Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Sciocco]

Re:

So at least 5 stage wins in the vuelta?

The ITT is too flat so I say three. Aubisque, Aitana, and one of the shorter ramps. Maybe Penyagolosa.

 

[peloton]

Re:

He was still with the peloton when he started speaking to the team car and effortlessly moved back up the peloton. He could have easily paced himself to the end, respected the race and regrouped to find for stages or KotM and generally help his team. This was the weakest retirement I've seen since the days of Cipollini.

If his health was endangers by be prospect of making an effort then his team should be punished for letting him attack over 100km out.

I don't think I've read, in all my years on this forum, a post as silly as this.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

He was still with the peloton when he started speaking to the team car and effortlessly moved back up the peloton. He could have easily paced himself to the end, respected the race and regrouped to find for stages or KotM and generally help his team. This was the weakest retirement I've seen since the days of Cipollini.

If his health was endangers by be prospect of making an effort then his team should be punished for letting him attack over 100km out.

I don't think I've read, in all my years on this forum, a post as silly as this.

The moderator with the smack down :lol:

 

[Red Rick]

Aubisque. The possible irony of getting your first win on french soil since your comeback in the Vuelta

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

He was still with the peloton when he started speaking to the team car and effortlessly moved back up the peloton. He could have easily paced himself to the end, respected the race and regrouped to find for stages or KotM and generally help his team. This was the weakest retirement I've seen since the days of Cipollini.

If his health was endangers by be prospect of making an effort then his team should be punished for letting him attack over 100km out.

I don't think I've read, in all my years on this forum, a post as silly as this.

The moderator with the smack down :lol:

Yeah, and not the first time I've seen him do that either. Doesn't seem very objective, at all.

 

[peloton]

@perico Not sure whether to laugh or cry when reading a post like that !

 

[This Charming Man]

Smart move by bert. Big race in RIO, and ESPANA coming up. Why race for 23rd place? :geek:

 

[ILovecycling]

Alberto probably not going for Olympics
So only Vuelta mehh..., I would be happy if he race Lombardia full gas

 

[Pantani Attacks]

I'm really excited to see Contador and Angel Lopez duel it out at the Vuelta.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I'm really excited to see Contador and Angel Lopez duel it out at the Vuelta.

Also expect Chaves to be up there. Kruijswijk, not so much on this route. Quintana and Froome are probably also racing and Vino wants to abuse Aru post Tour, Im sure. Lots of scenarios, this won't be a walkover by no means IMO, but if Bertie is at 100%, its hard seeing anyone winning considering the race going on in July.

 

[Pantani Attacks]

Re: Re:

I'm really excited to see Contador and Angel Lopez duel it out at the Vuelta.

Also expect Chaves to be up there. Kruijswijk, not so much on this route. Quintana and Froome are probably also racing and Vino wants to abuse Aru post Tour, Im sure. Lots of scenarios, this won't be a walkover by no means IMO, but if Bertie is at 100%, its hard seeing anyone winning considering the race going on in July.

I really doubt Quintana will and Froome will only race if he doesn't win the Tour. But again I'm just speculating. I really have high hopes for MAL, he's probably my favourite cyclist right now.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

I'm really excited to see Contador and Angel Lopez duel it out at the Vuelta.

Also expect Chaves to be up there. Kruijswijk, not so much on this route. Quintana and Froome are probably also racing and Vino wants to abuse Aru post Tour, Im sure. Lots of scenarios, this won't be a walkover by no means IMO, but if Bertie is at 100%, its hard seeing anyone winning considering the race going on in July.

I really doubt Quintana will and Froome will only race if he doesn't win the Tour. But again I'm just speculating. I really have high hopes for MAL, he's probably my favourite cyclist right now.

The only time he has NOT been racing the Vuelta was in 2013. He did it in 2015 and it has always been in the cards. Froome, that is. Would be surprising not to be him there. 75/25.

