Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[amih77]

Majka got a lot of criticism here but it seems that he really scarified himself for Alberto over the weekend. He was working hard on Madone d'Utele and in col d'Eze he was already burnt after he pulled, but the tempo got slower and he returned to give another important effort (that was actually the springboard for Alberto's attack that finally sticked).

Then again, there was no comparison between Majka's level to Henao's level and I think that Alberto deserves more for his final year. Lets hope that Majka, Kreuziger, Trofimov, (Poljanski?) are all up to the task ahead.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Majka was super impressive, he deserves a lot of praise. He really buried himself for Alberto. In fact it reminded me a lot of the 2012 Vuelta.

 

[Taxus4a]

I coudnt see the stage, but just to say thank you Alberto for days like that, that is the behaviour of a champion,and that is cycling.

 

[Carols]

Re:

Majka got a lot of criticism here but it seems that he really scarified himself for Alberto over the weekend. He was working hard on Madone d'Utele and in col d'Eze he was already burnt after he pulled, but the tempo got slower and he returned to give another important effort (that was actually the springboard for Alberto's attack that finally sticked).

Then again, there was no comparison between Majka's level to Henao's level and I think that Alberto deserves more for his final year. Lets hope that Majka, Kreuziger, Trofimov, (Poljanski?) are all up to the task ahead.

Yes Majka deserves a nod, he worked like a trojan! Well done young man.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Contador is definitely not in 2014 form. He dropped Quintana like a ton of rock in TA. Here he could not drop Porte or probably Henao if he tried. Probably on a slower rise to form. IMO Thomas, Majka, Porte, Henao are not in his class. For him the other big 3 are the main rivals.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Surely the most objective way to evaluate a climbing performance is to look at the climbing times and not compare his performance against rider x in 2014 with that against rider y in 2016.

 

[ad9898]

The key here is he was only 17secs slower than in 2007, after a 50+km break, very impressive.

 

[casati]

Re: Re:

I was surprised to see them close on AC on both descents.

If they had been technical descents and G still was gaining on him, I would have been surprised, but under the circumstances I wasn't. G is better in a pursuit situation (not uphill of course) imo.

Why would that surprise you? Contador is not a good descender (or a cobble rider, or at positioning himself in the peleton). I am more surprised that he didn't gain much more time uphill with Thomas looking completely exhausted.

Well, he is actually quite a good descender

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

I was surprised to see them close on AC on both descents.

If they had been technical descents and G still was gaining on him, I would have been surprised, but under the circumstances I wasn't. G is better in a pursuit situation (not uphill of course) imo.

Why would that surprise you? Contador is not a good descender (or a cobble rider, or at positioning himself in the peleton). I am more surprised that he didn't gain much more time uphill with Thomas looking completely exhausted.

More time? Didn't he gain like 25 seconds on a quite easy climb despite having already attacked like a dozen times and having riden solo for a long time as well? I think he put up a very good performance.

I'm not really sure what cobbles or positioning has to do with it?

Those skills have everything to do with why he didn't win.
He lost time in ITT partially due to cobbles, he lost 4s due to poor positioning. He lost overall by 4 seconds.

I agree, that was a very good performance by pretty much all standards. Whenever the road turns uphill Contador is one of the very best.
I just don't understand why anyone would be surprised he lost time on downhill. He is just not very good bike racer when you need good bike handling skills.

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

I was surprised to see them close on AC on both descents.

If they had been technical descents and G still was gaining on him, I would have been surprised, but under the circumstances I wasn't. G is better in a pursuit situation (not uphill of course) imo.

Why would that surprise you? Contador is not a good descender (or a cobble rider, or at positioning himself in the peleton). I am more surprised that he didn't gain much more time uphill with Thomas looking completely exhausted.

More time? Didn't he gain like 25 seconds on a quite easy climb despite having already attacked like a dozen times and having riden solo for a long time as well? I think he put up a very good performance.

