Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[DFA123]

Re:

quite rightly,
he seems to be targetting the podium

hmmmm

"El objetivo no es el podio, es ganar, aunque está muy difícil. Nairo tiene un equipo potentisimo y tiene una diferencia muy grande. También hay corredores por delante de mí, pero voy a seguir dando todo lo que tengo en carrera y a ver cómo terminamos, pueden pasar mil cosas"

Actions speak louder than words. He's hardly known for telling the truth regarding his condition or tactical plans after all.

Oh come on. He needed as much time as possible on Froome, Chaves and Yates. All 3 were ahead of him and by quite some margin as well. It's not difficult: gain as much time as possible on the other challengers, try to gain time on Quintana another day. Focusing just on Quintana won't get him anywhere.

We'll have to agree to disagree I think. For me, this was the one opportunity to risk it all for the win. The race was chaotic and Movistar had to ride to distance Froome in that situation; Contador simply did too much and didn't force Movistar to do enough work earlier on the stage. A good move for the podium, not a good move for winning the race. Now Movistar don't have to do anything risky, the remaining stages are relatively easy to control and it's hard to see Tinkoff getting away and staying away from Movistar. I think that was the one opportunity to give himself a shot at winning, and he ended up losing 30 seconds to the race leader.

 

[IMA]

Re: Re:

So if Albero wouldn't have work so much, he would have won on Formigal. Is this the hidden message?

I haven't seen anybody claiming that Contador wasn't the mastermind of the break, so stop bending other people's words.

Some people (including me) did challenge though wherher it was the best tactic for his GC ambition to to do so much work within the break once it got established and not push Movistar to work even more to tire doms and Quintana before the last climb.

Actually there was someone who even claimed that Brambilla was who made the break, and that Quintana worked harder than Contador before the final climb.

Sorry if it bothered you. That wasn´t my intention. However i don´t agree with your last paragraph. I think Alberto did what he had to do, even if it costed him the stage win. He´s just used to ride like a champion, but his legs are not working well enough so far.

There were tactics to choose and he selected the one which paid off nicely in terms of podium play. The more risky (which could have failed miserably) tactict would've been to attack also Nairo, but I guess he did feel it is actually too risky. Anyway seeing the parcours in the last week, he is getting very short of chances to go for the win, which is the only thing he cares, right?

I see your point.

But as i said the last days several times, you cannot expect to put time on all your rivals when you´re not even among the 2 strongest riders of the race. Especially with this parcours, as you said. Before the begining of yesterday´s stage he was 6th and now he´s just 5 secs behind the 3rd in the GC. Not bad at all considering this Alberto is one of the weakest we´ve seen in GTs in 10 years.

It would be a miracle if Alberto wins this Vuelta. But if so, it won´t be by knockout to all his rivals in one single stage.

 

[Miburo]

Hell win tomorrow. Vuelta not over yet

 

[LaFlorecita]

Miburo I think you should try reverse-jinxing him instead

 

[IMA]

Re: Re:

[quote="

That's relative. No guarantee that he would win either (or if he didn't work, then the break won't stick. so catch 22). The fact was he did it to try to win it outright. In a rest day interview with Contador, he expected Froome to do something on the next 6 stage, and I think, he would be there to tag along. So whoever takes advantage for the next stage, Contador is looking forward to support and take advantage of it. I'm sure this time is trying to get time on Quintana. So somewhat Froome or Chavez gotta do something.

Agreed with your post...but:

Chaves.

Chávez.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Miburo I think you should try reverse-jinxing him instead

Querer es podor

 

[peloton]

Re:

Hell win tomorrow. Vuelta not over yet

Time to stop jinxing please :razz:

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

quite rightly,
he seems to be targetting the podium

hmmmm

"El objetivo no es el podio, es ganar, aunque está muy difícil. Nairo tiene un equipo potentisimo y tiene una diferencia muy grande. También hay corredores por delante de mí, pero voy a seguir dando todo lo que tengo en carrera y a ver cómo terminamos, pueden pasar mil cosas"

Actions speak louder than words. He's hardly known for telling the truth regarding his condition or tactical plans after all.

Oh come on. He needed as much time as possible on Froome, Chaves and Yates. All 3 were ahead of him and by quite some margin as well. It's not difficult: gain as much time as possible on the other challengers, try to gain time on Quintana another day. Focusing just on Quintana won't get him anywhere.

