Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[gregrowlerson]

Re: El Pistolero - Story on the brilliance of Alberto Contad

Bit of a long read but I found it super enjoyable.

http://theballpoint.org/index.php/2016/11/05/el-pistolero/

First two paragraphs

Six kilometres from the finish line, Frank Schleck launches an acceleration. It’s a just a short, exploratory jab, a “How are the legs today boys?” kind of inquiry. Bertie was the first to respond, straight on to his back wheel, followed by Lance, Andy & Wiggo. They were all back together again. Frank Schleck, Andy Schleck, Bradley Wiggins, Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador. The crème-de-la-crème of this year’s Tour, the five men who would make up the top five at the end of this 3,459.5 kilometre odyssey.

The ploy from the Schleck brothers was as old as the sport itself, the classic one-two. As Contador would chase down one brother the other one would go, and they would continue inflicting this pain until Bertie would be too exhausted to respond to one of their accelerations. But today was not the day. With 5.6 kilometres to go, Contador looked at the faces of his four adversaries. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as what is simply now known as “The Look”, immortalized in 2001 on the slopes of the most iconic climb in cycling, Alpe d’Huez, but it was intimidating never the less.

I walked up the entire Verbier ascent last year (one of the better experiences of my life) and found that at the very point of Alberto's unanswerable attack, there is this tribute on the stone wall:

https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13221506_10154886473220752_27336787299686929_n.jpg?oh=ce93c9ffc6811eb67df0de01775e003e&oe=58CE0B96

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: El Pistolero - Story on the brilliance of Alberto Contad

I walked up the entire Verbier ascent last year (one of the better experiences of my life) and found that at the very point of Alberto's unanswerable attack, there is this tribute on the stone wall:

https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13221506_10154886473220752_27336787299686929_n.jpg?oh=ce93c9ffc6811eb67df0de01775e003e&oe=58CE0B96

Very cool

 

[Angliru]

There is an excellent article that gives a detailed replay of this year's pivotal Vuelta stage in the latest Peloton magazine, if anyone happens to be at bookstore or has an online subscription.

 

[rick james]

Re: El Pistolero - Story on the brilliance of Alberto Contad

Bit of a long read but I found it super enjoyable.

http://theballpoint.org/index.php/2016/11/05/el-pistolero/

First two paragraphs

Six kilometres from the finish line, Frank Schleck launches an acceleration. It’s a just a short, exploratory jab, a “How are the legs today boys?” kind of inquiry. Bertie was the first to respond, straight on to his back wheel, followed by Lance, Andy & Wiggo. They were all back together again. Frank Schleck, Andy Schleck, Bradley Wiggins, Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador. The crème-de-la-crème of this year’s Tour, the five men who would make up the top five at the end of this 3,459.5 kilometre odyssey.

The ploy from the Schleck brothers was as old as the sport itself, the classic one-two. As Contador would chase down one brother the other one would go, and they would continue inflicting this pain until Bertie would be too exhausted to respond to one of their accelerations. But today was not the day. With 5.6 kilometres to go, Contador looked at the faces of his four adversaries. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as what is simply now known as “The Look”, immortalized in 2001 on the slopes of the most iconic climb in cycling, Alpe d’Huez, but it was intimidating never the less.

I walked up the entire Verbier ascent last year (one of the better experiences of my life) and found that at the very point of Alberto's unanswerable attack, there is this tribute on the stone wall:

https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13221506_10154886473220752_27336787299686929_n.jpg?oh=ce93c9ffc6811eb67df0de01775e003e&oe=58CE0B96

And with that his is last ever act in Le Tour...sad really

 

[hazaran]

That's a sad little tribute, they have a picture of Froome on Pierre St. Martin.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

That's a sad little tribute, they have a picture of Froome on Pierre St. Martin.

Are we comparing tributes now? !

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: El Pistolero - Story on the brilliance of Alberto Contad

And with that his is last ever act in Le Tour...sad really

You forgot Annecy m8?

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

That's a sad little tribute, they have a picture of Froome on Pierre St. Martin.

Are we comparing tributes now? !

It helps when comparing palmares doesn't get the result you want.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

That's a sad little tribute, they have a picture of Froome on Pierre St. Martin.

The one where he's staring at his stem?

