Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

He'll win the Giro unless Froome, Quintana, Nibali or Valverde show up - which they probably won't.

Nibali will be at the Giro, and most likely also Aru and Chaves. It hardly matters - sponsors will demand he rides the Tour.

It's difficult to see an argument for him leading the team at the Tour ahead of Mollema anyway at the moment.

'That's nonsense. There is literally no scenario in which Mollema is a better bet for the Tour than Contador, except for the scenario in which Contador crashes again.

I think you're wrong. Segafredo would love showing him at home.
Co-leadership with Mollema at the Tour, or Vuelta leadership are remaining options, as I see it.

If he's signed, off course..

 

[Gloin22]

No way Froome ever risks going to Giro, Tour is the only race that matters, and Sky needs to be winning Tour to keep the sponsors happy now they established thsemselves as the best team in the world. Froome has to be 100% there, and even going to Giro can endanger that, even if he's not peaking there.

 

[deValtos]

Re: Re:

'That's nonsense. There is literally no scenario in which Mollema is a better bet for the Tour than Contador, except for the scenario in which Contador crashes again.

Hate to break it to you but the scenario in which Contador crashes again is probably the most likely one.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Ooof, hard to see what he should do know. Lose time on purpose and go for a stage?

No. You never know what can happen in the 3rd week, and a champion like Berto won't give up

You're right, but Quintana looks super strong. It's hard to see him fade so much that Berto can gain 3 minutes.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Ooof, hard to see what he should do know. Lose time on purpose and go for a stage?

No. You never know what can happen in the 3rd week, and a champion like Berto won't give up

Exactly, what kind of silliness to even think that...

I mean we just have to look at this years Giro and how improbable it looked Nibali would have won and look what happened...never say never in cycling.

If only Berto raced for Astana
JK, of course anything can happen, but right now he has perhaps a 1% chance to win. Not only does he need to take 3 minutes on Quintana, he also needs 2 minutes on Valverde and Froome. Of course, if all three decline greatly in the final week, he is in a good place to contend for the win, but it's hard to see that happen.

'That's nonsense. There is literally no scenario in which Mollema is a better bet for the Tour than Contador, except for the scenario in which Contador crashes again.

Hate to break it to you but the scenario in which Contador crashes again is probably the most likely one.

I was going to add that

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Ooof, hard to see what he should do know. Lose time on purpose and go for a stage?

No. You never know what can happen in the 3rd week, and a champion like Berto won't give up

Exactly, what kind of silliness to even think that...

I mean we just have to look at this years Giro and how improbable it looked Nibali would have won and look what happened...never say never in cycling.

yeah.. but Kreusjwijck and Chavez aren't necessary Froome/Quintana.. or even Valverde. With this rate, Contador won't win his vuelta, unless some one crashing.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

It's very simple. If he rides his own pace, he is probably the 2nd best climber in the race at this point. However, he's too god damn stubborn and too focused on winning that he can't see when it is better to let go and not go into the red.

I guess Krueziger's twitter has somewhat there's a truth in it. Might sounded like he is an ass-re team mate, but he's probably right.

 

[jilbiker]

Re:

No way Froome ever risks going to Giro, Tour is the only race that matters, and Sky needs to be winning Tour to keep the sponsors happy now they established thsemselves as the best team in the world. Froome has to be 100% there, and even going to Giro can endanger that, even if he's not peaking there.

Agree, his going to the Vuelta confirms he will not go to Giro. Nibs will not go 100th or not. He wants a second TDF and so will the new team. Aru will go. It will not be a super star Giro

 

[Gigs_98]

Contador won't lose minutes on purpose just to go stage hunting. The race isn't over before they cross the finish line in Madrid. What if Quintana crashes on stage 20? Contador could have thrown away a gt win.

Anyway, right now you can see perfectly why some people dislike the Vuelta route. There aren't many boring sprint stages and there could be gc action on most stages, but a rider like Contador who won't ride for a podium is completely helpless. There isn't one single mountain stage where the last climb starts directly after the descent of the penultimate climb. There is no stage where the last climb isn't the most difficult one and generally there is only one mountain stage left with 1st category passes and even on that stage there are always flat sections between the climbs.
There is nothing Contador can do. He can try suicidal attacks but they won't work. This route is designed to make the best climber win but the best climber is known after 10 stages so the remaining Vuelta is basically only about stage wins.

In the giro this year Contador would have had numerous stages where he could have tried to make a long range attack. It's ofc always a different story if an attack works but the route at least gave the riders chances.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

No way Froome ever risks going to Giro, Tour is the only race that matters, and Sky needs to be winning Tour to keep the sponsors happy now they established thsemselves as the best team in the world. Froome has to be 100% there, and even going to Giro can endanger that, even if he's not peaking there.

