• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

Page 1428 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
ILovecycling said:
alberto-contador-criterium-du-dauphine-tinkoff_3478717.jpg


Look at pics from spring and check his cheeks,he is leaner...but he can still lose a kilo from the belly imo ;)
He has some unnecessary muscle on his chest (sorry CheckMyPecs) but it's hard to lose that. No fat though.

He'd probably need to stop spending so much time out of the saddle to reduce that muscle.
 
Re: Re:

maltiv said:
rhubroma said:
What I don't get is why is Contador so good now, as in 2014, but bad in 2013 and 2015?

And I mean this in pure preparation terms. Whereas Froome has been good since 2012...
Poor Contador, he can win the Giro d'Italia and still be called "bad". Also, if you call Contador's 2015-season bad, then certainly Froome's 2014-season was bad too.

Nah, I was speaking of what a Contador in this shape is capable of. Last year at the Giro he won on experience, but he never looked his best. In 2013 he never was in the game really, but in 2014 he was the best since now.

Why the ups and downs? What, for instance, has Sky done in making sure every year since 2012 Froome arrives at the Tour in fantastic form. The same can be said of Quintana since 2013. But AC has been much less consistant. No I hardly believe this has to do with pedigree, or that even his trainers and team support could have been so wrong. How did they get it right in 2014 and 2016, but not 2013 and 2015? Curious.

Martinelli though said after yesterday's TT that this is the "best Contador we have ever seen."
 
Re: Re:

rhubroma said:
maltiv said:
rhubroma said:
What I don't get is why is Contador so good now, as in 2014, but bad in 2013 and 2015?

And I mean this in pure preparation terms. Whereas Froome has been good since 2012...
Poor Contador, he can win the Giro d'Italia and still be called "bad". Also, if you call Contador's 2015-season bad, then certainly Froome's 2014-season was bad too.

Nah, I was speaking of what a Contador in this shape is capable of. Last year at the Giro he won on experience, but he never looked his best. In 2013 he never was in the game really, but in 2014 he was the best since now.

Why the ups and downs? What, for instance, has Sky done in making sure every year since 2012 Froome arrives at the Tour in fantastic form. The same can be said of Quintana since 2013. But AC has been much less consistant. No I hardly believe this has to do with pedigree, or that even his trainers and team support could have been so wrong. How did they get it right in 2014 and 2016, but not 2013 and 2015? Curious.

Martinelli though said after yesterday's TT that this is the "best Contador we have ever seen."

I truly believe it is aging. The body just doesn't respond in the same way and as consistently once you hit 30 and it only gets worse from there on.....
 
Re: Re:

Carols said:
rhubroma said:
maltiv said:
rhubroma said:
What I don't get is why is Contador so good now, as in 2014, but bad in 2013 and 2015?

And I mean this in pure preparation terms. Whereas Froome has been good since 2012...
Poor Contador, he can win the Giro d'Italia and still be called "bad". Also, if you call Contador's 2015-season bad, then certainly Froome's 2014-season was bad too.

Nah, I was speaking of what a Contador in this shape is capable of. Last year at the Giro he won on experience, but he never looked his best. In 2013 he never was in the game really, but in 2014 he was the best since now.

Why the ups and downs? What, for instance, has Sky done in making sure every year since 2012 Froome arrives at the Tour in fantastic form. The same can be said of Quintana since 2013. But AC has been much less consistant. No I hardly believe this has to do with pedigree, or that even his trainers and team support could have been so wrong. How did they get it right in 2014 and 2016, but not 2013 and 2015? Curious.

Martinelli though said after yesterday's TT that this is the "best Contador we have ever seen."

I truly believe it is aging. The body just doesn't respond in the same way and as consistently once you hit 30 and it only gets worse from there on.....

I don't know. Valverde is what 36 and he is as strong as ever. Contador is obviously still able to crush it. Time will tell if the same happens to Froome post 30, somehow I doubt it though. It's all very curious.
 
Re: Re:

rhubroma said:
Carols said:
rhubroma said:
maltiv said:
rhubroma said:
What I don't get is why is Contador so good now, as in 2014, but bad in 2013 and 2015?

And I mean this in pure preparation terms. Whereas Froome has been good since 2012...
Poor Contador, he can win the Giro d'Italia and still be called "bad". Also, if you call Contador's 2015-season bad, then certainly Froome's 2014-season was bad too.

