Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Pennino]

I absolutely disagree to everyone saying that his days as a Tour contender are definitely over. The more frustrating is it that he seems to be hitting bad luck every time again. When in top shape, his experience, his agressive style (only no.1 counts) and his allround qualities surely still make him a very, very dangerous man for Chris - oh let's see what my wattage is - Froome and Nairo - holy sh*t, is the Tour only a 3 week race? - Quintana and their respective teams, very strong but also with weaknesses.

I'm still hoping one day it all comes together and along with Astana, who are as agressive as he is, they can deliver at least one week of inferno for them.

(Something that still might be possible this year, depending on his recovery. Why could someone like Aru not take advantage of a hungry Contador? That would be a fantastic scene IMHO. The old warrior taking the new kid on the block for a nice ride through the mountains leaving Froome and Quinta desperately looking at each other. Conta of course winning the stage, Aru the yellow jersey.)

 

[Miburo]

Winning on the mont blanc vs froome and quintana is worth more than a vuelta for me

But he should definitely be in the grupetto today and next week too. And then just go for the 3rd week. It's so hard to give up when you have that shape.

Being in the grupetto is not even like training for him so it won't hurt his chances for the vuelta that much and wopn't make his injure worse i think, besides there's no one worthy resting right now that will win the vuelta.

And the tour is really important, so hopefully he'll be 100% in the 3rd week and go off. It's kinda excting, let's hope he'll recover by then

 

[Kokoso]

It might have been this way: Contador maybe could have show character and from point zero say "ok, I'm hurt, how I will do is at least uncertain (or he might been aware he is not able to follow), team is ending, only one who who have certainly goog contract for next season is me so I'll let may teammates ride for their contract". But he did not and critisized his loyal teamate publicly. Possible point of view.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

What a illusional people... WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CONTADOR, how the hell is a stage win important to contador, wven if was a epic one? We are talking about the best gt rider of the last 30 years (sorry to indurain fans)

I think that's a slightly arrogant point of view.

Contador is a champion, yes, but everyone gets older and slower eventually.
I don't know if it's time for him yet to accept he doesn't have it anymore (won the Giro last year after all), but when it is, I think I think there's dignity in changing roles even for someone like him - helping a younger GC talent on his team, going for stage wins, or maybe the climber's jersey.

Imo it's not necessary to quit while on top like Indurain to protect one's legacy.

Indurain didn't quit on the top, he blew up in the 1996 Tour finishing 11th and withdrew from the Vuelta on the 12th stage. It didn't hurt his legacy one single bit either. There was pride in simply Finishing that Tour when he got dropped day after day. And he had no injuries, just poor form like Alberto in 2013. He is a legend!

There will be no blemish to Alberto's legacy wherever he finishes this race.

 

[Carols]

Re:

It might have been this way: Contador maybe could have show character and from point zero say "ok, I'm hurt, how I will do is at least uncertain (or he might been aware he is not able to follow), team is ending, only one who who have certainly goog contract for next season is me so I'll let may teammates ride for their contract". But he did not and critisized his loyal teamate publicly. Possible point of view.

Guess you missed that he released his teammates on stage 7.

 

[LeSensei]

Contador has just attacked on the first summit and Valverde is off with him. Gotta love this man

About Alberto's legacy, I'm probably way too biased but if he wins another tour he's the best GC rider ever imo. He's been through more than anyone else and still come out on top. 10 years competing at the top level against different generations, rivals have come and gone but he is still in contention. He just needs 1 more tour to be the GC GOAT from my point of view. Of course Merckx would still be the best all-round rider.

 

[Carols]

Contador has just attacked on the first summit and Valverde is off with him. Gotta love this man

LOL there you go his last hurrah on this race! You got to love the man .

 

[FilipeFD]

Contador caught by peloton.

if he looses more time today, i'm sure he will abandon and focus on Vuelta

 

[Carols]

Re:

Contador caught by peloton.

if he looses more time today, i'm sure he will abandon and focus on Vuelta

Of course he will lose time, he couldn't even stay with Sagan

 

[Matteo.]

Re: Re:

Contador caught by peloton.

if he looses more time today, i'm sure he will abandon and focus on Vuelta

Of course he will lose time, he couldn't even stay with Sagan

How he could win a stage on Alps in these poor conditions? He is awful

 

[rm7]

Wow... He'll quit tomorrow I think.

No way he'll win a stage in this condition.