Agree, his going to the Vuelta confirms he will not go to Giro. Nibs will not go 100th or not. He wants a second TDF and so will the new team. Aru will go. It will not be a super star Giro

He has never mentioned wanting a second Tour ever. He doesn't even like the Tour that much. He will only go to the Tour if the team forces him to, else it's a Giro-Tour attempt or Giro-Vuelta third time lucky.

 

[lenric]

Contador won't lose minutes on purpose just to go stage hunting. The race isn't over before they cross the finish line in Madrid. What if Quintana crashes on stage 20? Contador could have thrown away a gt win.

Anyway, right now you can see perfectly why some people dislike the Vuelta route. There aren't many boring sprint stages and there could be gc action on most stages, but a rider like Contador who won't ride for a podium is completely helpless. There isn't one single mountain stage where the last climb starts directly after the descent of the penultimate climb. There is no stage where the last climb isn't the most difficult one and generally there is only one mountain stage left with 1st category passes and even on that stage there are always flat sections between the climbs.
There is nothing Contador can do. He can try suicidal attacks but they won't work. This route is designed to make the best climber win but the best climber is known after 10 stages so the remaining Vuelta is basically only about stage wins.

In the giro this year Contador would have had numerous stages where he could have tried to make a long range attack. It's ofc always a different story if an attack works but the route at least gave the riders chances.

Very beautiful story, but would work out only if Contador was strong. He's lucky if he's the third strongest rider of this race so a long rage attack would only get him reeled in after a couple of kms.

 

[hfer07]

What I've noticed recently is that Alberto is blowing up within the last 2 or 3K to the finish, which means he lacks that bit of depth to stay with the best......
Today he seemed fine when he and Nairito were riding side by side, but then the attack came and Alberto just popped so badly - and thanks it was on that flattish section-otherwise he would have lost 5 minutes

 

[Brullnux]

Contador won't lose minutes on purpose just to go stage hunting. The race isn't over before they cross the finish line in Madrid. What if Quintana crashes on stage 20? Contador could have thrown away a gt win.

Anyway, right now you can see perfectly why some people dislike the Vuelta route. There aren't many boring sprint stages and there could be gc action on most stages, but a rider like Contador who won't ride for a podium is completely helpless. There isn't one single mountain stage where the last climb starts directly after the descent of the penultimate climb. There is no stage where the last climb isn't the most difficult one and generally there is only one mountain stage left with 1st category passes and even on that stage there are always flat sections between the climbs.
There is nothing Contador can do. He can try suicidal attacks but they won't work. This route is designed to make the best climber win but the best climber is known after 10 stages so the remaining Vuelta is basically only about stage wins.

In the giro this year Contador would have had numerous stages where he could have tried to make a long range attack. It's ofc always a different story if an attack works but the route at least gave the riders chances.

Very beautiful story, but would work out only if Contador was strong. He's lucky if he's the third strongest rider of this race so a long rage attack would only get him reeled in after a couple of kms.

He was also the third strongest at the 2012 Vuelta, no? But he has a very very small chance, smaller than Nibali at the Giro despite the gap being smaller due to the fact that Movistar is so strong and Tinkoff aren't. At the Giro it was the opposite, and that helped Nibali considerably.

 

[Beech Mtn]

I'm ready for Contador to retire.

 

[gatete]

Well,.......... Fvck,fvck Fock fock fock fock

 

[Gigs_98]

Contador won't lose minutes on purpose just to go stage hunting. The race isn't over before they cross the finish line in Madrid. What if Quintana crashes on stage 20? Contador could have thrown away a gt win.

Anyway, right now you can see perfectly why some people dislike the Vuelta route. There aren't many boring sprint stages and there could be gc action on most stages, but a rider like Contador who won't ride for a podium is completely helpless. There isn't one single mountain stage where the last climb starts directly after the descent of the penultimate climb. There is no stage where the last climb isn't the most difficult one and generally there is only one mountain stage left with 1st category passes and even on that stage there are always flat sections between the climbs.
There is nothing Contador can do. He can try suicidal attacks but they won't work. This route is designed to make the best climber win but the best climber is known after 10 stages so the remaining Vuelta is basically only about stage wins.

In the giro this year Contador would have had numerous stages where he could have tried to make a long range attack. It's ofc always a different story if an attack works but the route at least gave the riders chances.

Very beautiful story, but would work out only if Contador was strong. He's lucky if he's the third strongest rider of this race so a long rage attack would only get him reeled in after a couple of kms.

It's still not that unlikely that Contador can improve. He might have Quintana's climbing level on Aitana.

