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Yet one of the arguments the jury gave for not giving Alaphilippe s.t. was that he didn't clearly show he had an issue :Neutral:Valv.Piti said:
Damn he looks so skinny but also tired. Wth is that on his arm, disc brake burn?! *tinfoil hat on*Fernandez said:
LaFlorecita said:
Wow, it's unlike Contador to be talking up his injuries. :surprised: I think we're at the stage now where we can't believe a word he says about how injuries have or have not affected him. Wouldn't be surprised at all if he still finishes top 3 tomorrow.LaFlorecita said:
Yeah, remember when he was supposed to loose 2-3 seconds per km in the lond Giro ITT because of his sholder? When he's talking a lot about an injury or crash is usually not that bad.DFA123 said:
Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.Red Rick said:
Honestly I don't think you do that often, when you post here it is often to portray him as a liar or something similar :Neutral:DFA123 said:Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.Red Rick said:
Well, it's pretty hard to assess his form without working out whether or not he is being truthful in what he says. He does frequently lie in interviews, or at least exaggerate the extent of problems that he has. One of the oldest tricks in the cycling book is to pretend to be weak when you're strong etc... so he's not alone there in the sport's history. He announces every small problem to the media and often tries to play down his condition, before showing in subsequent days that there is nothing majorly wrong with him. Writing off his chances tomorrow based on what he says to the media is a ridiculous thing to do.LaFlorecita said:Honestly I don't think you do that often, when you post here it is often to portray him as a liar or something similar :Neutral:DFA123 said:Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.Red Rick said:
DFA123 said:Well, it's pretty hard to assess his form without working out whether or not he is being truthful in what he says. He does frequently lie in interviews, or at least exaggerate the extent of problems that he has. One of the oldest tricks in the cycling book is to pretend to be weak when you're strong etc... so he's not alone there in the sport's history. He announces every small problem to the media and often tries to play down his condition, before showing in subsequent days that there is nothing majorly wrong with him. Writing off his chances tomorrow based on what he says to the media is a ridiculous thing to do.LaFlorecita said:Honestly I don't think you do that often, when you post here it is often to portray him as a liar or something similar :Neutral:DFA123 said:Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.Red Rick said:
I've no doubt that his rivals don't believe a word that he says, and won't be taking him any more lightly tomorrow than they would have otherwise.
Absolute nonsense. Contador uses interviews with the media to try to play psychological games with his opponents. He always has done - as have many of the cycling greats. I don't think anyone is falling for them now though - so it's probably more just to protect his own ego in case he fails.Angliru said:DFA123 said:Well, it's pretty hard to assess his form without working out whether or not he is being truthful in what he says. He does frequently lie in interviews, or at least exaggerate the extent of problems that he has. One of the oldest tricks in the cycling book is to pretend to be weak when you're strong etc... so he's not alone there in the sport's history. He announces every small problem to the media and often tries to play down his condition, before showing in subsequent days that there is nothing majorly wrong with him. Writing off his chances tomorrow based on what he says to the media is a ridiculous thing to do.LaFlorecita said:Honestly I don't think you do that often, when you post here it is often to portray him as a liar or something similar :Neutral:DFA123 said:Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.Red Rick said:
I've no doubt that his rivals don't believe a word that he says, and won't be taking him any more lightly tomorrow than they would have otherwise.
This "exaggeration" is all a matter of opinion. A rider says that he/she has injuries, details them and then seems uncertain as to how much they will effect their upcoming performance. If they perform fairly well, they're called a liar and accused of exaggerating the extent of their injuries. If the media asks them about their injuries and they tell the truth it appears that some here want brand that as lying when, in their completely uninformed opinion, that rider performs beyond that poster's expectations based on the detail volunteered about their injuries. I guess it's better that Contador simply avoids the media after crashing so as to not give material for some fans to tear him down when he is still able to perform.
His rivals/opponents should always treat him as a threat unless he's not on his bike at the start of any event he's targeting, injured or not. That is just the wise thing to do. They never have any idea the extent of their opponents injury with the exception of his crash in one of the Tours at the beginning of a descent where he was reaching for his water bottle and hit a pot hole or deep dip in the road. That was described by a fellow rider that witnessed it as "very violent" and would be one where the observer could assume that his performance at any point after that would be severely effected.
I fully expect him to destroy the race tomorrow, he likes to tell a few porkies, he'll be fineLaFlorecita said:
I don't buy that... of course he has a chance to win and he beleives in that. This race is tailormade for contador, even past his prime, he still is the best hilly time trialist of the world. Tomorrow's stage would be perfect to him 6 years ago but now he "only" can hang the likes of henao. I still think he will put 20 seconds in everyone in the TTLaFlorecita said:When is the last time we've seen him "destroy" the race on a MTF? And anyway he hasn't shown anything at all so far, only hanging at the back, while his rivals like Roglic, Izagirre, Valverde and Henao raced very attentively and look very strong. Add to that his crash, which, for me, hasn't improved his chances
I guess we'll see. Maybe he's changed his approach, but riding at the back of the group and never reacting to attacks is so not his style, combined with his comments before the race that the parcours isn't that great for him, it makes me think he doesn't really believe he can win.
So in your opinion, what made him change up his approach? If he was expecting this would help him win, it clearly isn't working very well.portugal11 said:
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