Nah, I was speaking of what a Contador in this shape is capable of. Last year at the Giro he won on experience, but he never looked his best. In 2013 he never was in the game really, but in 2014 he was the best since now.

Why the ups and downs? What, for instance, has Sky done in making sure every year since 2012 Froome arrives at the Tour in fantastic form. The same can be said of Quintana since 2013. But AC has been much less consistant. No I hardly believe this has to do with pedigree, or that even his trainers and team support could have been so wrong. How did they get it right in 2014 and 2016, but not 2013 and 2015? Curious.

Martinelli though said after yesterday's TT that this is the "best Contador we have ever seen."

I truly believe it is aging. The body just doesn't respond in the same way and as consistently once you hit 30 and it only gets worse from there on.....

I don't know. Valverde is what 36 and he is as strong as ever. Contador is obviously still able to crush it. Time will tell if the same happens to Froome post 30, somehow I doubt it though. It's all very curious.

Everyone's body reacts differently so I wouldn't go by Bala who is obviously out of the ordinary compared to 99.9% of the peleton! Froome got good late so he cold carry on consistently, past 30 a bit, but then with him starving himself who knows?
 
Re: Re:

I don't know. Valverde is what 36 and he is as strong as ever. Contador is obviously still able to crush it. Time will tell if the same happens to Froome post 30, somehow I doubt it though. It's all very curious.

Everyone's body reacts differently so I wouldn't go by Bala who is obviously out of the ordinary compared to 99.9% of the peleton! Froome got good late so he cold carry on consistently, past 30 a bit, but then with him starving himself who knows?

Granted, but if Alberto was not able to maintain a consistent level owing to age, how is he able to then reach this level a year older? While AC lost a season, but Froome is in his fifth year soaring with Sky. Curious.
 
Feb 21, 2014
2,133
0
0
Visit site
He was not aiming to peak for the Giro in 2015, he said it himself man. Instead of going for one super peak like 14' and 16', he wanted to be decent at both Giro and Tour. Didn't work out for the Tour because of Astana, the hard racing, double too hard overall. Simple as that.

2013 was his first full year after his ban, and after dominating GTs since 07', god knows how many reasons there are to explain this one bad year, the only one where he didn't win a GT.

And people don't give him enough credit for the Vuelta 12' win, coming in with close to no racing days at all.

He's by far the most consistent stage racer, not only in winning GTs but also throughout the season itself. And none of his rivals have gone through the bad luck and difficult circumstances he's been through since 2010.
 
Re: Re:

rhubroma said:
I don't know. Valverde is what 36 and he is as strong as ever. Contador is obviously still able to crush it. Time will tell if the same happens to Froome post 30, somehow I doubt it though. It's all very curious.

Everyone's body reacts differently so I wouldn't go by Bala who is obviously out of the ordinary compared to 99.9% of the peleton! Froome got good late so he cold carry on consistently, past 30 a bit, but then with him starving himself who knows?

Granted, but if Alberto was not able to maintain a consistent level owing to age, how is he able to then reach this level a year older? While AC lost a season, but Froome is in his fifth year soaring with Sky. Curious.

He found a way to get his aging body to respond better! What it is is pure guess work. Nutrition, rest cycles, different training regime, weight, meditation, all of those?

Froome hasn't won a GT every year since his Breakthrough (2011). But Alberto has won one 2011 on, with one exception 2013.
 

rm7

Mar 14, 2015
964
0
0
Visit site
I didn't have the chance to watch all the riders yesterday, but looking at his team mates times, they were ***. Or were they relaxing?

No doubt if Riis was the sports director, he would probably tell them all to go slow and save themselves.
 
Re:

BlurryVII said:
He was not aiming to peak for the Giro in 2015, he said it himself man. Instead of going for one super peak like 14' and 16', he wanted to be decent at both Giro and Tour. Didn't work out for the Tour because of Astana, the hard racing, double too hard overall. Simple as that.

2013 was his first full year after his ban, and after dominating GTs since 07', god knows how many reasons there are to explain this one bad year, the only one where he didn't win a GT.

And people don't give him enough credit for the Vuelta 12' win, coming in with close to no racing days at all.

He's by far the most consistent stage racer, not only in winning GTs but also throughout the season itself. And none of his rivals have gone through the bad luck and difficult circumstances he's been through since 2010.