 

[HelloDolly]

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

Reckon we won't see him race with disc brakes any time soon then

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

He is still as good as ever, but he is not the best, except in some kind of ITT as Pais Vasco

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

35:50 into the podcast
"there's gonna be some good riders at trek and some good riders coming with Contador, Jesus Hernandez is going with him ... think Michael Gogl, who was also at Tinkoff is gonna be a big help to Contador in the mountains, he's gonna be key"

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

35:50 into the podcast
"there's gonna be some good riders at trek and some good riders coming with Contador, Jesus Hernandez is going with him ... think Michael Gogl, who was also at Tinkoff is gonna be a big help to Contador in the mountains, he's gonna be key"

Well Gogl is definitely a big talent.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

35:50 into the podcast
"there's gonna be some good riders at trek and some good riders coming with Contador, Jesus Hernandez is going with him ... think Michael Gogl, who was also at Tinkoff is gonna be a big help to Contador in the mountains, he's gonna be key"

Well Gogl is definitely a big talent.

I agree. But hardly a climber (atleast yet).

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

35:50 into the podcast
"there's gonna be some good riders at trek and some good riders coming with Contador, Jesus Hernandez is going with him ... think Michael Gogl, who was also at Tinkoff is gonna be a big help to Contador in the mountains, he's gonna be key"

Well Gogl is definitely a big talent.

I agree. But hardly a climber (atleast yet).

Agree with you on that. More of a rider for the hills and medium mountains.

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

He is still as good as ever, but he is not the best, except in some kind of ITT as Pais Vasco

Wait, I thought the "wonderfull years" were in the past and Contador is just a shade of himself in past?

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

35:50 into the podcast
"there's gonna be some good riders at trek and some good riders coming with Contador, Jesus Hernandez is going with him ... think Michael Gogl, who was also at Tinkoff is gonna be a big help to Contador in the mountains, he's gonna be key"

Well Gogl is definitely a big talent.

I agree. But hardly a climber (atleast yet).

I have still no idea why Tinkoff thought it would be a good idea to put him in Sagan's cobbles classics team. Although actually the better question is why Sagan joined a team in which Gogl was one of the 7 best domestiques for cobbles classics. :lol:

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

So Contador talking about how he felt at the Vuelta and why he thinks he is still as good as ever

https://audioboom.com/posts/5268018-27-the-off-season-ramble

He is still as good as ever, but he is not the best, except in some kind of ITT as Pais Vasco

Wait, I thought the "wonderfull years" were in the past and Contador is just a shade of himself in past?

Didn't you know that Contador's time on the Lagos de Covadonga was his best ever and that his only problem was that Froome, Quintana, Valverde, Scarponi and Chaves are even better than him and would have beaten Contador in the 2009 Tour? Taxus doesn't only watch cycling, he analyses the sport, so don't question him.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Has AC actually ever released his training numbers? Cause he's been claiming this like every year "my number are better, my numbers are better", but if this were the case, he should at least come close to do a Verbieresque performance once a year.

 

[May0maniac]

I don't get the negative talk about Gogl, he's not a climber, but he's a big talent and good on hilly/medium mountain stages just like LaFlo said. He had a pretty good 2nd half of the season (Herring Rundt, Vuelta and the EC)
That said, Trek have many riders that are great on that kind of terrain, so the fact that Gogl was explicitly named is a bit odd.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

I don't get the negative talk about Gogl, he's not a climber, but he's a big talent and good on hilly/medium mountain stages just like LaFlo said. He had a pretty good 2nd half of the season (Herring Rundt, Vuelta and the EC)
That said, Trek have many riders that are great on that kind of terrain, so the fact that Gogl was explicitly named is a bit odd.

I really like gogl and his performance in the vuelta this year was great. I just really find it strange that he rode cobbles classics for tinkoff

 

[May0maniac]

well, it's just like you said, he probably was the 7th best domestique for the cobbled classics on that team.
For Gogl himself it was probably a great learning experience.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

I don't get the negative talk about Gogl, he's not a climber, but he's a big talent and good on hilly/medium mountain stages just like LaFlo said. He had a pretty good 2nd half of the season (Herring Rundt, Vuelta and the EC)
That said, Trek have many riders that are great on that kind of terrain, so the fact that Gogl was explicitly named is a bit odd.

Odd indeed to mention Gogl, of all the possible riders on Trek, as a key domestique for Alberto in the mountains. I think Gogl is a great talent, but mountains are certainly not where his physical strengths lie. I agree with Gigs that he can be decent on hilly terrain and I also think he's a valuable asset for the team in terms of infiltrating breakaways, where he has a realistic shot of winning from. Sorry if it's too irrelevant for this thread. I assume Gogl doesn't have his own thread?

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Has AC actually ever released his training numbers? Cause he's been claiming this like every year "my number are better, my numbers are better", but if this were the case, he should at least come close to do a Verbieresque performance once a year.

Perhaps it's true, but he can't carry those training numbers into races. He could be doing another Verbier right now on Pico de las Nieves. Wouldn't be too much of a surprise considering that nowdays he just surrounds himself with yes-men, instead of actually working with the best coaches and team mates he can.