Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Matteo.]

Re:

In a one-week race, 9s can definitely be decisive! Whatever happens, I hope he doesn't finish within 9s of the winner.

Ahead there are 3 MTF , 3 !!!
I have serious doubts among the first classified and Alberto will be 9s at the end with those kind of stages. Sure it was better not to lose so badly

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Tomorrow is steep and hard enough. It's 4 km at an average of 9%. Nothing to do with an explosive sprint

Petit La Planche des Belles Filles?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Climbing wins GCs, not sprinting. Relax, today is irrelevant.

Not if he finishes the Dauphiné within 9s of Froome.

Which is unlikely cause I'm pretty sure one of the 2 will drop the other quite badly at some point, but still. 9s is too much on this kind of stage, what the hell.

Yeah, completely agree, I also think one of them will completely crush the other at some point. Or perhaps it'll be Porte
Anyway, Alberto looks happy and relaxed, so he's either very confident or he just doesn't care about the overall victory

 

[portugal11]

This 9 seconds gap is very fair but i think it will be irrelevant for the gc. I think froome is very strong, he is racing like he normally races in le tour. Tomorrow's stage will be boring, and i think saturday's stage will give us answers about contador's shape

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

This was a dumb finish anyway, because it was very technical, and because of the uphill, every sprinter and puncher wants to sprint, and all the GC guys want to not lose time, so the fight for positions is even more crash prone than usual. Then he lost a bunch of positions because of that crash. Just checked the first week of the Tour, and actually only 2 of the first 7 finishes are flat, all other last k's are uphill. Asopublic style

Angers and Limoges (I suppose thats what you mean) are for pure sprinters, don't you worry child. Rofl at the bolded, that couldn't be more wrong for the first week with 4 ALMOST completely flat sprint finishes.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

GC says Froome gained 9 secs... how to get robbed. They should've neutralized gaps because of the crash inside the 3 k;

This kind of poor decision will push Contador and other GC teams to start fighting for positions in the sprints at the Tour, which will increase the chance of crashes.

This time, 3rd time wasn't a charm.

 

[Flamin]

Re:

After such a hard hill, the best rider pretty much wins anyways.

Have faith in contador, he's in great form.

The more explosive rider is way more likely to win because of that flat km.

 

[BlurryVII]

What he said:

“The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometers gets applied. The split on the finishing line was due to a crash. I don't think the finales are more nervous here than at other World Tour races. It's the same. The tension is high but it's just normal at this level of racing. We'll see how it goes tomorrow in the hills. I don't have the speed in the legs yet. We're here to finalize the preparation for the Tour de France.”

 

[Matteo.]

Re: Re:

After such a hard hill, the best rider pretty much wins anyways.

Have faith in contador, he's in great form.

The more explosive rider is way more likely to win because of that flat km.

Don't worry, tomorrow Froome will attack as always . There will not be sprint

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

This was a dumb finish anyway, because it was very technical, and because of the uphill, every sprinter and puncher wants to sprint, and all the GC guys want to not lose time, so the fight for positions is even more crash prone than usual. Then he lost a bunch of positions because of that crash. Just checked the first week of the Tour, and actually only 2 of the first 7 finishes are flat, all other last k's are uphill. Asopublic style

Angers and Limoges (I suppose thats what you mean) are for pure sprinters, don't you worry child. Rofl at the bolded, that couldn't be more wrong for the first week with 4 ALMOST completely flat sprint finishes.

5 out of 7 stages have at least like 25m of altitude gain in the last km. It's a false flat obviously, but sprints are less predictabler, more riders want to sprint, chances of gaps are bigger, ergo everyone wants be there, and in the Tour, it's gonna lead to crashes.

Maps are crap though, so you can't really get an idea of how technical the finish is. This one was really technical.

 

[sir fly]

Re:

What he said:

“The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometers gets applied. The split on the finishing line was due to a crash. I don't think the finales are more nervous here than at other World Tour races. It's the same. The tension is high but it's just normal at this level of racing. We'll see how it goes tomorrow in the hills. I don't have the speed in the legs yet. We're here to finalize the preparation for the Tour de France.”

