Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Scarponi]

Re:

I was pleased by his performance, especially considering it was his first race day of the year. The 'hunger' is very obviously still there and only Bala who has races and a win in his legs could really match him on the climb.

After being battered daily by the Travesty that is Trump, watching him take off at 24km to go brought a smile to my face .

Trump is the greatest thing on the planet bar a Contador attack

 

[LaFlorecita]

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

He looked pretty good imo Yeah, he attacked a lot.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

He attacked, and for that moment, it seemed like all was well in the world

 

[Red Rick]

Anyone got footage from the final climb tho?

 

[Jspear]

Re:

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

from CN

Trek-Segafredo's Alberto Contador unleashed a blistering attack on the early slopes of the ascent, initially opening up a gap before Valverde caught onto his wheel. Before long, they were joined by Poels, his Sky teammates Diego Rosa and Mikel Landa, Bahrain-Merida's Ion Izagirre, and Cannondale-Drapac's Rigoberto Urán.

Landa was the next to strike, but his attack was short-lived. (I would add that AC brought Landa back) Contador attempted to get clear once again with around 20km left to go, but couldn't shake the others at the head of the race. Then it was Valverde's turn. The Spaniard broke free of the rest of the lead group near the summit and then began to extend his advantage on the descent. Contador soloed away from the others in hot pursuit.

With a little over 10km left to race, Contador made the catch. Then Rosa and Izagirre caught up as well. (Rosa and Izagirre actually caught AC before AC caught Valverde.) From there, the four riders mostly eyed each other, allowing Poels and Reichenbach to join with around 3km to go, setting up a six-man battle for the win.

As the pace picked up for the final sprint, Valverde was already at the front of the group with 200 metres to go. Poels tried coming around on his left, but could not quite overtake the Movistar rider, allowing Valverde to nab his first win of 2017 at the finish line.

 

[LaFlorecita]

So Alberto and the team revealed his customized bike today, I don't get excited about a bike quickly but it looks pretty darn cool in my opinion.

The bike in action

Article

"It's a bike that I really like. I wanted the dominant color to be white and on that basis, we worked. I asked that the design reflects the victories in the three big tours, with the colors of the three maillots. The people of Trek made a design in which you can see the images of the Eiffel Tower, the Duomo Square, and the Cibeles Square, together with a shield of my hometown, Pinto, all united by the motto that I always have in mind when facing great challenges: 'Querer es poder' ('Where there's a will, there's a way'). The truth is that I'm delighted with the bike, it's super nice, and I'm looking forward to race with it".

Really cool personal details
Do you think he wanted the color to be white because black bikes have been unlucky for him in the past?

Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qnj6YZqIJg

 

[rick james]

#Bikeporn

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Anyone got footage from the final climb tho?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWvqK1txBa0

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

from CN

Trek-Segafredo's Alberto Contador unleashed a blistering attack on the early slopes of the ascent, initially opening up a gap before Valverde caught onto his wheel. Before long, they were joined by Poels, his Sky teammates Diego Rosa and Mikel Landa, Bahrain-Merida's Ion Izagirre, and Cannondale-Drapac's Rigoberto Urán.

Landa was the next to strike, but his attack was short-lived. (I would add that AC brought Landa back) Contador attempted to get clear once again with around 20km left to go, but couldn't shake the others at the head of the race. Then it was Valverde's turn. The Spaniard broke free of the rest of the lead group near the summit and then began to extend his advantage on the descent. Contador soloed away from the others in hot pursuit.

With a little over 10km left to race, Contador made the catch. Then Rosa and Izagirre caught up as well. (Rosa and Izagirre actually caught AC before AC caught Valverde.) From there, the four riders mostly eyed each other, allowing Poels and Reichenbach to join with around 3km to go, setting up a six-man battle for the win.

As the pace picked up for the final sprint, Valverde was already at the front of the group with 200 metres to go. Poels tried coming around on his left, but could not quite overtake the Movistar rider, allowing Valverde to nab his first win of 2017 at the finish line.

Thanks!

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

from CN

Trek-Segafredo's Alberto Contador unleashed a blistering attack on the early slopes of the ascent, initially opening up a gap before Valverde caught onto his wheel. Before long, they were joined by Poels, his Sky teammates Diego Rosa and Mikel Landa, Bahrain-Merida's Ion Izagirre, and Cannondale-Drapac's Rigoberto Urán.

Landa was the next to strike, but his attack was short-lived. (I would add that AC brought Landa back) Contador attempted to get clear once again with around 20km left to go, but couldn't shake the others at the head of the race. Then it was Valverde's turn. The Spaniard broke free of the rest of the lead group near the summit and then began to extend his advantage on the descent. Contador soloed away from the others in hot pursuit.

