Carols said:
rm7 said:
I was just thinking - when was the last time Contador really dropped anybody of significance on a climb?
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You don't consider shredding Aru who started out with a 1min plus advantage at the bottom of the climb on the Mortirolo significant? Aru did end up 2nd in that Giro as I recall and win the Vuelta later that year.
To be fair Aru was not riding well in that period of the Giro, so I dont really consider that a great achievement. Aru suddenly became better in the days after that.
Contador was only the 2nd strongest climber in that race, and I even think that Aru was stronger that Contador on some days too. Before Porte broke mentally and crashed too, he also followed Contador pretty easily in the first tests. (Though i'm sure that he would have been dropped later in the race).
Don't get me wrong - I just think that some people on here is having a hard time accepting that Contador isn't several levels below his competition anymore. It's natural, he's 33 now and he have been on top since 2007.
He have to convince me in the spring that he can compete with Froome in the Tour. I'm not saying he can't, but i'm pretty sure that Froome is gonna be the same level as last year, so Contador have to win convincingly in P-N. It's only a one week spring race, so it doesn't have to be with minutes, but he needs to show that he can drop 2nd tier GC guys on the mountains again.
These young guys are getting better, and he's in decline. No question about it, but it's just how's the level between them this year?
Other than that - he needs to race smarter. Don't take full control of all the races, because all the races are not his to loose anymore. He already won them all.
I also disagree a little bit with LaFlo's post about him using his great acceleration. To be fair it's not really that great anymore. It's not bad, but when he accelerate the other riders don't really have a hard time following him anymore like they did before. He now need longer mulitpe climbs, so he can win with stamina rather than dropping people with an attack.