Paradoxical statement again. If he isn't bothered by the time loss why the 3k rule bothers him? It's invented 'cause the time gaps for which he doesn't care.
The time loss bothers him. He's here to win the race. It's harder when cushion is thinning and the form isn't exactly there.

 

[Matteo.]

I found this profile, seem Tomorrow 5 km 9.5%. Whether there will be battle, those nine seconds

 

[Electress]

Re:

What he said:

“The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometers gets applied. The split on the finishing line was due to a crash. I don't think the finales are more nervous here than at other World Tour races. It's the same. The tension is high but it's just normal at this level of racing. We'll see how it goes tomorrow in the hills. I don't have the speed in the legs yet. We're here to finalize the preparation for the Tour de France.”

I have to agree with him - today is irritating but doesn't really bother me and I can't see it being that important in the context of the whole race. But the wider principle - the expectation that the rule will be applied in this situation -must affect riders' behaviours/choices - they may jockey less for position etc. if they think the rule will apply. And I still can't see how a rider and bike in the road didn't cause the peloton to slow and swerve, even if no one else came down or had to stop.

But - swings and roundabouts etc. etc. Can't win them all.

 

[lenric]

Whatever he says is and has always been ***.
If tomorrow he loses time, he's screwed and there will be a meltdown in this forum, crying and whatnot. Though I hope not, the more GC contenders in form to claim the victory the better.

 

[hfer07]

Re: Re:

What he said:

“The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometers gets applied. The split on the finishing line was due to a crash. I don't think the finales are more nervous here than at other World Tour races. It's the same. The tension is high but it's just normal at this level of racing. We'll see how it goes tomorrow in the hills. I don't have the speed in the legs yet. We're here to finalize the preparation for the Tour de France.”

Paradoxical statement again. If he isn't bothered by the time loss why the 3k rule bothers him? It's invented 'cause the time gaps for which he doesn't care.
The time loss bothers him. He's here to win the race. It's harder when cushion is thinning and the form isn't exactly there.

reminds me of the 2011 TDF in the very 1st stage when there were one crash after another, got held back , lost a lot of time while Tour organizers literally ignored completely the 3k rule.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

reminds me of the 2011 TDF in the very 1st stage when there were one crash after another, got held back , lost a lot of time while Tour organizers literally ignored completely the 3k rule.

exactly. Those 9s don't bother him, but it bothers him that the 3km rule is ignored, because it could mean unfair time loss at the Tour, and such a loss could be much more than 9s.
But anyway, sir fly is so adamant Contador isn't in good shape, I doubt arguing with him will be of much use.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

I found this profile, seem Tomorrow 5 km 9.5%. Whether there will be battle, those nine seconds

The road to Le Collet branches off well before the village center of Vaujany. I did the climb to Vaujany three weeks ago and the last km does indeed flatten out.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

reminds me of the 2011 TDF in the very 1st stage when there were one crash after another, got held back , lost a lot of time while Tour organizers literally ignored completely the 3k rule.

exactly. Those 9s don't bother him, but it bothers him that the 3km rule is ignored, because it could mean unfair time loss at the Tour, and such a loss could be much more than 9s.
But anyway, sir fly is so adamant Contador isn't in good shape, I doubt arguing with him will be of much use.

So, why's the 3k rule so important to him if he doesn't care about the time gaps?
Is it some kind of 3k free wheeling fetish?

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

What he said:

“The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometers gets applied. The split on the finishing line was due to a crash. I don't think the finales are more nervous here than at other World Tour races. It's the same. The tension is high but it's just normal at this level of racing. We'll see how it goes tomorrow in the hills. I don't have the speed in the legs yet. We're here to finalize the preparation for the Tour de France.”

Paradoxical statement again. If he isn't bothered by the time loss why the 3k rule bothers him? It's invented 'cause the time gaps for which he doesn't care.
The time loss bothers him. He's here to win the race. It's harder when cushion is thinning and the form isn't exactly there.