We'll have to agree to disagree I think. For me, this was the one opportunity to risk it all for the win. The race was chaotic and Movistar had to ride to distance Froome in that situation; Contador simply did too much and didn't force Movistar to do enough work earlier on the stage. A good move for the podium, not a good move for winning the race. Now Movistar don't have to do anything risky, the remaining stages are relatively easy to control and it's hard to see Tinkoff getting away and staying away from Movistar. I think that was the one opportunity to give himself a shot at winning, and he ended up losing 30 seconds to the race leader.

well, that's what happen when you are already lost time since the opening stage: "he has to do too much" as you put it. Movistar won't let him go for sure because they know what he did to Froome. But I think Sky is going to make Movistar works so hard or Froome will do something to make Quintana comes out and play. Either way, I hope Contador has a good form to capitalize on it. (dunno whether he can, since his form wasn't that stellar either. Every time he followed Froome or Quintana, he ended up in the red).

 

[carton]

Re: Re:

So somewhat Froome or Chavez gotta do something.

Agreed with your post...but: Chaves. Chávez.

This is a pet peeve of mine as well, but then again if the former Venezuelan president comes back from the dead to win the Vuelta that would really be something :surprised:

 

[peloton]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vuelta-a-espana-does-quintana-have-the-race-wrapped-up-podcast/?utm_content=buffera1518&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[gregrowlerson]

I think that Contador very much wants a podium, though he would go for the win given even a remote chance. Unfortuanately I'm not sure if the remaining stages are very conducive for an ambush. Sure there are mountains, but look at where they are placed. We have an interesting stage 17 on the menu, but it comes after a rest day. Not going to be so easy to ambush Sky (and Moviestar for that matter) after that. The only other stage for a crazy early attack is stage 20, and that comes after an ITT, which is effectively another rest day for all Sky and Moviestar domestiques. So the victory is really impossible, unless Quintana cracks badly. The best that Contador and Tinkoff can do is to make the final mountain stages hard, so keep the pace pretty high from the start, so that any weakness will eventually show itself anyway.

But I can't see an 100km out attack working. Well....if Froome and some Sky domestiques get away with him....it's possible. But generally speaking Contador should be aiming for second place. He might even be able to beat Froome in the ITT.

 

[Miburo]

It's good for Contador that Froome still has his team.

Like nibali in the giro, one by one

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

quite rightly,
he seems to be targetting the podium

hmmmm

"El objetivo no es el podio, es ganar, aunque está muy difícil. Nairo tiene un equipo potentisimo y tiene una diferencia muy grande. También hay corredores por delante de mí, pero voy a seguir dando todo lo que tengo en carrera y a ver cómo terminamos, pueden pasar mil cosas"

Actions speak louder than words. He's hardly known for telling the truth regarding his condition or tactical plans after all.

Oh come on. He needed as much time as possible on Froome, Chaves and Yates. All 3 were ahead of him and by quite some margin as well. It's not difficult: gain as much time as possible on the other challengers, try to gain time on Quintana another day. Focusing just on Quintana won't get him anywhere.

We'll have to agree to disagree I think. For me, this was the one opportunity to risk it all for the win. The race was chaotic and Movistar had to ride to distance Froome in that situation; Contador simply did too much and didn't force Movistar to do enough work earlier on the stage. A good move for the podium, not a good move for winning the race. Now Movistar don't have to do anything risky, the remaining stages are relatively easy to control and it's hard to see Tinkoff getting away and staying away from Movistar. I think that was the one opportunity to give himself a shot at winning, and he ended up losing 30 seconds to the race leader.

Being so far down the GC on time he had to take what he could get and he got big time back on Froome and Chaves. With Quintana in the break how was he going to distance Quintana ? If he does a good TT the break has been worth it. He had no hope of winning the race on that day but he consolidated his chances of a podium. Considering how bad his first week was, he would have to be happy with that.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I think that Contador very much wants a podium, though he would go for the win given even a remote chance. Unfortuanately I'm not sure if the remaining stages are very conducive for an ambush. Sure there are mountains, but look at where they are placed. We have an interesting stage 17 on the menu, but it comes after a rest day. Not going to be so easy to ambush Sky (and Moviestar for that matter) after that. The only other stage for a crazy early attack is stage 20, and that comes after an ITT, which is effectively another rest day for all Sky and Moviestar domestiques. So the victory is really impossible, unless Quintana cracks badly. The best that Contador and Tinkoff can do is to make the final mountain stages hard, so keep the pace pretty high from the start, so that any weakness will eventually show itself anyway.

But I can't see an 100km out attack working. Well....if Froome and some Sky domestiques get away with him....it's possible. But generally speaking Contador should be aiming for second place. He might even be able to beat Froome in the ITT.