No. Didn't work out only because the double is, nowadays, too hard to pull off. No matter how easy you can win one, when it comes to the Tour, all the big guys are there in a very good form.
Specialization makes racing more competitive, which undermines the possibility of being able to win two GTs in a row while they're very little separated from each other. There's no preparation that can enable you to win, no matter how good you are. And Contador, while not as good as he once were 6 or 7 years ago (I just don't believe he's able to perform as he did in Verbier or Etna, where he was able to pull numbers that he hasn't achieved ever since), he's still almost as good or even better than Froome or Quintana. Let's wait a couple more weeks and check it out.

Anyway, while I disagree that he isn't the most luck deprived of his main rivals (for instance, Quintana didn't win last year's Vuelta possibly because of illness; Froome also had to abandon due to crash, much like in le Tour of 2014. In 2011's Vuelta he didn't win, because Sky chose to favour Wiggins, like in 2012's Tour, otherwise he'd have 2 more GT wins under his belt at least), I agree that he's a fairly consistent guy when it comes to GT wins. That's just a matter of looking to his palmares and realizing that since 2012 he only didn't win anything in 2013.
 
Re: Re:

jflemaire said:
rhubroma said:
I don't know. Valverde is what 36 and he is as strong as ever. Contador is obviously still able to crush it. Time will tell if the same happens to Froome post 30, somehow I doubt it though. It's all very curious.
Froome is already 31.

I meant if Froome post 30 will have differences of form. He seems to be on a role with always hitting peak at the Tour. Whereas Alberto has been bad at the Tour twice recently. To each his own, certainly, but we're not dealing with an amatuer in Contador.
 
Re: Re:

lenric said:
BlurryVII said:
He was not aiming to peak for the Giro in 2015, he said it himself man. Instead of going for one super peak like 14' and 16', he wanted to be decent at both Giro and Tour. Didn't work out for the Tour because of Astana, the hard racing, double too hard overall. Simple as that.

2013 was his first full year after his ban, and after dominating GTs since 07', god knows how many reasons there are to explain this one bad year, the only one where he didn't win a GT.

And people don't give him enough credit for the Vuelta 12' win, coming in with close to no racing days at all.

He's by far the most consistent stage racer, not only in winning GTs but also throughout the season itself. And none of his rivals have gone through the bad luck and difficult circumstances he's been through since 2010.

No. Didn't work out only because the double is, nowadays, too hard to pull off. No matter how easy you can win one, when it comes to the Tour, all the big guys are there in a very good form.
Specialization makes racing more competitive, which undermines the possibility of being able to win two GTs in a row while they're very little separated from each other. There's no preparation that can enable you to win, no matter how good you are. And Contador, while not as good as he once were 6 or 7 years ago (I just don't believe he's able to perform as he did in Verbier or Etna, where he was able to pull numbers that he hasn't achieved ever since), he's still almost as good or even better than Froome or Quintana. Let's wait a couple more weeks and check it out.

Anyway, while I disagree that he isn't the most luck deprived of his main rivals (for instance, Quintana didn't win last year's Vuelta possibly because of illness; Froome also had to abandon due to crash, much like in le Tour of 2014. In 2011's Vuelta he didn't win, because Sky chose to favour Wiggins, like in 2012's Tour, otherwise he'd have 2 more GT wins under his belt at least), I agree that he's a fairly consistent guy when it comes to GT wins. That's just a matter of looking to his palmares and realizing that since 2012 he only didn't win anything in 2013.

Just to point out Martinelli, who was his DS at Astana, said this is the best Contador we've ever seen, thus better than Verbier or Etna. In effect at Verbier he was riding away from a past prime Armstrong and a still substellar Schleck, whereas on Etna he beat Rujano as the next contendant. Not Froome in peak shape.
 
Feb 21, 2014
2,133
0
0
Visit site
Schleck 09' was on par with his 2010 level, if not better looking at his numbers, that's a common mistake people do because he was closer to winning in 2010, but AC was the one who was not at his 09' level.

Froome only on his Ax 3 Domaines form would possibly be able to drop Schleck on his prime. All of his other performances are roughly on par or weaker than Contador / Schleck in 09' and 10'.

Not mentioning consistency, AC and Schleck kept it at the top during 3 weeks, not 2.
 
Feb 21, 2014
2,133
0
0
Visit site
Obviously this is a very good Contador here, close to 6.95 w/kg on yesterday's prologue but that's a prologue. If he does that on a MTF in a proper stage, then we can talk about the best Contador ever / on his 09 level.
For now, he is not.
 
