Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Miburo]

I think it's to Contador's advantage the ITT is flat and not hilly. Never thought i would say that

He can pull out a beast ITT like he did it in the giro last year which was mostly flat

 

[Miburo]

But long range is relative, is going 10 km from the aubisque long range? Not really but he can take a minute if he's in great shape, we'll see.

For now quintana is better so it's ridiculous thinking that, but contador didn't finish the tour and he crashed the day before so next week many things can change

 

[Red Rick]

It depends so much on how Contador recovers and improves through the race and if Quintana can hold his form. I don't think Quintana will get better. He did last year, but then he had had health issues halfway through the Vuelta. Also, last year Quintana had his best result on a MTF on a one climb stage.

For Contador i'd look at the last year's Giro. Went in a little undercooked, bad crash about one stage earlier, slowly recovered from that and was very good in the tt and on the Mortirolo. I'm not sure about yesterday, but I think he paced himself badly, even though he could've done worse.

Right now I have a hard time thinking the climbing level is very high. Contador's time was rather poor still and I think he should have room to improve. Quintana matched Froome's time of 2014, but it's not much better than what worse riders achieved on a harder stage that day.

All in all I think that if they're even on the Ausbique, Quintana will likely take it, unless he fades badly. The TT can be anything from about even to more than a minute for Contador

 

[Pantani Attacks]

It's a pity Angliru isn't on the route. I know there are some savage savage climbs, but Angliru where a presumably recovered Contador, an in form Quintana coupled with a Froome who'd be presumably fading but still capable of a one day stellar performance with Chaves and Valverde in the mix. It would be a stage for the ages.

 

[IMA]

Re:

But long range is relative, is going 10 km from the aubisque long range? Not really but he can take a minute if he's in great shape, we'll see.

For now quintana is better so it's ridiculous thinking that, but contador didn't finish the tour and he crashed the day before so next week many things can change

Exactly. Before thinking in gaining time, he has to stop losing time with Quintana. And that won´t be easy because Nairo is in great shape and he´s performing better than ever in muritos. In Movi they know how important is this Vuelta for his career...Another failure would be dreadful for him and for the sponsor.

It´s going to be a tight battle between him, Quintana, Froome (and Chaves?), and Nairo is going to wheelsuck big time like never before. So he has to be careful not to attack too crazy or Quintana will take advantage of it.

Fortunately the bright minds that run Movistar won´t use Valverde properly.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Jacinto Vidarte, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff)'s press relationship manager, gave positive news ahead of today's stage : "Alberto is much better today than he was yesterday. It still hurts of course but nothing compared to yesterday. You never know with a crash but after what he showed yesterday, we have great hopes."

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

But long range is relative, is going 10 km from the aubisque long range? Not really but he can take a minute if he's in great shape, we'll see.

For now quintana is better so it's ridiculous thinking that, but contador didn't finish the tour and he crashed the day before so next week many things can change

Exactly. Before thinking in gaining time, he has to stop losing time with Quintana. And that won´t be easy because Nairo is in great shape and he´s performing better than ever in muritos. In Movi they know how important is this Vuelta for his career...Another failure would be dreadful for him and for the sponsor.

It´s going to be a tight battle between him, Quintana, Froome (and Chaves?), and Nairo is going to wheelsuck big time like never before. So he has to be careful not to attack too crazy or Quintana will take advantage of it.

Fortunately the bright minds that run Movistar won´t use Valverde properly.

I would think that Quintana would ride aggressively taking time when he can similar to yesterday's performance, knowing that he needs to build a buffer to make up for the anticipated loss of time in the itt. To now ride passively after showing superiority over his rivals would be foolish.

 

[portugal11]

I'm not confident for tomorrow. Quintana looks super smooth and contador still hasn't "that spark"

 

[rm7]

What is that "spark" all people are claiming Contador still has?

The last time his acceleration was fierce was in 2014, some small indications in early giro 2015, but he haven't had that big acceleration in all 2016. He's more of a diesel climber now, and it's totally normal with the age 33.

He's still one of the strongest climbers in the world, but he doesn't have the acceleration that some people still dream of.

 

[LaFlorecita]

To be honest you should watch his attacks in Paris-Nice

 

[Matteo.]

I find no indication for tomorrow . Quintana is the usual, like Alberto the bad usually sprinter . Tomorrow the only thing to consider is that he has always been dropped uphill in this edition. So, "it's better to fly low"...

 

[rm7]

I think you should watch his competition in paris-nice. I'm not saying he can't drop anybody, because he easily dropped G. Thomas in Paris-Nice as soon as the climbs were hard enough, but his only real mountain competitor in that race, Porte closed him down. He still has the "spark" to drop second tier climbers, but he can't drop Froome with an acceleration anymore, and probably not Quintana either.

In Vuelta 2014 he couldn't drop Valverde and Purito either - it was only when Froome attacked, he followed and dropped them.