Contador should be able to finish on the podium simply because of the TT. It will probably depend on how Chaves goes in the TT and whether he can out climb Contador this week. There has to be some doubt about Froome as well but with Froome sometimes he can bounce back.

 

[MacBAir]

So, folks, are we ready for today's alliance with Froome?

I bet Froome would want Sagan to be here, as well.

 

[samhocking]

I don't think Movistar & Tinkoff will do anything other than form an agreed alliance today to protect Quintana's buffer over Froome and limit/prevent Chaves gaining the time he needs over Contador for the TT to keep his 3rd. The interest for me today is what sort of alliance (if any) forms between Orica & Sky. I don't think Froome can get back the minute or two he needs without Orica as BMC are a little too far down GC with Sanchez needing over 2 minutes to leapfrog Chaves & Yates.

 

[jilbiker]

I don't see an alliance between Froome and Contador. Froome has shown a lack of respect for AC sometimes as if he wants to drive in the nail. Although this is business, so anything can happen.

 

[MacBAir]

Re:

I don't see an alliance between Froome and Contador. Froome has shown a lack of respect for AC sometimes as if he wants to drive in the nail. Although this is business, so anything can happen.

link?

 

[samhocking]

Tinkoff & Movistar are perfectly spaced enough apart on GC to form an alliance. Contador needs Quintana much more than he needs Froome.
Froome & Contador alwasys seem very respectful to one anoother though so you never know what's discussed behind closed doors but like with Astana & Tinkoff there's a little bit of team history and hate between Tinkoff and Sky, so it always has an effect, just like Astana pulling 'seemingly' for Froome on stage 15 wasn't what it seemed. That was simply pure hate for Tinkoff from Astana if you ask me and Scarponi races much like Contador with never give up attitude. Scarponi could surprise everyone still I feel.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I don't see an alliance between Froome and Contador. Froome has shown a lack of respect for AC sometimes as if he wants to drive in the nail. Although this is business, so anything can happen.

I agree, I don't see it happening either, but who knows

 

[MacBAir]

Re: Re:

I don't see an alliance between Froome and Contador. Froome has shown a lack of respect for AC sometimes as if he wants to drive in the nail. Although this is business, so anything can happen.

I agree, I don't see it happening either, but who knows

When did Froome do any of that?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I don't see an alliance between Froome and Contador. Froome has shown a lack of respect for AC sometimes as if he wants to drive in the nail. Although this is business, so anything can happen.

I agree, I don't see it happening either, but who knows

When did Froome do any of that?

I don't know if it is a definite lack of respect but for sure it often seems as though he wants to "drive in the nail" as jilbiker says.

Of course, one could consider some of the things Froome wrote about Contador in Mein Climb to be quite disrespectful.

 

[MacBAir]

Re: Re:

I don't see an alliance between Froome and Contador. Froome has shown a lack of respect for AC sometimes as if he wants to drive in the nail. Although this is business, so anything can happen.

I agree, I don't see it happening either, but who knows

When did Froome do any of that?

I don't know if it is a definite lack of respect but for sure it often seems as though he wants to "drive in the nail" as jilbiker says.

Of course, one could consider some of the things Froome wrote about Contador in Mein Climb to be quite disrespectful.

When? Some examples?
What things?

 

[Electress]

Re: Re:

I don't see an alliance between Froome and Contador. Froome has shown a lack of respect for AC sometimes as if he wants to drive in the nail. Although this is business, so anything can happen.

I agree, I don't see it happening either, but who knows

When did Froome do any of that?

I don't know if it is a definite lack of respect but for sure it often seems as though he wants to "drive in the nail" as jilbiker says.

Of course, one could consider some of the things Froome wrote about Contador in Mein Climb to be quite disrespectful.

When? Some examples?
What things?

Coffee anyone?

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

I don't see an alliance between Froome and Contador. Froome has shown a lack of respect for AC sometimes as if he wants to drive in the nail. Although this is business, so anything can happen.

it's probably not an alliance but rather than "tag along." 2014 Vuelta when Contador couldn't drop Purito and Valverde, Tinkoff had expected that Froome would attack. If that happened they would follow him (remember reading Bjarne's interview). It was exactly what happened. Froome attacked and distanced Purito & Valverde. Then Contador dropped Froome near the summit.

Fast forward 2 years later, the difference is.. Contador doesn't have the fitness to drop Froome. So if Froome ends up attacking Quintana, he can't use Froome to drop Quintana then drop Froome, instead, he will get dropped by both of them.. most likely. :lol: