Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[ray j willings]

Bertie looking good. It was quite tough leading into the last climb. Froome seems to struggle on those long drags like he did at the tour last year. Tomorrow should suit him better . Bertie definitely long good

 

[Matteo.]

u_u

u_u

Who compares what?! I just read few comments that they said " he did not look great" , so i wrote it's clear he can't be super at the moment 'cause it's early.
Anyway , he said in an interview he wasn't confortable today. Meh , i saw him very good on a climb that doesn't suit him and without a team.
Maybe a tactic? Just given the weakness of the team?

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

It's also clear he can't be actually in the shape of Tour 2009. Anyway , tomorrow , on a a climb similar to those of the Tour and with all (Quintana, Aru, Froome) lacking pace...he need to do a good performance looking ahead to July

what
Why would you randomly compare this to his Tour 09' form lol
Of course he's not, we're only in march. He's in great form right now, on his best standards (2014' - 09') at this point of the year.

the same like you compare the 2014 pais vasco form with the 2015 tour. completely irrelevant and senseless too.

Nope, I said it in the sense that he was much stronger already in the early season of 2014 than he was at the Tour 2015 whatever the context was of me saying it.

It wasn't senseless since it is true.

 

[Metabolol]

It's not just acceptable, he should have had more support. If he did, he could have won today's stage even if he says he wasn't feeling super. 2nd place is good, Martin is really fast in these types of finishes if he is around but with a teammate Alberto could have won. Meh, Alberto has a good base shape but Tinkoff is 'giving' away good chances.

 

[BlurryVII]

By the way, where is the genius Roman Koran who thought Contador would get smashed because he lost to Sky's lieutenant blabla number 3, and now he has no chance against Sky's blabla number 2 and 1? Great logic, isn't it? Who's getting smashed now?
Wait for tomorrow.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

2nd place is good, Martin is really fast in these types of finishes if he is around but with a teammate Alberto could have won. Meh, Alberto has a good base shape but Tinkoff is 'giving' away good chances.

No a teammate wouldn't have let him win. All a teammate could have done is offer the kind of work that TJ did for him anyway. Contador just isn't explosive enough to compete with a serious attack from any of the top puncheurs riders on a finish like that. That's not his game and his team can't make it his game.

The fact that he finished second ahead of all of the other riders who are more climbers than puncheurs is a very good result. He was better than his chief Tour rivals. He was better than the second tier GC riders who have been battling with him in the preparation races. He'll be looking to tomorrow to win GC, on a parcours that actually suits him.

 

[Red Rick]

Rewatched it again. The final effort was essentially 1 minute after a softly ridden cat 2 (if you're generous) climb. Doesn't suit him at all. He can however be pretty good in an uphill sprint when on the limit already, as his in race recovery is superb. Look at Monte Berico last year, look at Mur de Betagne 2011.

 

[portugal11]

He is spending too much time with sagan... he is doing many seconds

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

He is spending too much time with sagan... he is doing many seconds

Yes but NOT tomorrow 1st on the stage AND on GC

 

[Red Rick]

Contador be like, Sagan is smart, you'll gain minutes if you get enough seconds

 

[hfer07]

According to CN - Alberto claimed he wasn't feeling "good" today

what if tomorrow he gets a bit better then?

 

[Matteo.]

In the end for me is just an excuse to cover the weakness of the team , and leave to work so the others. So he could take the win in the end

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Contador be like, Sagan is smart, you'll gain minutes if you get enough seconds

"Every second counts"

 

[peloton]

Gotta say he looked very good today. None of the 'true' climbers can match Dan's explosiveness on a climb like today, Valverde maybe and Purito.
Nice win for Dan.

Alberto was, as usual, alone in the final climb. At least he's used to it

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

Gotta say he looked very good today. None of the 'true' climbers can match Dan's explosiveness on a climb like today, Valverde maybe and Purito.
Nice win for Dan.

Alberto was, as usual, alone in the final climb. At least he's used to it

Quintana was alone with Anaconna finishing behind Trofimov
Aru wa alone wit Lopez finishing even later than Annacona
Chaves, Barguil, Valls & Navarro were alone

Change the record

 

[peloton]

Re: Re:

Gotta say he looked very good today. None of the 'true' climbers can match Dan's explosiveness on a climb like today, Valverde maybe and Purito.
Nice win for Dan.