 

[rm7]

And I know how big a fan of Contador you're, so you should know that his acceleration isn't the same as before. To be it's clear as a daylight that he's a different kind of climber now, due to age.

 

[Miburo]

Porte closed him down after Contador did a long range attack in the same stage bro.

And Porte is top tier in 1 week races, better than froome imo

 

[rm7]

To be fair, I still think he would have closed him down.

I still believe that Contador is top3 in the world with Froome and Quintana depending on day form, team, parcours, but Froome is the more explosive rider of the two.

The Dauphine prologue display was impressive, and also the last mountain stage in Dauphine was very good.

 

[Jelantik]

I'm not convinced about Contador's form yet. Yesterday and today showed his level of fitness. yes, there would be reason because of his crash, but his fitness probably not very far. I'm not convinced that Froome is presumably fading either. He made a big mistake by attacking and blew himself out. Too confident probably? Quintana so far looked like Contador when he were fit. Climbing and accelerating with ease.

Contador has a long way to go with his fitness. He still has to drop Froome before he can get to Quintana. 1+ minutes isn't an easy task. He'd better has a stellar form in the making in order to overtake these guys (which I'm not convinced). Even a yo-yoing Froome can still claw back when he got dropped. Up to this point, Contador so far is slightly better than Valverde. Quintana is by far better than Contador and I consider Froome is still better than him. Quintana and Froome have to be somewhat fading somewhere for Contador to have a chance. I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. Nice to see Contador bounces back, but not too convince with his level of fitness yet.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Porte closed him down after Contador did a long range attack in the same stage bro.

And Porte is top tier in 1 week races, better than froome imo

When was the last time Porte beat Froome in a 1 week race? The only one I can think of is Catalunya where neither was particularly hot

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

Porte closed him down after Contador did a long range attack in the same stage bro.

And Porte is top tier in 1 week races, better than froome imo

When was the last time Porte beat Froome in a 1 week race?

Catalunya this year.

And not Porte's fault that froome ignore classics like PN and TA

 

[Red Rick]

Porte has had his best season ever GC wise, he was basically 2nd best man in the Tour, and he has indeed won more one week WT stage races than Froome over the last few years because he focused more on them.

Anyway, shades of Montevergine di Mercogliano today.

Shades of Etna tomorrow??

 

[rhubroma]

I'm not convinced about Contador's form yet. Yesterday and today showed his level of fitness. yes, there would be reason because of his crash, but his fitness probably not very far. I'm not convinced that Froome is presumably fading either. He made a big mistake by attacking and blew himself out. Too confident probably? Quintana so far looked like Contador when he were fit. Climbing and accelerating with ease.

Contador has a long way to go with his fitness. He still has to drop Froome before he can get to Quintana. 1+ minutes isn't an easy task. He'd better has a stellar form in the making in order to overtake these guys (which I'm not convinced). Even a yo-yoing Froome can still claw back when he got dropped. Up to this point, Contador so far is slightly better than Valverde. Quintana is by far better than Contador and I consider Froome is still better than him. Quintana and Froome have to be somewhat fading somewhere for Contador to have a chance. I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. Nice to see Contador bounces back, but not too convince with his level of fitness yet.

Likewise. Contador needs not only to get over his wounds, but increase his form, while others fade. Normally, though, one should expect Quintana and Froome to be weaker in the 3rd week. I'm not convinced, however.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Porte closed him down after Contador did a long range attack in the same stage bro.

And Porte is top tier in 1 week races, better than froome imo[/quote]

:lol:

 

[PremierAndrew]

Porte in top form has been able to outclimb everyone but Froome. Yeah Porte was working for Froome til this year, but 1km of pulling doesn't account for a 1 minute gap on both PSM and Ax 3, which remain Porte's best performances in his career (maybe Ventoux this year could have been, but we'll never know). Porte is also unable to TT better than Froome, be that on flat, hilly. Maybe, just maybe on mountain TTs that don't have any flat or descending.

Recovery doesn't really matter (well it does, but not much, and not enough to really make a difference between the top guys) for 1 week races (not that Porte is better at that either), but he's not as good a descender either.

But nah, Porte is a better week long stage racer that Froome...

And mods, before you say it, this post clearly belongs in the Contador discussion thread, so leave it yeah? thx

 

[LaFlorecita]

Porte is more consistent in 1-week stage races than Froome though. But that is a discussion for another thread.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Porte is more consistent in 1-week stage races than Froome though. But that is a discussion for another thread.

Not buying that. We all know what Froome did in 2013, where he was only aiming for the Tour. Otoh, last 3 years, Froome has had half an eye on the Vuelta too, so has chosen to take the first half of the year quite easy each time

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

And mods, before you say it, this post clearly belongs in the Contador discussion thread, so leave it yeah? thx

Don't worry, you're slowly working your way there.