Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[The Hitch]

Re:

The other rivals will put him under as much pressure as possible, at every opportunity, in order to negate him as a threat. It is the way of cycling, take advantage of weakness when it exists. He is hurting, they will make sure he hurts as much as possible. Stage 5 will be critical if he manages to make it that far as they will all be gunning for his scalp. We just have to wait and see how he comes along.

Hopefully today he at least stays on the bike! I think Tinkoff will support Sagan to keep yellow and assign Alberto a wing man to nurse him through the stage as well as possible.

I haven't seen that in cycling in a long time.

Last decade has been more - lets all ride along holding hands until the final 2km of an mtf. Doesn't matter if someone is hurt or not, everyone is too scared to try anything

 

[rune1107]

At least, it is a great stage for Alberto today. He looks relaxed and he has been laughing and smiling a couple of times. Hopefully he can recover today and tomorrow, with a low pace in the peloton

 

[jflemaire]

Re:

At least, it is a great stage for Alberto today. He looks relaxed and he has been laughing and smiling a couple of times. Hopefully he can recover today and tomorrow, with a low pace in the peloton

Indeed. I actually think that Thinkoff having the maillot jaune isn't a bad thing since they can set a slow steady tempo that can only help Contador.

 

[Lexman]

up till now this stage is a good recovery ride for Contador...

 

[Miburo]

I'm pretty sure he'll be ok by friday. Wednesday will be hard but if he recovers completely, it'll be amazing.

And you never know what's gonna happen in the tour. Today that corner at the end might make Contador the big favorite again.

You don't hope for it, but anything can happen. Wednesday is D-day though and sunday is V-day

 

[Sciocco]

CONTADOR DIDN'T CRASH TODAY!!!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

CONTADOR DIDN'T CRASH TODAY!!!

Yay

 

[Miburo]

He was way in the back, looks like he didn't care, just didn't wanna crash

 

[Billopoulos]

May have lost some seconds if there was a split there though...

 

[Red Rick]

I think I saw Kreuziger looking back at 600m to go, like he wanted to make sure to drop back half a second and make sure everything is s.t.

 

[Billopoulos]

Noticed that as well, but also noticed that each time I watch Contador finish a flat I seek to find him in the front group and he somehow always fails to be present there.
And most of the times, there is noone to guide him in the last 1-2 km, he's mostly by himself.
That's anxious.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

He was way in the back, looks like he didn't care, just didn't wanna crash

In my opinion he didn't care because he thinks that he already lost le tour

 

[Gigs_98]

Maybe contador didn't even want to be at the front today because he thought rather a 10 seconds time loss than another crash.

 

[Stan955]

no time gaps , so he didn't lose anything and came safe , good day for him

 

[ILovecycling]

Good day for our champion, now good massage and great sleep! Tomorrow 230k stage duhh

 

[Campervan man]

I know this is the Contador thread and may seem slightly inappropriate but what the hell, I'm wanting to bet money on him to win the overall I think he still might, and as a result of the crashes his odds have trebled. Question is do I bet now or after Friday's stage where arguably the odds will lengthen some more? If anyone is capable of coming back from adversity then it's him. Let's be fair other than '13 we've only seen him against Froome in Vuelta, and he's bettered all the GC boys many times. I believe still, this Tour is his main goal and he looked well this season.

 

[Sciocco]

I know this is the Contador thread and may seem slightly inappropriate but what the hell, I'm wanting to bet money on him to win the overall I think he still might, and as a result of the crashes his odds have trebled. Question is do I bet now or after Friday's stage where arguably the odds will lengthen some more? If anyone is capable of coming back from adversity then it's him. Let's be fair other than '13 we've only seen him against Froome in Vuelta, and he's bettered all the GC boys many times. I believe still, this Tour is his main goal and he looked well this season.

A little now and a little later? I don't bet on anything but surely you can do something like that right?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Noticed that as well, but also noticed that each time I watch Contador finish a flat I seek to find him in the front group and he somehow always fails to be present there.
And most of the times, there is noone to guide him in the last 1-2 km, he's mostly by himself.
That's anxious.

Yeah, I also always look for him, his positioning skills are quite bad. Today, there were at least 3 or 4 teammates in the first part of the peloton. As they were approaching the line, I saw one of them look back (possibly because he noticed Froome and Quintana were near the front), I just wish they'd do that earlier. I expected Tosatto to guide Alberto during these stages but it seems like it's only Kiserlovski with him at all times.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I know this is the Contador thread and may seem slightly inappropriate but what the hell, I'm wanting to bet money on him to win the overall I think he still might, and as a result of the crashes his odds have trebled. Question is do I bet now or after Friday's stage where arguably the odds will lengthen some more? If anyone is capable of coming back from adversity then it's him. Let's be fair other than '13 we've only seen him against Froome in Vuelta, and he's bettered all the GC boys many times. I believe still, this Tour is his main goal and he looked well this season.

A little now and a little later? I don't bet on anything but surely you can do something like that right?

Yeah. 50% now and 50% later. If things look really desperate on Friday you could even choose to keep that 2nd 50%

 

[Miburo]

Let's be real, if he drops wednesday, it's time to give up unless there's some certainty he can be at his best in the last week. Personally i value 2 stage wins in the tour higher than another vuelta win, especially if he can beat quintana and froome mano a mano.

But who am i kidding? He ain't gonna drop wednesday

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Let's be real, if he drops wednesday, it's time to give up unless there's some certainty he can be at his best in the last week. Personally i value 2 stage wins in the tour higher than another vuelta win, especially if he can beat quintana and froome mano a mano.

But who am i kidding? He ain't gonna drop wednesday

Typical July fan

 

[Miburo]

I know you're joking but i really do think so. I know fleur will hate me for it, but Contador smashing quintana and froome, even if it's just a stage, i really wanna see that

 

[Red Rick]

Bu buh bu but bu buh butt but

Why not do both?

 

[Campervan man]

I know this is the Contador thread and may seem slightly inappropriate but what the hell, I'm wanting to bet money on him to win the overall I think he still might, and as a result of the crashes his odds have trebled. Question is do I bet now or after Friday's stage where arguably the odds will lengthen some more? If anyone is capable of coming back from adversity then it's him. Let's be fair other than '13 we've only seen him against Froome in Vuelta, and he's bettered all the GC boys many times. I believe still, this Tour is his main goal and he looked well this season.

A little now and a little later? I don't bet on anything but surely you can do something like that right?

Yeah. 50% now and 50% later. If things look really desperate on Friday you could even choose to keep that 2nd 50%

Seems sensible enough, I think he might be a lot more recovered but Froome is likely to want to put him to the sword, anything better than a 30+ second loss will convince me that there is still real chances of a Alpine recovery. Is Friday's stage shown from the start?

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Bu buh bu but bu buh butt but

Why not do both?

At this point it's already obvious he's gonna win the vuelta, don't like stating the obvious