I read the article on eurosport, I'm a contador fan but I have to agree. He hasn't stepped on the podium of the world's biggest and greatest race since 2009. And hasn't performed to his previous greatness since 12. Let's not forget he's 33 and we'll past his peak not to forget he's up against the best stage race rider since Armstrong and the best climber since pantani. For him to win at 33 would be a huge surprise
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Hoping for a very strong Contador so we have 3 equally favoured riders, the Tour has been too predictable apart from last year when Nairo was somewhat close, but it would be great to see that his attacks would stick (a lot) more. Would make for a much better race.
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I think he is definitely skinnier, although he didn't look too bad last year either. But most importantly, I think we can be assured that he is fresher and in better form.chuuurles said:
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It was somewhat sarcastic, see blurry's posts, but there is definitely some truth to it when it comes to Contador. He struggled on all the uphill finishes last year before PSM, fx.
boasson said:
It was somewhat sarcastic, see blurry's posts, but there is definitely some truth to it when it comes to Contador. He struggled on all the uphill finishes last year before PSM, fx.
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Agreed, but I will go further and hope that Pinot, Aru, Porte, TJVG and Bardet are really strong. This race could/should be wide open--at least in the beginning.
Valv.Piti said:
Agreed, but I will go further and hope that Pinot, Aru, Porte, TJVG and Bardet are really strong. This race could/should be wide open--at least in the beginning.
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Of course he struggled compared to Froome and Quintana . . . he was coming off winning the Giro.
Valv.Piti said:
Of course he struggled compared to Froome and Quintana . . . he was coming off winning the Giro.
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Well, it has always been wide open from the start, hasn't it?
I guess you can argue Froome was in a formidable position last year after the 4 first stage.
I don't really believe in anyone of the outsiders, hoping for Bardet.
Publicus said:
Well, it has always been wide open from the start, hasn't it?
I guess you can argue Froome was in a formidable position last year after the 4 first stage. I don't really believe in anyone of the outsiders, hoping for Bardet.
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Yep, but that wasn't the point at all. I guess you can't have missed blurry making that same point again and again.
Publicus said:
Yep, but that wasn't the point at all. I guess you can't have missed blurry making that same point again and again.
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lol. well yes it is always wide open. what I mean is that the more of the top contenders who are strong and competitive, it will make it make it that much harder for Sky to dominate the race with its tried and true formula. I want someone to be a disruptor this Tour.
Valv.Piti said:Publicus said:
Well, it has always been wide open from the start, hasn't it?
I don't really believe in anyone of the outsiders, hoping for Bardet.
lol. well yes it is always wide open. what I mean is that the more of the top contenders who are strong and competitive, it will make it make it that much harder for Sky to dominate the race with its tried and true formula. I want someone to be a disruptor this Tour.
He's gonna win. I feel it in every bone of my body. Let's hope the bones in his body stay healthy
He looked really relaxed and happy (and fit, but he was already really lean at the Dauphine, so that's not a surprise).
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suppose this it ?
http://www.eurosport.fr/cyclisme/tour-de-france/2016/le-tour-en-questions-contador-est-il-encore-capable-de-gagner-l-epreuve_sto5667259/story.shtml
Gigs_98 said:
suppose this it ?
http://www.eurosport.fr/cyclisme/tour-de-france/2016/le-tour-en-questions-contador-est-il-encore-capable-de-gagner-l-epreuve_sto5667259/story.shtml
TheYouyou7 said:
Maybe, maybe not.
The point is that it's fun to read when you support Contador, but not much more. Which is perfectly fine btw.
Edit: holy *** I'm a bit late to the show I just noticed. A lot of posts after my last visit earlier today
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Personally I have him there as well, but I just hope I'm wrong.
Actually I find it really hard to predict Contador for this TdF.
Netserk said:Inner Ring has him a rank below both Froome and Quintana. Or said in other words, he is as close to the BMC duo (
Personally I have him there as well, but I just hope I'm wrong.
Actually I find it really hard to predict Contador for this TdF.
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Because I obviously don't have any love for them!
Give me back the : and ) and D etc.
LaFlorecita said:How can you say thatKwibus said:
Because I obviously don't have any love for them!
Give me back the : and ) and D etc.
Objectively you've to put Contador on the same level as Froome/Quintana. People act like Contador wasn't that good this year but he was amazing.
He only had 2 weak moments. 2? That's it. (3 if you count algarve but he was just *** around, attacking at 30 km for no reason)
Just look at what he has done this season. I think that if you look closely at it, you'll realise it aswell.
He would have easily won PN if that one stage wasn't cancelled. No one will dispute that. But the guy rode everyone on a minute in the last stage of PN on a climb of what? 7km at 7% orso? Ok sky let him ride, but what does he do then on the col d'eze? A climb that's weak as hell btw! He rides them all of his wheel except for Porte who is a beast in one week races. Porte won pretty much ever one week race in 2015. Only he can follow Contador who used a lot of energy beforehand already on a climb that's laughable. Btw Contador destroyed Thomas so hard that day that the poor lad is still feeling it.
Then Catalunya, being second to Martin on a stage that doesn't suit him at all where he followed attacks of Poels and Quintana while Martin was gearing up. Quintana dropped him on the big MTF's. True, i think quintana outsmarted Contador, if contador played that more conservative, who knows? But he got beat there.
Then comes PV, Henao outsprinted him on the mur. Henao who was riding an amazing season and is imo the best murito climber out there atm. But Contador was the one who closed the gap on stage 4 to Henao and he did it fast, really fast. He even had energy for an attack afterwards. Only Henao could follow. On Arrate he drops them all except for Henao. Quintana is nowhere to be found. On the ITT he puts Quintana on 25 sec in the first part in like 5km. And Henao on even more time! That's insane, absolutely insane.