Almost the same with Quintana. Both have spoken about Tour + Olympics + Vuelta, I can't really not see him going. Lets also remember than Valverde has done Giro + Tour, so they really need him badly this time around. Izagirre is doing domestique work in France. Then they have Betancur as their best bet.

MAL? Yes. He is scary on this route I think.

 

[Pennino]

One can obviously argue about the decision to quit, even when not considering all the facts and speculations, but I think when an athlete in the heat of the moment feels something the way he is feeling it, you can hardly oppose his decision. It's a mental thing properly. And it's also possible that a mentally super strong athlete like AC can have a mentally weak moment.

It's very hard to see him abandon but for now we have to get over it. Let the champ take some rest, not only to recover the body but also to regain full mental focus, and then I'm sure he will go flat out onto the Vuelta.

Oh and the Olympics would have been nice only if he had finished the Tour in a decent shape. Like this maybe he could be fresh in Rio, but would however miss a huge amount of speed in the legs which all the TdF or TdP contenders indeed for sure will have. Zero chance to be seriously competitive PLUS jeopardizing a bit his Vuelta ambitions.

So far my opportunistic view on this

 

[Sciocco]

If Contador doesn't ride/isn't selected for the Olympics, will he ride a prep race instead? I see Burgos, Td l'Ain, Arctic, or Czech. First week of Vuelta is: TTT, non-GC, murito, easy climb, non-GC, hilly but likely irrelevant, non-GC, cat 1 ___/, hilly with some gaps.

Guess he could ride CSS too.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

If Contador doesn't ride/isn't selected for the Olympics, will he ride a prep race instead? I see Burgos, Td l'Ain, Arctic, or Czech. First week of Vuelta is: TTT, non-GC, murito, easy climb, non-GC, hilly but likely irrelevant, non-GC, cat 1 ___/, hilly with some gaps.

Guess he could ride CSS too.

The Tour de l'Ain would be good, not too much opposition, and the Colombier to test the form. Not too sure about the dates though. Just instinctive reaction. It would be great for the locals and the event, a marquis name, really cool.

 

[thehook]

I have to admit as an AC fan. When I heard he stepped off the bike. I was not upset at all.

Alberto:go home rest, heal, get your mind right. And DESTROY the Vuelta! Put up the climbing performances that you thought you could do at LeTour!

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Alberto probably not going for Olympics
So only Vuelta mehh..., I would be happy if he race Lombardia full gas

20-30 kms flat after the last climb, ridiculous

 

[boasson]

Re:

I think Rio is gone now. No national champs, abandon after the first Tour week with bad results... And with Valverde and Purito in the shape of their lifes.

Valve, Purito and Jon are save. Samu, LL, Castroviejo, Erviti, Nieve, Jesus+Jose Herrada, Dani Moreno for the last two spots.

Probably no race before Vuelta, maybe San Sebastian.

 

[Kokoso]

I don't know is someone has said that or not, but Contador f****d this Tour completely. First fall was his and only his fault. He could be little bit self-critical and say I f****d that, sorry mates and everybody, instead he was critical about his helper when he even couldn't really help him much. Whether or not he had fever yesterday (I'm not convinced he really had, Contador is not guy who always tells truth, is he?) last stage was unnecessary theatre. And if he had no fever and might help his teammates and did not...well, nobody would expect such thing from him, he's no Nibali.

Looks like there will be pretty sh** field at La Vuelta, there he can win it.

Saying that, I'm of course aware that he has no obligation to help his teammates. It would just by nice gesture he never did. His future is certain, he has no problem in that matter. He doesn't need to win yet another Vuelta. But, this is his goal now obviously.

 

[GJB123]

Czech bntthurting comes to the fore again.

 

[Red Rick]

Why should he help teammates by risking his own health. They all have free roles right now. Even in good health there's little he could do for Majka, nothing for Sagan and he maybe could drag Kreuziger to 2 places higher on GC. Its better for the team that he abandon's and gives the team a final hurrah at the Vuelta.