Alberto was, as usual, alone in the final climb. At least he's used to it

Quintana was alone with Anaconna finishing behind Trofimov
Aru wa alone wit Lopez finishing even later than Annacona
Chaves, Barguil, Valls & Navarro were alone

Change the record

Are you kidding me, lecturing me in this thread?!
Maybe if you had followed cycling a bit longer you'd know what I meant.
Go figure I guess

 

[ILovecycling]

This Tour will be big folks

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Gotta say he looked very good today. None of the 'true' climbers can match Dan's explosiveness on a climb like today, Valverde maybe and Purito.
Nice win for Dan.

Alberto was, as usual, alone in the final climb. At least he's used to it

Quintana was alone with Anaconna finishing behind Trofimov
Aru wa alone wit Lopez finishing even later than Annacona
Chaves, Barguil, Valls & Navarro were alone

Change the record

Are you kidding me, lecturing me in this thread?!
Maybe if you had followed cycling a bit longer you'd know what I meant.
Go figure I guess

I have been following cycling since 1985

And lecturing you on this thread ? do you own the thread ?
Go figure ...problem is you don't figure at all

Contador was no more alone than those top riders ...it like an universal song on here ...like no other rider exists
But hey donlt disagree with you ...ever thought of being a dictator

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Gotta say he looked very good today. None of the 'true' climbers can match Dan's explosiveness on a climb like today, Valverde maybe and Purito.
Nice win for Dan.

Alberto was, as usual, alone in the final climb. At least he's used to it

Quintana was alone with Anaconna finishing behind Trofimov
Aru wa alone wit Lopez finishing even later than Annacona
Chaves, Barguil, Valls & Navarro were alone

Change the record

Surely finishing position does not tell us much about what moment they were dropped. Trofimov is a very steady diesel climber, maybe he overtook Anacona and Lopez.
I didn't watch the stage, but I read comments during the race and saw photos, and it's clear Contador was very isolated.

Here we can see (at least )3 Movistar + Quintana, 4 Sky + Froome, 4 Ag2R + Bardet, (at least) 3 Etixx + Dan, and Contador just with Hansen.

Oh,and Chaves, Barguil, Valls and Navarro aren't supposed to challenge for the overall victory in the Tour this year.
Fact is, Aru had teammates, Quintana had teammates, Froome had teammates. Contador was very isolated. Now, Tinkoff did send a B-team here, but you can't claim he didn't have less support than his rivals.

 

[infeXio]

Re: Re:

Gotta say he looked very good today. None of the 'true' climbers can match Dan's explosiveness on a climb like today, Valverde maybe and Purito.
Nice win for Dan.

Alberto was, as usual, alone in the final climb. At least he's used to it

Quintana was alone with Anaconna finishing behind Trofimov
Aru wa alone wit Lopez finishing even later than Annacona
Chaves, Barguil, Valls & Navarro were alone

Change the record

Are you kidding me, lecturing me in this thread?!
Maybe if you had followed cycling a bit longer you'd know what I meant.
Go figure I guess

I have been following cycling since 1985

And lecturing you on this thread ? do you own the thread ?
Go figure ...problem is you don't figure at all

Contador was no more alone than those top riders ...it like an universal song on here ...like no other rider exists
But hey donlt disagree with you ...ever thought of being a dictator

No need for the hostility, is there really. Tone it down.

Not exactly sure his emphasis was on Contador being alone just today (which seems to be your understanding..), but rather that he seemingly almost always lacks climbing support - UNLIKE the others you mentioned. - So no, his point is not moot.

 

[filipepc]

It´s no lie that Constador usually is alone in the big mountains. But, the truth is that he and thinkoff don´t ride like Sky does. One reason is beacuse sky is stronger, and there is no problem in admit it. They have much more otpion.

Sure sometimes, that worries me, but, i believe the mais problem can be Alberto, and not the team. If he is strong enough he can deal with that. He just need the team to leave him in the beggining of the last moutains, then if he has legs it´s not the mais problem. It´s more important to a have the team in the flat stages, downhill´s, and so on...