In the dauphine, a race where Contador always sucks (except one time), he wins the prologue putting Froome on 14 sec. Froome took revenge on stage 5 but the way Contador responded on stage 6/7 wasn't just good but really good for his standards in the dauphine. The man kept attacking like a madman, making sure Bardet and Aru know they've to continue his legacy when he retires.
I honestly don't understand. All the signs are there.
He only had 2 weak moments. 2? That's it. (3 if you count algarve but he was just *** around, attacking at 30 km for no reason)
Just look at what he has done this season. I think that if you look closely at it, you'll realise it aswell.
He would have easily won PN if that one stage wasn't cancelled. No one will dispute that. But the guy rode everyone on a minute in the last stage of PN on a climb of what? 7km at 7% orso? Ok sky let him ride, but what does he do then on the col d'eze? A climb that's weak as hell btw! He rides them all of his wheel except for Porte who is a beast in one week races. Porte won pretty much ever one week race in 2015. Only he can follow Contador who used a lot of energy beforehand already on a climb that's laughable. Btw Contador destroyed Thomas so hard that day that the poor lad is still feeling it.
Then Catalunya, being second to Martin on a stage that doesn't suit him at all where he followed attacks of Poels and Quintana while Martin was gearing up. Quintana dropped him on the big MTF's. True, i think quintana outsmarted Contador, if contador played that more conservative, who knows? But he got beat there.
Then comes PV, Henao outsprinted him on the mur. Henao who was riding an amazing season and is imo the best murito climber out there atm. But Contador was the one who closed the gap on stage 4 to Henao and he did it fast, really fast. He even had energy for an attack afterwards. Only Henao could follow. On Arrate he drops them all except for Henao. Quintana is nowhere to be found. On the ITT he puts Quintana on 25 sec in the first part in like 5km. And Henao on even more time! That's insane, absolutely insane.
In the dauphine, a race where Contador always sucks (except one time), he wins the prologue putting Froome on 14 sec. Froome took revenge on stage 5 but the way Contador responded on stage 6/7 wasn't just good but really good for his standards in the dauphine. The man kept attacking like a madman, making sure Bardet and Aru know they've to continue his legacy when he retires.
I honestly don't understand. All the signs are there.
Agree I cant see anyone beating Contador if hes in good form, he wont have the Giro fatigue to worry about this year so Froome will not be able to contain him, it will be like the vuelta 14 where they last fought mano a mano on even terms.
I think the reason why people underestimate Contador is because right now he is in the opposite situation of the tdf 2011. Back then the last time he was beaten in a gt was in 2005 and one couldnt really imagine that Contador can be beaten in a gt. However looking at it from a more logical standpoint it really wasn't surprising that in the modern era you can't just win the tdf after you rode the hardest giro of the decade.
This year he had a perfect preparation was basically good in every single race he has ridden this season, he won PV, won stages in three different stage races and in the ones in which he didn't win a stage he got 2nd place in gc and he even would have won one of those races if hadn't had bad luck and anyway it's obvious that he was the strongest rider in PN. If he would have entered the tdf with this season so far in 2011 nobody would have doubted that he is the big pre race favorite. But it isn't 2011 anymore and although we have seen how strong he still can be in 2014 and partly 2015 people now can't imagine that the rider who (officially) hasn't won the tdf since 2009 can win it again. They can't believe that a rider who hasn't even been on the tour podium since 2010 (officially even 2009) and therefore was never even close to win the tdf again can now suddenly win it again. However they also seem to forget that besides 2013, a year in which he was horrible not only in the tdf so you can't compare it to this year, he always had a good excuse because he either rode the giro, wasn't even allowed to start or crashed out during the race. But since most people unfortunately don't know there are other cycling races besides the tdf this doesn't really count for them. They say he hasn't shown anything in the last few years so they also don't think he can show something this year.
But we know thats nonsense and that top shape AC has never ridden against top shape froome, so we just can't say yet if he is really declining or not. But what we do know is that this year Contador doesn't have any excuses (except maybe his age) so this year he has the chance to show that he isn't done yet.
This year he had a perfect preparation was basically good in every single race he has ridden this season, he won PV, won stages in three different stage races and in the ones in which he didn't win a stage he got 2nd place in gc and he even would have won one of those races if hadn't had bad luck and anyway it's obvious that he was the strongest rider in PN. If he would have entered the tdf with this season so far in 2011 nobody would have doubted that he is the big pre race favorite. But it isn't 2011 anymore and although we have seen how strong he still can be in 2014 and partly 2015 people now can't imagine that the rider who (officially) hasn't won the tdf since 2009 can win it again. They can't believe that a rider who hasn't even been on the tour podium since 2010 (officially even 2009) and therefore was never even close to win the tdf again can now suddenly win it again. However they also seem to forget that besides 2013, a year in which he was horrible not only in the tdf so you can't compare it to this year, he always had a good excuse because he either rode the giro, wasn't even allowed to start or crashed out during the race. But since most people unfortunately don't know there are other cycling races besides the tdf this doesn't really count for them. They say he hasn't shown anything in the last few years so they also don't think he can show something this year.
But we know thats nonsense and that top shape AC has never ridden against top shape froome, so we just can't say yet if he is really declining or not. But what we do know is that this year Contador doesn't have any excuses (except maybe his age) so this year he has the chance to show that he isn't done yet.
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