I wonder if it's the crash on stage 1 or stage 2, that's bothering him the most?

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Contador caught by peloton.

if he looses more time today, i'm sure he will abandon and focus on Vuelta

Of course he will lose time, he couldn't even stay with Sagan

How he could win a stage on Alps in these poor conditions? He is awful

Hopefully that attack was his way of saying my spirit is strong, but my body isn't healed and he will retire tomorrow. He is still riding semi-lopsided .

The only way he can win a stage later is to grupetto ride for the entire 2nd week

 

[Gigs_98]

Okay I take everything back and say he should abandon. He definitely has some really bad injuries, otherwise he wouldn't be dropped by Sagan. And in all honesty, even though I said I want him to stay in the tour so he can win stages later on and do some crazy attacks, if he can't even stay in a break there is no reason to stay in the tour. He just can't do anything except hanging on.

 

[rm7]

Riis thinks that Contador is close to abandon the Tour

 

[LeSensei]

He's far worse than I thought and he doesn't seem to be recovering quickly enough. This is painful to watch...

 

[Pantani Attacks]

It's like Contador is climbing Angliru while the rest are climbing what's in front of them. He's hung on long enough, he needs to heal.

 

[Cookster15]

Re: Re:

What a illusional people... WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CONTADOR, how the hell is a stage win important to contador, wven if was a epic one? We are talking about the best gt rider of the last 30 years (sorry to indurain fans)

Contador is a champion, yes, but everyone gets older and slower eventually.

There will be no blemish to Alberto's legacy wherever he finishes this race.

Absolutely agree. Contador was never my favourite rider. But where he earned respect from me was how he attacked even when not feeling 100% and how he performed under adversity. One tough hombre. AC epitomises what road racing should be about. Taking risks. He never died wondering. And shortly before I wrote this Alberto attacks the Froome group only to fade and get dropped. Typical Contador. Respect with a capital R.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

What a illusional people... WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CONTADOR, how the hell is a stage win important to contador, wven if was a epic one? We are talking about the best gt rider of the last 30 years (sorry to indurain fans)

Contador is a champion, yes, but everyone gets older and slower eventually.

There will be no blemish to Alberto's legacy wherever he finishes this race.

Absolutely agree. Contador was never my favourite rider. But where he earned respect from me was how he attacked even when not feeling 100% and how he performed under adversity. One tough hombre. AC epitomises what road racing should be about. Taking risks. He never died wondering. And shortly before I wrote this Alberto attacks the Froome group only to fade and get dropped. Typical Contador. Respect with a capital R.

I totally agree with your post.

But please fix your quotes as it makes it look as if I wrote the 'Contador is a champion......' line. Spalco wrote that not me.

The only portion of that post I wrote was : "There will be no blemish to Alberto's legacy wherever he finishes this race."

 

[rm7]

Apparently Contador had a fever when he woke up too. Probably not true

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

It might have been this way: Contador maybe could have show character and from point zero say "ok, I'm hurt, how I will do is at least uncertain (or he might been aware he is not able to follow), team is ending, only one who who have certainly goog contract for next season is me so I'll let may teammates ride for their contract". But he did not and critisized his loyal teamate publicly. Possible point of view.

Guess you missed that he released his teammates on stage 7.

No I did not that's why I wrote from point zero. But to know that requires proper reading, you know.

 

[Billopoulos]

Re:

Apparently Contador had a fever when he woke up too. Probably not true

True or not, it's a perfect excuse to abandon the race, perfect time to do so.
He ain't gonna do something in the Alps either, this whole this has taken a lot of him.
He will lose minutes today if he keeps on riding too.

It's not his Tour, he should quit, no need to "honour" the Tour or whatever when it comes to other things, such as taking a chance to race the Vuelta fresher for example.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

Apparently Contador had a fever when he woke up too. Probably not true

True or not, it's a perfect excuse to abandon the race, perfect time to do so.
He ain't gonna do something in the Alps either, this whole this has taken a lot of him.
He will lose minutes today if he keeps on riding too.

It's not his Tour, he should quit, no need to "honour" the Tour or whatever when it comes to other things, such as taking a chance to race the Vuelta fresher for example.

Good attempt Alberto.

You are still a champion. Will be cheering you on in La Vuelta.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Damn, Rest up and get healed, Contador.

 

[Samson777]

So that's it.. Good thing this is not his last Tour. Vuelta for Contador?

 

[lenric]

The question remains: what was the extent of his injuries?