Re:

BlurryVII said:
Obviously this is a very good Contador here, close to 6.95 w/kg on yesterday's prologue but that's a prologue. If he does that on a MTF in a proper stage, then we can talk about the best Contador ever / on his 09 level.
For now, he is not.

We all saw how Contador rode yesterday. Sky must be getting nervous. It doen't work in with their plans. But Bepe is no chump. If he says this is the best Contador ever, its worth entertaining.

On the face of it, Contador drops Froome and the rest over the weekend.
 
May 20, 2015
412
0
0
Visit site
Re:

BlurryVII said:
Obviously this is a very good Contador here, close to 6.95 w/kg on yesterday's prologue but that's a prologue. If he does that on a MTF in a proper stage, then we can talk about the best Contador ever / on his 09 level.
For now, he is not.


He was actually a bit better(7w/kg and 6.9) on the PV TT, means that he can still improve ! Very encouraging
 
Re: Re:

TheYouyou7 said:
BlurryVII said:
Obviously this is a very good Contador here, close to 6.95 w/kg on yesterday's prologue but that's a prologue. If he does that on a MTF in a proper stage, then we can talk about the best Contador ever / on his 09 level.
For now, he is not.


He was actually a bit better(7w/kg and 6.9) on the PV TT, means that he can still improve ! Very encouraging
But wasn't that a slightly shorter climb?
Anyways, its impressive. Yesterday proved to me that Contador will be a force to be reckoned with, at the level of Quintana and Froome.
 
Mar 12, 2009
2,521
0
0
Visit site
Re:

cellardoor said:
Nah, I don't think age is responsible for 2013 and 2015. I think 2013 was complacency and 2015 was getting his prep wrong because he thought he needed to enter the Giro a bit below top form and that didn't work out.

Have to agree. 2013 was an odd one, but makes sense when Nuttie trotted him all over in Russia with sponsors after he bought the team, disrupted the off season completely and he never looked on form that year.
Last year wasn't bad, esp. when you consider the crashes he had.

Hopefully all stay fit and healthy for the Tour this year.
 
Re: Re:

rhubroma said:
lenric said:
BlurryVII said:
He was not aiming to peak for the Giro in 2015, he said it himself man. Instead of going for one super peak like 14' and 16', he wanted to be decent at both Giro and Tour. Didn't work out for the Tour because of Astana, the hard racing, double too hard overall. Simple as that.

2013 was his first full year after his ban, and after dominating GTs since 07', god knows how many reasons there are to explain this one bad year, the only one where he didn't win a GT.

And people don't give him enough credit for the Vuelta 12' win, coming in with close to no racing days at all.

He's by far the most consistent stage racer, not only in winning GTs but also throughout the season itself. And none of his rivals have gone through the bad luck and difficult circumstances he's been through since 2010.

No. Didn't work out only because the double is, nowadays, too hard to pull off. No matter how easy you can win one, when it comes to the Tour, all the big guys are there in a very good form.
Specialization makes racing more competitive, which undermines the possibility of being able to win two GTs in a row while they're very little separated from each other. There's no preparation that can enable you to win, no matter how good you are. And Contador, while not as good as he once were 6 or 7 years ago (I just don't believe he's able to perform as he did in Verbier or Etna, where he was able to pull numbers that he hasn't achieved ever since), he's still almost as good or even better than Froome or Quintana. Let's wait a couple more weeks and check it out.

Anyway, while I disagree that he isn't the most luck deprived of his main rivals (for instance, Quintana didn't win last year's Vuelta possibly because of illness; Froome also had to abandon due to crash, much like in le Tour of 2014. In 2011's Vuelta he didn't win, because Sky chose to favour Wiggins, like in 2012's Tour, otherwise he'd have 2 more GT wins under his belt at least), I agree that he's a fairly consistent guy when it comes to GT wins. That's just a matter of looking to his palmares and realizing that since 2012 he only didn't win anything in 2013.

Just to point out Martinelli, who was his DS at Astana, said this is the best Contador we've ever seen, thus better than Verbier or Etna. In effect at Verbier he was riding away from a past prime Armstrong and a still substellar Schleck, whereas on Etna he beat Rujano as the next contendant. Not Froome in peak shape.

And Michelle Ferrari, who is a more experienced and competent sports physician (doping conversation doesn't undermine his understanding of the subject), said blatantly that Contador wasn't at his best level. Not only him, but also the numbers the spaniard pull off demonstrate that he wasn't at his 2014 level (not to mention 2009), at least in the mountains.