I'm not really sure what cobbles or positioning has to do with it?

Those skills have everything to do with why he didn't win.
He lost time in ITT partially due to cobbles, he lost 4s due to poor positioning. He lost overall by 4 seconds.

I agree, that was a very good performance by pretty much all standards. Whenever the road turns uphill Contador is one of the very best.
I just don't understand why anyone would be surprised he lost time on downhill. He is just not very good bike racer when you need good bike handling skills.

It seems you have a limited understading. Bertie is not the best bike handler, like Sagan for example, but still he is good. He has proved his downhill skills many times.

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

If they had been technical descents and G still was gaining on him, I would have been surprised, but under the circumstances I wasn't. G is better in a pursuit situation (not uphill of course) imo.

Why would that surprise you? Contador is not a good descender (or a cobble rider, or at positioning himself in the peleton). I am more surprised that he didn't gain much more time uphill with Thomas looking completely exhausted.[/quote]
More time? Didn't he gain like 25 seconds on a quite easy climb despite having already attacked like a dozen times and having riden solo for a long time as well? I think he put up a very good performance.

I'm not really sure what cobbles or positioning has to do with it?[/quote]

Those skills have everything to do with why he didn't win.
He lost time in ITT partially due to cobbles, he lost 4s due to poor positioning. He lost overall by 4 seconds.

I agree, that was a very good performance by pretty much all standards. Whenever the road turns uphill Contador is one of the very best.
I just don't understand why anyone would be surprised he lost time on downhill. He is just not very good bike racer when you need good bike handling skills.[/quote]

It seems you have a limited understading. Bertie is not the best bike handler, like Sagan for example, but still he is good. He has proved his downhill skills many times.[/quote]


Why would you even mention Sagan in the same sentence when it comes to descending? He is not horrible, but to expect him to gain time on others on descent is way to much. To be fair, you could also point to situations throughout last 2 seasons (Tours, Ruta del Sol, etc) when he proved pretty bad on descents, and wasn't exactly going against Sagan or Nibali

 

[casati]

Re: Re:

If they had been technical descents and G still was gaining on him, I would have been surprised, but under the circumstances I wasn't. G is better in a pursuit situation (not uphill of course) imo.

Why would that surprise you? Contador is not a good descender (or a cobble rider, or at positioning himself in the peleton). I am more surprised that he didn't gain much more time uphill with Thomas looking completely exhausted.

More time? Didn't he gain like 25 seconds on a quite easy climb despite having already attacked like a dozen times and having riden solo for a long time as well? I think he put up a very good performance.

I'm not really sure what cobbles or positioning has to do with it?[/quote]

Those skills have everything to do with why he didn't win.
He lost time in ITT partially due to cobbles, he lost 4s due to poor positioning. He lost overall by 4 seconds.

I agree, that was a very good performance by pretty much all standards. Whenever the road turns uphill Contador is one of the very best.
I just don't understand why anyone would be surprised he lost time on downhill. He is just not very good bike racer when you need good bike handling skills.[/quote]

It seems you have a limited understading. Bertie is not the best bike handler, like Sagan for example, but still he is good. He has proved his downhill skills many times.[/quote]


Why would you even mention Sagan in the same sentence when it comes to descending? He is not horrible, but to expect him to gain time on others on descent is way to much. To be fair, you could also point to situations throughout last 2 seasons (Tours, Ruta del Sol, etc) when he proved pretty bad on descents, and wasn't exactly going against Sagan or Nibali[/quote]

So I guess we could say Geraint Thomas can't ride in the wind because he got blown off his bike in gent wevelgem

 

[LaFlorecita]

What happened in the Ruta del Sol that showed he is a poor descender?

 

[damian13ster]

Come on now, I have given multiple examples from the past 2 years. Do you have examples from 2014-2015 where he gained time on descents over his rivals?

