Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[portugal11]

Aspin will be crucial. Froome is so good at mountains with 5/6%. Look to his insane attack in stage 2 of dauphine 2014. And this stage will be mostly flat.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Isn't there a handful of mountains before Aspin?

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Isn't there a handful of mountains before Aspin?

You mean on that stage or in all stages before that?

Just checked, there's a massive cat 4 climb with no descent topping out 20km before the foot of the Aspin. 7.7 @ 3.3%. Everyone but Kittel will hit the foot of the Aspin together

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Isn't there a handful of mountains before Aspin?

You mean on that stage or in all stages before that?

Just checked, there's a massive cat 4 climb with no descent topping out 20km before the foot of the Aspin. 7.7 @ 3.3%. Everyone but Kittel will hit the foot of the Aspin together

Cheers, I seemed to remember there were other climbs.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Aspin will be crucial. Froome is so good at mountains with 5/6%. Look to his insane attack in stage 2 of dauphine 2014. And this stage will be mostly flat.

Duration of the effort is more important. Anything 10-30 minutes really suits him compared to AC and NQ.

I don't think Vaujauny was actually that different from Beal, except for higher gradient (and thus vintage Bertie Blow up) and stronger competition.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

Lol.. I see Old&slow's posts have already been deleted but I just wanted to say that I thought it was hilarious he basically 100% copy-pasted his own post from 2015 viewtopic.php?p=1783418#p1783418

They can delete and hide the truth and only allow delusional Contador fanboy posts. But the bottom line is Contador is a third tier rider. He has never been a Tour de France contending rider and never will be. As I said in my other posts his two TDF wins were against Leiphiemer Schleck and others who could never dream of a top 10 in a tour like this years or last years.

The fanboys and the media may want you to think Contador has a chance but he has no chance unless 10 riders better than him drop out. He is what he is and that is the equivalent of Bauke Mollema and that is where he will end up again this year fighting with Mollema, Barguil, Mientes and others for a top 5-10 placement. Maybe next year he can just focus on the Giro and/or Vuelta where he can ride against riders who are not as strong or in peak form and fool people into thinking he is a great rider. All he is and has ever been is hype. Wake up in 4 weeks and we will see the same thing we always see, Contador finishing close to 10 minutes down and this forum flooded with posts about how he should have won and of course will win again next year when this fantastic series of events magically transforms him into their version of Cinderella.

Want to do an avatar bet? I say AC finishes top 3 within 10 minutes of the winner. It seems you're saying at best he'll be 5th outside 10 minutes of the winner. Sound good? Please take me up on this avatar bet!

Also you say he's a third tier rider. Let's assume Froome and Quintana are the top tier. Can you name me all the 2nd tier riders who are better than him?

The only thing I'd say here is podiums have never really floated Contador's boat, 2nd to him is as good as nowhere. He'll either be first or come anywhere in the top 10 trying

Usually podiums don't interest Contador much, but I think that second or third this year would mean something to him, even if he wouldn't outwardly admit it. A placing would be a decent outcome considering that he hasn't podiumed since 2010 (for varying reasons).

Though I want him to win of course.

Oh, and that guy has got to be trolling

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

Usually podiums don't interest Contador much, but I think that second or third this year would mean something to him

No way in hell, you don't know the guy. It's first or nothing, a defeat coming close would be the hardest pill to swallow for him. Even without any TDF podium since 2010 (for legitimate reasons), he's still used to winning, a lot.

And I really don't see him coming 2nd or 3rd, if he has that kind of shape to be up there, he's gonna come out on top one way or another, as per usual I should say. If not, then he will struggle getting Top 4.

 

[dacooley]

Re: Re:

Aspin will be crucial. Froome is so good at mountains with 5/6%. Look to his insane attack in stage 2 of dauphine 2014. And this stage will be mostly flat.

Duration of the effort is more important. Anything 10-30 minutes really suits him compared to AC and NQ.

I don't think Vaujauny was actually that different from Beal, except for higher gradient (and thus vintage Bertie Blow up) and stronger competition.

each of 3 are exceptional on any climb when on form of course with a slight exception of quintana for short impulsive climbing effort.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Usually podiums don't interest Contador much, but I think that second or third this year would mean something to him

No way in hell, you don't know the guy. It's first or nothing, a defeat coming close would be the hardest pill to swallow for him. Even without any TDF podium since 2010 (for legitimate reasons), he's still used to winning, a lot.

And I really don't see him coming 2nd or 3rd, if he has that kind of shape to be up there, he's gonna come out on top one way or another, as per usual I should say. If not, then he will struggle getting Top 4.

He certainly has the mentality of going all out for the win or nothing, but you have to keep it real. In 2013 and 2015 when he simply wasn't near the level of the best rider he mostly stuck to following. He can't create anything special when the legs can't deliver them. Those Tours he mostly followed until dropped with the odd echelon attack on 2013, but he needed his team for that.