Anyway, the point is that this route was horrible to provide a good show over 3 weeks. Contador also wasn't the best climber in the tdf 2011, but still he attacked on the Telegraphe on stage 19. Did it work? No, but he tried because he didn't have anything to lose. He also doesn't have anything to lose this year but there is only one single stage where he could try.

 

[jilbiker]

I thought I saw what looked like AC and Quintana chatting, so i was wondering if there were saying lets work together to put more distance on Froome. Perhaps Bertie proposed that but I don't think Quintana has the respect for Bertie like Andy. Remember TDF 2010, Andy worked with Bertie to put distance on other rivals, but then again it was a different Bertie then. If he asked you for a favor, you jumped.

 

[Miburo]

I don't know why are so many sad, he *** up yea but today he was still the 2nd best climber.

He's still gonna try, you never know what happens

 

[lenric]

Contador won't lose minutes on purpose just to go stage hunting. The race isn't over before they cross the finish line in Madrid. What if Quintana crashes on stage 20? Contador could have thrown away a gt win.

Anyway, right now you can see perfectly why some people dislike the Vuelta route. There aren't many boring sprint stages and there could be gc action on most stages, but a rider like Contador who won't ride for a podium is completely helpless. There isn't one single mountain stage where the last climb starts directly after the descent of the penultimate climb. There is no stage where the last climb isn't the most difficult one and generally there is only one mountain stage left with 1st category passes and even on that stage there are always flat sections between the climbs.
There is nothing Contador can do. He can try suicidal attacks but they won't work. This route is designed to make the best climber win but the best climber is known after 10 stages so the remaining Vuelta is basically only about stage wins.

In the giro this year Contador would have had numerous stages where he could have tried to make a long range attack. It's ofc always a different story if an attack works but the route at least gave the riders chances.

Very beautiful story, but would work out only if Contador was strong. He's lucky if he's the third strongest rider of this race so a long rage attack would only get him reeled in after a couple of kms.

He was also the third strongest at the 2012 Vuelta, no? But he has a very very small chance, smaller than Nibali at the Giro despite the gap being smaller due to the fact that Movistar is so strong and Tinkoff aren't. At the Giro it was the opposite, and that helped Nibali considerably.

He was only behind Rodriguez in that Vuelta. Besides, the standard deviation of the form of the 4 strongest riders was smaller than in this year, which, needless to say, means that in this year there is a rider who is seems to be clearly above everyone else (Quintana), while 4 years ago Rodriguez wasn't far stronger than Contador (or Valverde).

 

[jilbiker]

Re:

I don't know why are so many sad, he **** up yea but today he was still the 2nd best climber.

He's still gonna try, you never know what happens

2nd best climber? Didn't Froome sail past him? in a slow and steady manner. More like 4th best.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

I don't know why are so many sad, he **** up yea but today he was still the 2nd best climber.

He's still gonna try, you never know what happens

2nd best climber? Didn't Froome sail past him? in a slow and steady manner. More like 4th best.

Froome sailed past him because he judged his efforts; Contador didn't, went in the red and never recovered. In a straight MTT I don't think Contador would be that far off Froome at all, and certainly ahead of Valverde.

 

[buchanan]

He's definitely not 2nd best climber at the moment.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

I don't know why are so many sad, he **** up yea but today he was still the 2nd best climber.

He's still gonna try, you never know what happens

2nd best climber? Didn't Froome sail past him? in a slow and steady manner. More like 4th best.

Froome sailed past him because he judged his efforts; Contador didn't, went in the red and never recovered. In a straight MTT I don't think Contador would be that far off Froome at all, and certainly ahead of Valverde.

Yeah, he got dehydrated.
HB over 300.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

It's very simple. If he rides his own pace, he is probably the 2nd best climber in the race at this point. However, he's too god damn stubborn and too focused on winning that he can't see when it is better to let go and not go into the red.

It is not understandable for me. among other things, today was not the last chance to win.

Last week on a climb of 2 kms, a guy began to suck my wheel so I started to accelerate reaching my limit. I felt that the guy was struggling a little bit as well but the last 200-300m he passed trying to drop me. It was a pace that I could not hold it long. so what have I done? I knew remain few meters so I resisted even if I had gone deep into the red. If the climb was still long 1km or more, I would not even try to resist and would have gone up to my maximum speed to limit the damage otherwise I would have to literally stop to catch breath.

Alberto, the same should do: If you do not have the legs to follow, you have to give up a little bit, go with your pace and limit the damage. you can not go into the red with even 3-4km to do. because then you Implode (which of course has occurred).
if today let up a bit (as they did before Froome and valverde) I'm sure he would lose maximum 25s. instead it was crushed by all

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Yeah, he got dehydrated.
HB over 300.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

What's your problem guy?