The 3k rule bothers him because if it was not respected here, then it might not be in the future in a more important race like the Tour. It's not clear as to when it is applied which I agree with him. It doesn't necessarily have to do with his time loss from today specifically .

Don't know how many times it's been said, but if he can win the race, why not go for it? He'll probably just mark Froome, not chase anyone that attacks and makes himself go full out if he's losing time. His first priority here is to prepare for the Tour, he'll obviously take the win if it's at reach.

Form isn't exactly there? That's what we saw on Sunday indeed.

 

[roundabout]

Re: Re:

What he said:

“The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometers gets applied. The split on the finishing line was due to a crash. I don't think the finales are more nervous here than at other World Tour races. It's the same. The tension is high but it's just normal at this level of racing. We'll see how it goes tomorrow in the hills. I don't have the speed in the legs yet. We're here to finalize the preparation for the Tour de France.”

Paradoxical statement again. If he isn't bothered by the time loss why the 3k rule bothers him? It's invented 'cause the time gaps for which he doesn't care.
The time loss bothers him. He's here to win the race. It's harder when cushion is thinning and the form isn't exactly there.

It's paradoxical that a rider who thinks that he has won 9 GTs is bothered by rules not being strictly applied.

 

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

What he said:

“The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometers gets applied. The split on the finishing line was due to a crash. I don't think the finales are more nervous here than at other World Tour races. It's the same. The tension is high but it's just normal at this level of racing. We'll see how it goes tomorrow in the hills. I don't have the speed in the legs yet. We're here to finalize the preparation for the Tour de France.”

Paradoxical statement again. If he isn't bothered by the time loss why the 3k rule bothers him? It's invented 'cause the time gaps for which he doesn't care.
The time loss bothers him. He's here to win the race. It's harder when cushion is thinning and the form isn't exactly there.

It's paradoxical that a rider who thinks that he has won 9 GTs is bothered by rules not being strictly applied.

blue touch paper lit.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

reminds me of the 2011 TDF in the very 1st stage when there were one crash after another, got held back , lost a lot of time while Tour organizers literally ignored completely the 3k rule.

exactly. Those 9s don't bother him, but it bothers him that the 3km rule is ignored, because it could mean unfair time loss at the Tour, and such a loss could be much more than 9s.
But anyway, sir fly is so adamant Contador isn't in good shape, I doubt arguing with him will be of much use.

So, why's the 3k rule so important to him if he doesn't care about the time gaps?
Is it some kind of 3k free wheeling fetish?

The 3k rule not being applied is important to him because it sets a dangerous precedent ahead of the Tour de France
The time gap doesn't bother him because this race is not the Tour de France but the Dauphiné.

 

[Electress]

Re: Re:

What he said:

“The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometers gets applied. The split on the finishing line was due to a crash. I don't think the finales are more nervous here than at other World Tour races. It's the same. The tension is high but it's just normal at this level of racing. We'll see how it goes tomorrow in the hills. I don't have the speed in the legs yet. We're here to finalize the preparation for the Tour de France.”

Paradoxical statement again. If he isn't bothered by the time loss why the 3k rule bothers him? It's invented 'cause the time gaps for which he doesn't care.
The time loss bothers him. He's here to win the race. It's harder when cushion is thinning and the form isn't exactly there.

reminds me of the 2011 TDF in the very 1st stage when there were one crash after another, got held back , lost a lot of time while Tour organizers literally ignored completely the 3k rule.

There is a difference between the principle and this specific incident. The principle about when and how the 3 km rule applies is more important. Seems entirely reasonable distinction to me.

Looking forward to the weekend. Should be interesting to finally get a test of the lead guys.

 

[LaFlorecita]

My ignore list has expanded drastically during the last few weeks, soon I'll be chatting with myself

 

[BlurryVII]

Just because Contador says he's here to prepare for the Tour and not necessarily go for the win, peeps believe he'll be free wheeling the whole week and if not, then he's a liar. Good lord