But i trully believe that Majka and Kreuziger can help him to what i´m saying...And Majka, can even go until almost of the top, so... He don´t need a full train in the moutains... He just need to follow sky train, and then or follow Froome, or Attack Froome and Quintana.

About today... I was watching the stage and it was disappointing but to Contador it was a good day. Tomorrow is more important, and i will pay attention to Froome... Today he seemed in a bad day... In his better years he always is strong by this time...

 

[ad9898]

Re: Re:

Gotta say he looked very good today. None of the 'true' climbers can match Dan's explosiveness on a climb like today, Valverde maybe and Purito.
Nice win for Dan.

Alberto was, as usual, alone in the final climb. At least he's used to it

Quintana was alone with Anaconna finishing behind Trofimov
Aru wa alone wit Lopez finishing even later than Annacona
Chaves, Barguil, Valls & Navarro were alone

This is a great photo of the 'team' issue, i.e he has none. I did watch the stage and thought in the last 10k all of Alberto's team had got in the car and gone home. It's pretty much always the same, the Giro last year was a case in point, he effectively beat the entire Astana team alone

Change the record

Surely finishing position does not tell us much about what moment they were dropped. Trofimov is a very steady diesel climber, maybe he overtook Anacona and Lopez.
I didn't watch the stage, but I read comments during the race and saw photos, and it's clear Contador was very isolated.

Here we can see (at least )3 Movistar + Quintana, 4 Sky + Froome, 4 Ag2R + Bardet, (at least) 3 Etixx + Dan, and Contador just with Hansen.

Oh,and Chaves, Barguil, Valls and Navarro aren't supposed to challenge for the overall victory in the Tour this year.
Fact is, Aru had teammates, Quintana had teammates, Froome had teammates. Contador was very isolated. Now, Tinkoff did send a B-team here, but you can't claim he didn't have less support than his rivals.

This is a great photo of the 'team' issue, i.e he has none. I did watch the stage and thought in the last 10k all of Alberto's team had got in the car and gone home. It's pretty much always the same, the Giro last year was a case in point, he effectively beat the entire Astana team alone

 

[peloton]

@infeXio Exactly. As you well pointed out, what I meant was that Contador was, once again isolated, which has happened so often during his career.

I don't troll Sky/Froome threads, please don't troll this one HelloDolly.
Thanks

 

[blackmamba]

Re:

@infeXio Exactly. As you well pointed out, what I meant was that Contador was, once again isolated, which has happened so often during his career.

I don't troll Sky/Froome threads, please don't troll this one HelloDolly.
Thanks

HelloDolly is just mad cause Alberto took a walk with entire team sky and their star riders (can have all the star riders they want even combined they cant match Alberto Contador which the stats clearly also shows) Come back when the entire team sky has won 10 GT's, not one rider its okei you can comeback when all their riders combined can show for 10 GT's.

Alberto once again showed his greatness, Sky had 4 people up there while Contador was alone for the most part and pissed all over em, cant wait forr tomorrow where hes gonne finish the icing on the cake so to speak

 

[Metabolol]

Re: Re:

2nd place is good, Martin is really fast in these types of finishes if he is around but with a teammate Alberto could have won. Meh, Alberto has a good base shape but Tinkoff is 'giving' away good chances.

No a teammate wouldn't have let him win. All a teammate could have done is offer the kind of work that TJ did for him anyway. Contador just isn't explosive enough to compete with a serious attack from any of the top puncheurs riders on a finish like that. That's not his game and his team can't make it his game.

The fact that he finished second ahead of all of the other riders who are more climbers than puncheurs is a very good result. He was better than his chief Tour rivals. He was better than the second tier GC riders who have been battling with him in the preparation races. He'll be looking to tomorrow to win GC, on a parcours that actually suits him.

I disagree, more support and he can win the stage. Even if it isn't his best type of climb. Martin is a good climber but I don't know how strong Sky where really pushing it if Nieve managed to stay within 18 sec. Alberto goes with Kreuziger and Martin might not have been a factor even with his punchier finish.