And Martinelli said that after the ITT, not only stating what everybody saw (which was a fantastic performance), but also to relieve the pressure Aru would feel.
 
Re: Re:

lenric said:
rhubroma said:
lenric said:
BlurryVII said:
He was not aiming to peak for the Giro in 2015, he said it himself man. Instead of going for one super peak like 14' and 16', he wanted to be decent at both Giro and Tour. Didn't work out for the Tour because of Astana, the hard racing, double too hard overall. Simple as that.

2013 was his first full year after his ban, and after dominating GTs since 07', god knows how many reasons there are to explain this one bad year, the only one where he didn't win a GT.

And people don't give him enough credit for the Vuelta 12' win, coming in with close to no racing days at all.

He's by far the most consistent stage racer, not only in winning GTs but also throughout the season itself. And none of his rivals have gone through the bad luck and difficult circumstances he's been through since 2010.

No. Didn't work out only because the double is, nowadays, too hard to pull off. No matter how easy you can win one, when it comes to the Tour, all the big guys are there in a very good form.
Specialization makes racing more competitive, which undermines the possibility of being able to win two GTs in a row while they're very little separated from each other. There's no preparation that can enable you to win, no matter how good you are. And Contador, while not as good as he once were 6 or 7 years ago (I just don't believe he's able to perform as he did in Verbier or Etna, where he was able to pull numbers that he hasn't achieved ever since), he's still almost as good or even better than Froome or Quintana. Let's wait a couple more weeks and check it out.

Anyway, while I disagree that he isn't the most luck deprived of his main rivals (for instance, Quintana didn't win last year's Vuelta possibly because of illness; Froome also had to abandon due to crash, much like in le Tour of 2014. In 2011's Vuelta he didn't win, because Sky chose to favour Wiggins, like in 2012's Tour, otherwise he'd have 2 more GT wins under his belt at least), I agree that he's a fairly consistent guy when it comes to GT wins. That's just a matter of looking to his palmares and realizing that since 2012 he only didn't win anything in 2013.

Just to point out Martinelli, who was his DS at Astana, said this is the best Contador we've ever seen, thus better than Verbier or Etna. In effect at Verbier he was riding away from a past prime Armstrong and a still substellar Schleck, whereas on Etna he beat Rujano as the next contendant. Not Froome in peak shape.

And Michelle Ferrari, who is a more experienced and competent sports physician (doping conversation doesn't undermine his understanding of the subject), said blatantly that Contador wasn't at his best level. Not only him, but also the numbers the spaniard pull off demonstrate that he wasn't at his 2014 level (not to mention 2009), at least in the mountains.

And Martinelli said that after the ITT, not only stating what everybody saw (which was a fantastic performance), but also to relieve the pressure Aru would feel.

Ahh, but how would Ferrari have the data to make such a blatant assertion? Does he even know Contador's weight? As far as I know he's been sidelined from the sport. What is your source? I haven't read anything.

It was a brutal effort that, no hiding, every man exposed to his capabilities and Contador showed a dominant force. However, Contador did say he was having trouble breathing and with rythym, not having raced in so long, longer even than Porte and Froome, who in any case were slower. Now Porte seems to be hitting his potential. That was a stellar performance by him.

Everyone is playing psychological warfare. Froome's still "got work to do." I think Martinelli was speaking of the actual levels, because this same TT in 2014 I think Froome wins by a couple of seconds. Thus either Froome is still way off, or Contador is simply better, perhaps even than 2014. The question is whether or not he can still improve for the Tour. He seems to think he can and if there is still better to come from him, then Froome and Sky will not only have great difficulty detatching him, but keeping up. Wish Quintana were here. And if Porte can maintain this level and handle the pressure, watch out.
 
Baden Cooke put together his dream team for CyclingNews a day or two ago, this is what he said about Alberto:
Alberto Contador was someone who really impressed me immensely. In team meetings for example, he would really take charge and go around the room, pointing out to each rider what he was expecting of him, what they did or didn't do right the day before. He really put a lot of pressure on his teammates, but in a good way. He was probably the best leader I've ridden for in the way he conducted himself. He was just a ferocious competitor, never say die and just hard. Despite all his talent, he's just hard.

I think he can just go to the next level, he's extremely impressive.

It certainly makes you go deeper when he's sitting on your wheel and you're drilling it for him. It makes you go that little bit further, that little bit deeper because it's probably going to blow everyone's doors off and put him in a better spot. It's really motivating.
 

TRENDING THREADS