais Vasco
Dauphiné
Tour de France
Olympics RR and ITT

The Final season

He has never won Algarve has he? Shame it's his first race of the season, it would be difficult to win.

It would be nice if he could take home a medal at the Olympics!!!

well better enjoy it next year. Winning or loosing. We won't see him again next year if he manages to win TDF or not getting illness or injury.

 

[Miburo]

Contador wasn't that good in pais vasco 2014, if he was at his best he would have destroyed martin in the ITT.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Contador wasn't that good in pais vasco 2014, if he was at his best he would have destroyed martin in the ITT.

There were rumours of bike problems in that tt

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Contador wasn't that good in pais vasco 2014, if he was at his best he would have destroyed martin in the ITT.

There were rumours of bike problems in that tt

Yes he had a puncture in the final few km

 

[SeriousSam]

The people have spoken!

Closer than I would have expected

 

[LaFlorecita]

The people have spoken!

Closer than I would have expected

Yep. I expected it to be 20% yes - 80% no. Shows there are still many cycling fans who consider Alberto the winner of the 2010 TDF and 2011 Giro.

 

[Jspear]

The people have spoken!

Closer than I would have expected

Just curious...would you have posted this if the results had been reversed?