Then there's simple reasons why Contador doesn't have much of a history of helping teammates. He's basically always the team leader since he was 24, when he first won the Tour. Nibali otoh wasn't the top dog on his team until later in his career. Also, Contador has a higher base level, and is basically the best of his team in almost any race he rides. Add to that that he barely rides one day races, and you have a rider who almost never has to work for teammates, because he's always the team leader, and rightly so. The only example to the contrary is the 2013 Tour, but we don't know how much better Kreuziger was.

You can endlessly theorize about what happened yesterday, with the attack first, and the abandon later. Maybe he wanted to give it a last hurrah, maybe he wanted to test how he was. Maybe he could finish, but only just that.

And I think that by now we have a pretty good idea that the first crash was largely his own fault. Riders make mistakes, especially when they're nervous. But I've never seen that a rider gets so much criticism for one crash. Even Kruijswijk, who threw away a Giro victory that was almost certain. The 2nd crash, which was 100% not his fault, may have done even more damage, we'll likely never know. But that's a little inconvenient when you're just out to bash a rider.

 

[Carols]

Re:

Why should he help teammates by risking his own health. They all have free roles right now. Even in good health there's little he could do for Majka, nothing for Sagan and he maybe could drag Kreuziger to 2 places higher on GC. Its better for the team that he abandon's and gives the team a final hurrah at the Vuelta.

Then there's simple reasons why Contador doesn't have much of a history of helping teammates. He's basically always the team leader since he was 24, when he first won the Tour. Nibali otoh wasn't the top dog on his team until later in his career. Also, Contador has a higher base level, and is basically the best of his team in almost any race he rides. Add to that that he barely rides one day races, and you have a rider who almost never has to work for teammates, because he's always the team leader, and rightly so. The only example to the contrary is the 2013 Tour, but we don't know how much better Kreuziger was.

You can endlessly theorize about what happened yesterday, with the attack first, and the abandon later. Maybe he wanted to give it a last hurrah, maybe he wanted to test how he was. Maybe he could finish, but only just that.

And I think that by now we have a pretty good idea that the first crash was largely his own fault. Riders make mistakes, especially when they're nervous. But I've never seen that a rider gets so much criticism for one crash. Even Kruijswijk, who threw away a Giro victory that was almost certain. The 2nd crash, which was 100% not his fault, may have done even more damage, we'll likely never know. But that's a little inconvenient when you're just out to bash a rider.

Well said, when you're a top dog at 24 the opportunities to lead are limitless.

Yes the first crash was his own fault, but he is human and makes mistakes. The second crash was not his fault and it did him in on top of the first.

Boll Roll, retired pro, speculated that AC made that attack to open the lungs and circulation to see if he could create a body reset. It didn't work and he knew it was over. Personally I think it was a last hurrah. We'll never known why he did it unless he tells us. And then people will call him a liar!

Now he needs to rest up, heal and recharge. Hopefully there is a 4th Vuelta win in his future .

 

[movingtarget]

Contador can reset for the Vuelta and should do well of course as his injuries should have healed and he misses the hardest half of the Tour. Fatigue should not be a factor for him.

 

[Kokoso]

If I'm here just to bash rider, others are here just to do contrary. Why should he help his teammates? Because of gratitude, because they could use his help. You say that final hurrah at La Vuelta would be better for his team? I say for his teammates it could have bigger value if he helped them now. He is probably doing this just because of himself, not the team. Why should his Vuelta win have bigger value for them than his help?

Yes, it's little incovenient (when you are here just to glorify him) to admit that it could all have been just theater and he could have go on, but decided to end just because he wanted to be 100% at Vuelta and no other reason. I've seen much more nonsensical glorifying than critising him in this thread. Yes, I admit that second crash could have much bigger impact than first one, I have no problem admit that. You have problem to admit that he could just act like a jerk.

I've always liked Contador and defended him before, mind you. But what he did really annoyed me, it was so small, so needless.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Contador can reset for the Vuelta and should do well of course as his injuries should have healed and he misses the hardest half of the Tour. Fatigue should not be a factor for him.

Remember how fast can he heal even bone fracture? I have no worries.