He is just not good enough to expect him to gain time on descents

 

[jsem94]

Oh god, the quotations are all over the place. This descent wasn't all about descending skills either, it was about putting power through the pedals in the last 15 minutes. Thomas is one of the best in the world at riding at near maximum for a short period of time, but it was still a surprise seeing him come back so strongly in the end. Contador was more spent having attacked from 50km out already etc.

 

[damian13ster]

Re:

What happened in the Ruta del Sol that showed he is a poor descender?

My bad, that wasn't Ruta del Sol. I meant Route du Sud, the race where he lost to Quintana before Tour.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

What happened in the Ruta del Sol that showed he is a poor descender?

My bad, that wasn't Ruta del Sol. I meant the race where he lost to Quintana before Tour.

LOL, I have to quote this one

 

[bajbar]

Re: Re:

What happened in the Ruta del Sol that showed he is a poor descender?

My bad, that wasn't Ruta del Sol. I meant the race where he lost to Quintana before Tour.

Believe it or not, he actually won Route du Sud ON A DOWNHILL against Quintana... Memory isn't your strong point it seems...

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

What happened in the Ruta del Sol that showed he is a poor descender?

My bad, that wasn't Ruta del Sol. I meant the race where he lost to Quintana before Tour.

LOL, I have to quote this one

You are right, my memory definetely failed me. Embarassing Oh well, next itme will double check before posting

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

What happened in the Ruta del Sol that showed he is a poor descender?

My bad, that wasn't Ruta del Sol. I meant the race where he lost to Quintana before Tour.

LOL, I have to quote this one

Oh dear oh dear

Some races in 2014-2015 in which he gained time or defended his lead on the descent:
2014 Tirreno stage 5
2014 Pais Vasco stage 1
2014 Dauphiné stage 8
2015 Giro stage 18
2015 Route du sud stage 3

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

You are right, my memory definetely failed me. Embarassing Oh well, next itme will double check before posting

No worries we all have those days

 

[BlurryVII]

Lol, people not making the difference between a technical descent and a power highway descent which gives full advantage to Thomas.

Contador is definitely not in 2014 form. He dropped Quintana like a ton of rock in TA. Here he could not drop Porte or probably Henao if he tried.

Paris Nice's flat pancake climbs and one cancelled key stage are comparable to Tirreno 14' route?
Despite that, didn't Contador still manage to pull a 50 secs gap on Cote de Peille et 30 secs in 1 km on Eze after getting caught up on the flat? Of course he didn't drop Porte on Eze, Porte didn't do anything the whole stage. Probably too complicated to understand already.

Look at the circumstances, variables, route and so on before making conclusions. Like, those who claim that Contador will never beat Froome because he didn't "beat" Thomas here, are merely brainless.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Lol, people not making the difference between a technical descent and a power highway descent which gives full advantage to Thomas.

Contador is definitely not in 2014 form. He dropped Quintana like a ton of rock in TA. Here he could not drop Porte or probably Henao if he tried.

Paris Nice's flat pancake climbs and one cancelled key stage are comparable to Tirreno 14' route?
Despite that, didn't Contador still manage to pull a 50 secs gap on Cote de Peille et 30 secs in 1 km on Eze after getting caught up on the flat? Of course he didn't drop Porte on Eze, Porte didn't do anything the whole stage. Probably too complicated to understand already.

Look at the circumstances, variables, route and so on before making conclusions. Like, those who claim that Contador will never beat Froome because he didn't "beat" Thomas here, are merely brainless.

Good post, bravo

 

[rick james]

flat pancake climbs LOL..

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

What happened in the Ruta del Sol that showed he is a poor descender?

My bad, that wasn't Ruta del Sol. I meant the race where he lost to Quintana before Tour.

LOL, I have to quote this one

Oh dear oh dear

Some races in 2014-2015 in which he gained time or defended his lead on the descent:
2014 Tirreno stage 5
2014 Pais Vasco stage 1
2014 Dauphiné stage 8
2015 Giro stage 18
2015 Route du sud stage 3

classy