With a little over 10km left to race, Contador made the catch. Then Rosa and Izagirre caught up as well. (Rosa and Izagirre actually caught AC before AC caught Valverde.) From there, the four riders mostly eyed each other, allowing Poels and Reichenbach to join with around 3km to go, setting up a six-man battle for the win.

As the pace picked up for the final sprint, Valverde was already at the front of the group with 200 metres to go. Poels tried coming around on his left, but could not quite overtake the Movistar rider, allowing Valverde to nab his first win of 2017 at the finish line.

Lol @ CN

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

from CN

Trek-Segafredo's Alberto Contador unleashed a blistering attack on the early slopes of the ascent, initially opening up a gap before Valverde caught onto his wheel. Before long, they were joined by Poels, his Sky teammates Diego Rosa and Mikel Landa, Bahrain-Merida's Ion Izagirre, and Cannondale-Drapac's Rigoberto Urán.

Landa was the next to strike, but his attack was short-lived. (I would add that AC brought Landa back) Contador attempted to get clear once again with around 20km left to go, but couldn't shake the others at the head of the race. Then it was Valverde's turn. The Spaniard broke free of the rest of the lead group near the summit and then began to extend his advantage on the descent. Contador soloed away from the others in hot pursuit.

With a little over 10km left to race, Contador made the catch. Then Rosa and Izagirre caught up as well. (Rosa and Izagirre actually caught AC before AC caught Valverde.) From there, the four riders mostly eyed each other, allowing Poels and Reichenbach to join with around 3km to go, setting up a six-man battle for the win.

As the pace picked up for the final sprint, Valverde was already at the front of the group with 200 metres to go. Poels tried coming around on his left, but could not quite overtake the Movistar rider, allowing Valverde to nab his first win of 2017 at the finish line.

Lol @ CN

Lol, didn't even notice that mistake. There was more than just that. I was just looking for "objective" commentary. I guess it wasn't objective since it wasn't accurate.


I'm bummed. Won't be able to watch tomorrow's stage live. I'm sure AC will animate things again. It's not the same watching it later.

 

[sQiD]

Poor Alberto "But nobody would help me turn out a steadier pace to the moves that were happening on the last climb, and we couldn't make much of a difference."

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

He can do great accelerations but he can't mantain a high pace too long

How would you know? Once Bala got up to him, he slowed down. They had quite a gap at that point.

That has been his problem for a while and was to some extent today as well. His attacks are deadly at times, as was the first he put in today, but he has become worse at maintaining that wattage.

 

[bob.a.feet]

The white shoes have made a triumphant return!

 

[Jelantik]

I wish there's a video link to see his attack. Sounds like he starts the year with lots of hunger. I hope with new environment bring a new fresh of excitement and fire in his belly

 

[Jspear]

Re:

I wish there's a video link to see his attack. Sounds like he starts the year with lots of hunger. I hope with new environment bring a new fresh of excitement and fire in his belly

Laflo posted in the Andalucia thread. It's a little sketchy, but better than nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWvqK1txBa0

 

[hfer07]

Re:

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

Alberto was superb- very aggressive as always

enjoy the last 35K

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-zRIByRGtk

 

[jflemaire]

Re: Re:

I missed the stage unfortunately, from what I can gather he attacked a lot and looked decent? Can anyone give an objective account of what happened?

Alberto was superb- very aggressive as always

enjoy the last 35K

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-zRIByRGtk

This one's much better and in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QkSR1DDek4

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

He can do great accelerations but he can't mantain a high pace too long

How would you know? Once Bala got up to him, he slowed down. They had quite a gap at that point.

That has been his problem for a while and was to some extent today as well. His attacks are deadly at times, as was the first he put in today, but he has become worse at maintaining that wattage.

Today stage was another example

 

[LaFlorecita]

That final (almost) flat km was too much for him, but a good showing regardless

 

[Arredondo]

He went to early for the 2016 Contador. Contador of 2011 or 2014 would have won with that attack.

But still a good showing. Especially concerning the fact it's his first race of the season instead for guys like Valverde.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

He can do great accelerations but he can't mantain a high pace too long

How would you know? Once Bala got up to him, he slowed down. They had quite a gap at that point.

That has been his problem for a while and was to some extent today as well. His attacks are deadly at times, as was the first he put in today, but he has become worse at maintaining that wattage.

Today stage was another example

Exactly.

Edit: It looked very much like he also just misjudged his effort this time around. Seemed like he went a bit too deep in the red in that attack, altho he already had dropped them after the first acceleration. Recovering after such a effort is extremely hard.

 

[Carols]

Shame he didn't take the win, but good showing so far for the first race of the season. More tomorrow .

 

[Matteo.]

He is on the right track to achieve TdF podium. He went 500m too early , but still a very good ride. I'm satisfied

 

[Arredondo]

Re:

He is on the right track to achieve TdF podium. He went 500m too early , but still a very good ride. I'm satisfied

Should he be happy with that?