You need the legs to do something. Say if in this TdF Froome and Quintana proof to be slightly better in the mountains, but only slighty. So instead of losing minutes he loses seconds then you can count on him making surprise attacks and what not, but he still has to deal with a strong Sky/Movistar team. He can't just ride off with 2 climbs to go, specially since this TdF there really ain't that much climbs following eachother up. There is always some flat or what not in between.

Either way he will go all out for the win, but when he knows he can't beat them he will ride for his top 5 as he's professional enough to know that it's worth more then going bananas and losing minutes, while not even putting a dent into his opponents.

I'm sure he will be better than 2013 and 2015 though so it should be a good TdF if you like him. I'm not convinced he will win it, but I certainly hope so. Even though I'm not much for preferring riders over others, but it's hard not to like a rider like Contador

 

[dacooley]

that's arguably the 1st tour bertie podiuming is a bit more likely than him taking it. yes you can be desperately brave or damn lucky but the main requirement remains the same- you gotta have more watts in your legs to overcome other competitors at climbing and timetrialing.

 

[Miburo]

Don't get Blurry made by talking about a podium, please if you care a a bit about the sanity of this thread then don't do it

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Don't get Blurry made by talking about a podium, please if you care a a bit about the sanity of this thread then don't do it

I'm not entirely sure what you are trying to say here. I can think of a few things, but it's hard to be sure.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto will not be at the national championship for health reasons

 

[bajbar]

Alberto won't start the nationals tomorrow (he says health is the reason). Cold he be really ill (which would be a big problem a week before the Tour) or is this just a little excuse so he doesn't need to travel all the way to Spain, whisch leaves him with a bit more training time?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Alberto won't start the nationals tomorrow (he says health is the reason). Cold he be really ill (which would be a big problem a week before the Tour) or is this just a little excuse so he doesn't need to travel all the way to Spain, whisch leaves him with a bit more training time?

I hope and suspect it is the latter, but it does make me wonder why he planned to participate in the first place?

 

[bajbar]

Re: Re:

Alberto won't start the nationals tomorrow (he says health is the reason). Cold he be really ill (which would be a big problem a week before the Tour) or is this just a little excuse so he doesn't need to travel all the way to Spain, whisch leaves him with a bit more training time?

I hope and suspect it is the latter, but it does make me wonder why he planned to participate in the first place?

Maybe the Spanish selector said he shuld be in the nationals for the Rio. Illnes is a nice "excuse" he doesn't have to go (but he still showed all the intentions). I was also wondering why would he want to participate in a race in which he has close to 0% chance of winning a week before the Tour.

Hint: He didn't put a video on his Instagram for the last two days, so he is most propably training "in super secret mode" while pretending to be laying home on a sofa.

 

[Jakub]

He is just sad and pissed because of Brexit and consequently not in a race mood, but doesn't want to start a political conversation because he is scared of cyclingnews forum admins.

 

[Miburo]

Smart choice. Sure he's sick, i mean contador never lies right?

 

[Miburo]

He can now train until tuesday, he'll prob do one final big test sunday.

Let's hope he breaks his record again just like before the tour of 2013!

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re: Re:

I hope and suspect it is the latter, but it does make me wonder why he planned to participate in the first place?

Maybe the Spanish selector said he shuld be in the nationals for the Rio. Illnes is a nice "excuse" he doesn't have to go (but he still showed all the intentions). I was also wondering why would he want to participate in a race in which he has close to 0% chance of winning a week before the Tour.

Hint: He didn't put a video on his Instagram for the last two days, so he is most propably training "in super secret mode" while pretending to be laying home on a sofa.

It's not much of an excuse if no one believes him. I don't see how this obvious lie would help him secure a spot for Rio.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

I hope and suspect it is the latter, but it does make me wonder why he planned to participate in the first place?

Maybe the Spanish selector said he shuld be in the nationals for the Rio. Illnes is a nice "excuse" he doesn't have to go (but he still showed all the intentions). I was also wondering why would he want to participate in a race in which he has close to 0% chance of winning a week before the Tour.

Hint: He didn't put a video on his Instagram for the last two days, so he is most propably training "in super secret mode" while pretending to be laying home on a sofa.

It's not much of an excuse if no one believes him. I don't see how this obvious lie would help him secure a spot for Rio.

It could be a lie. It's not an obvious one or do you have proof he doesn't have health issues?

 

[Miburo]

Euh Kwibus, we've proof of contador lying consistently about his health so yea it is an obvious lie. Don't need proof to come to that conclusion, sure it ain't 100% but it's pretty damn close to it

 

[LaFlorecita]

I don't know if it's a lie, but I hope so, it would be devastating if he got ill a week before the Tour.

 

[Red Rick]

Aru and Nibali flew pretty well in the 3rd week

 

[Matteo.]

Suddenly it turns out sick the day before and immediately surrenders ... and does so with a statement on twitter without '' smilies '' of suffering and without expressing his sadness for not participating.It is the tone of the message to be suspicious
knowing him, this story stinks of usual lie