Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[LaFlorecita]

when was the last race when Alberto C did NOT crash?

Volta a Catalunya 2017

 

[portugal11]

Calm down, tomorrow we will see if contador is good or not

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Calm down, tomorrow we will see if contador is good or not

Yes, we will

 

[LaFlorecita]

This is what crashing does to you don't crash, crashes are bad, mkay

 

[LaFlorecita]

"It has been a pretty bad crash, for sure it's going to be a complicated night and tomorrow is a very important day," added Contador. "We were going fast and those who fell first suffered the most. I think that this finish, with so many cones on the road, they should maybe rethink it. We have no choice but to dodge them and we have to have a lot of attention.

"At least I was able to finish the day. I do not worry too much because I only have to do the efforts of tomorrow and after tomorrow before leaving for a few days of vacation. It is true that I have taken blows in many places, some muscular, like in the left quadriceps, so if tomorrow I am well, perfect, but if not, I will do what I can."

 

[Carols]

Re:

"It has been a pretty bad crash, for sure it's going to be a complicated night and tomorrow is a very important day," added Contador. "We were going fast and those who fell first suffered the most. I think that this finish, with so many cones on the road, they should maybe rethink it. We have no choice but to dodge them and we have to have a lot of attention.

"At least I was able to finish the day. I do not worry too much because I only have to do the efforts of tomorrow and after tomorrow before leaving for a few days of vacation. It is true that I have taken blows in many places, some muscular, like in the left quadriceps, so if tomorrow I am well, perfect, but if not, I will do what I can."

"A post-race analysis revealed Contador has bruising on both shoulders, left arm, elbow, hip, and quadriceps. "

Now I have zero expectations for this race. Hopefully he recovers well and has a decent day tomorrow.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

"It has been a pretty bad crash, for sure it's going to be a complicated night and tomorrow is a very important day," added Contador. "We were going fast and those who fell first suffered the most. I think that this finish, with so many cones on the road, they should maybe rethink it. We have no choice but to dodge them and we have to have a lot of attention.

"At least I was able to finish the day. I do not worry too much because I only have to do the efforts of tomorrow and after tomorrow before leaving for a few days of vacation. It is true that I have taken blows in many places, some muscular, like in the left quadriceps, so if tomorrow I am well, perfect, but if not, I will do what I can."

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.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

"It has been a pretty bad crash, for sure it's going to be a complicated night and tomorrow is a very important day," added Contador. "We were going fast and those who fell first suffered the most. I think that this finish, with so many cones on the road, they should maybe rethink it. We have no choice but to dodge them and we have to have a lot of attention.

"At least I was able to finish the day. I do not worry too much because I only have to do the efforts of tomorrow and after tomorrow before leaving for a few days of vacation. It is true that I have taken blows in many places, some muscular, like in the left quadriceps, so if tomorrow I am well, perfect, but if not, I will do what I can."

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.

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.

 

[Red Rick]

I've got an idea.

How 'bout we watch the race tomorrow?

 

[LaFlorecita]

In what way is he talking up his injuries? We saw his jersey was torn so obviously he crashed quite hard and is bruised. It's not like he's saying he expects to lose 2 minutes tomorrow. He says he doesn't know yet if it will affect him, he'll see tomorrow.
As for the Giro, they said he would lose 2 to 3 seconds per km due to a change in position that was necessary with his shoulder injury, of course it was hard to predict how that different position would affect his performance.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

I've got an idea.

How 'bout we watch the race tomorrow?

Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I've got an idea.

How 'bout we watch the race tomorrow?

Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.

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]

Re: Re:

I've got an idea.

How 'bout we watch the race tomorrow?

Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.

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:

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.

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.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I wouldn't write off his chances based on what he says, I will however write off his chances based on the fact he hasn't looked very confident at any point during this race and crashed hard on top of that, meanwhile several of his rivals look extremely strong.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

I've got an idea.

How 'bout we watch the race tomorrow?

Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.

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:

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.

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.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

I've got an idea.

How 'bout we watch the race tomorrow?

Yeah. Fancy discussing possibilities and assessing a rider's form on a cycling forum.

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:

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.

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.

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.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Its always good no matter what to have an excuse up in your sleeve when you aren't performing as you maybe was expected to in order to still believe in yourself and point to something which wasn't optimal in your preparation or whatever. That way you can trick your mind to believe you wasn't beaten fair and square and you still are the better rider at 100%.

Not saying he is lying here tho, just speaking of the behaviour in general (which Contador definitely uses) which I guess also is very common outside sports.

 

[GraftPunk]

Contie is my favorite GT rider, and even I believe pretty much nothing he says re. injuries. He's probably just trolling with mind games as usual.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Seriously ? Come on, he crashed, of course he is bruised and of course that will give him some trouble at night and affect his performance. How much, we don't know and he probably doesn't either.

 

[rick james]

Re:

"It has been a pretty bad crash, for sure it's going to be a complicated night and tomorrow is a very important day," added Contador. "We were going fast and those who fell first suffered the most. I think that this finish, with so many cones on the road, they should maybe rethink it. We have no choice but to dodge them and we have to have a lot of attention.

"At least I was able to finish the day. I do not worry too much because I only have to do the efforts of tomorrow and after tomorrow before leaving for a few days of vacation. It is true that I have taken blows in many places, some muscular, like in the left quadriceps, so if tomorrow I am well, perfect, but if not, I will do what I can."

I fully expect him to destroy the race tomorrow, he likes to tell a few porkies, he'll be fine

 

[LaFlorecita]

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.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

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.

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 TT

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

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 TT

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.

 

[filipepc]

I just saw after the live... It´s sad to see him always fall, it´s really frustrating, i just think about the TOUR, will we have to see him fall and say the some always:

" if he hadn´t fall... maybe he could have won..." DAMN.
DAMN, DAMN,DAMN.

Win it or loose it, i just want him to race without any problem. This is anoying.

 

[Sciocco]

I wonder if he were to not win anything this spring that maybe he'd be more hungry for a win later in the season. Maybe he'd go for a stage early on in the TdF. Mont du Chat maybe...