Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Red Rick]

It makes perfect sense that Flecha would want to say that. Now at least some fans want to hear what he has to say, otherwise they're just banging their heads against a wall

 

[lenric]

Re:

Honestly if I'm looking at Quintana right now, I think Contador could've been the best climber post crash, but gaps have been marginal between the best climbers apart from sphincter injury prevention activities.

Contador hasn't gotten through a GT normally since 2014. I strongly doubt he's got that level anymore, but I can hardly believe that the 2016 Vuelta performance is the best that he's got left. I think he can still win GTs under the right circumstances.

Maybe the best level that he can achieve right now is his Giro's 2015 one. Which wasn't weak, but not overly strong when it comes to climbing.

 

[LaFlorecita]

At the 2015 Giro his performance was probably hampered by his crashes
He crashed 3 or 4 times ahead of the Giro and twice during the Giro

However I guess the level he can reach NOW could be the same as the level he showed during that race. Which was still pretty good, considering Landa was absolutely flying.
I'd sell my left kidney for him to deliver the same TT performance at the Tour.

 

[lenric]

Re:

At the 2015 Giro his performance was probably hampered by his crashes
He crashed 3 or 4 times ahead of the Giro and twice during the Giro

However I guess the level he can reach NOW could be the same as the level he showed during that race. Which was still pretty good, considering Landa was absolutely flying.
I'd sell my left kidney for him to deliver the same TT performance at the Tour.

Bear in mind, however, that he won't win the Tour in ITTs, since Froome also is very good at them. Probably better than Contador. Especially on the flat ones (don't know if they are flat, or not btw).

Yes, his level was hampered by crashes, that's obviously true. But in Mortirolo, for example, I believe he was 100% (or very close, at least) fit. Though not 100% in terms of his peak form, naturally.

But who knows? This year he seems way more relaxed. Who knows if that can make him feel less pressured in the Tour? Who knows in what form will Froome be?
Who knows if we'll have a joker (Mr. Porte)? So many questions and we're more than one month away from the answers..

I just hope that, for once, he doesn't fall. Neither anyone else.

 

[Sciocco]

Final GC podium would be:

Contador
Dumoulin
Nibali

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

At the 2015 Giro his performance was probably hampered by his crashes
He crashed 3 or 4 times ahead of the Giro and twice during the Giro

However I guess the level he can reach NOW could be the same as the level he showed during that race. Which was still pretty good, considering Landa was absolutely flying.
I'd sell my left kidney for him to deliver the same TT performance at the Tour.

Thing is there aren't proper time trials, you'd probably want those performances saved for the mountains instead.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Final GC podium would be:

Contador
Dumoulin
Nibali

Might I add easily

 

[LaFlorecita]

There is a total of 36 mainly flat TT km in this year's Tour. It isn't much, but a bad TTer vs a good TTer could lose around 2.5 minutes in that distance.
I'm mostly worried about the first TT. He doesn't really do well in short, flat TTs anymore, especially at the start of a race. He's up against one of the best TTers so he needs to deliver a great performance as well, otherwise he'll have too much time to make up to even think about the victory.
But he's been training on the TT bike quite a bit, so I'm confident

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

At the 2015 Giro his performance was probably hampered by his crashes
He crashed 3 or 4 times ahead of the Giro and twice during the Giro

However I guess the level he can reach NOW could be the same as the level he showed during that race. Which was still pretty good, considering Landa was absolutely flying.
I'd sell my left kidney for him to deliver the same TT performance at the Tour.

Bear in mind, however, that he won't win the Tour in ITTs, since Froome also is very good at them. Probably better than Contador. Especially on the flat ones (don't know if they are flat, or not btw).

Yes, his level was hampered by crashes, that's obviously true. But in Mortirolo, for example, I believe he was 100% (or very close, at least) fit. Though not 100% in terms of his peak form, naturally.

But who knows? This year he seems way more relaxed. Who knows if that can make him feel less pressured in the Tour? Who knows in what form will Froome be?
Who knows if we'll have a joker (Mr. Porte)? So many questions and we're more than one month away from the answers..

I just hope that, for once, he doesn't fall. Neither anyone else.

I think that he can reach very close to his climbing level at the '15 Giro, in this years Tour. And that this could be enough to win the race. It is not a given that Froome will be in the same form as recent years, and the ITT's will not be hugely important IMO, especially as there are many mountain stages where time can be made. Also if you think back to the first ITT in TDF '15. Froome wasn't any good at all in it. I doubt that he'll take any significant time on Contador there. And the one rider who might be scary uphill to Alberto is Porte, though he doesn't have the confidence of the previous champions of course, and who knows how he would handle being in yellow by two minutes going into the third week. A big concern for Contador is Thomas' Giro problems, now meaning that he will give even more support to Froome in July. And Thomas has excellent climbing form.

And then there is Chaves and Valverde, both with question marks for different reasons, but both cannot be completely discounted from the yellow jersey discussion.

But Alberto has a chance. Like you said, if he stays on his bike.

 

[s.i.]

Re:

I'm mostly worried about the first TT. He doesn't really do well in short, flat TTs anymore, especially at the start of a race.

Hm, what makes yoo say that?

He's ridden two short ITTs this year. One in Paris-Nice (14,5 km) where he finished 2nd 19 seconds behind Alaphilippe, ahead of Zakarin and Porte, among others. The other one was in Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol (12 km). There he finished 3rd, behind Campenaerts and Valverde. Not sure about the shape of his competitors, but he beat a strong time trialist like Kiriyenka.

Last year he rode one short, flat ITT, in the Volta ao Algarve. He lost a minute to Cancellara and Martin there, and 20-30 seconds to guys like Thomas. Dowsett and Castroviejo. But I wouldn't emphasize an early season ITT from over a year ago when he has done pretty good so far this season.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Contador's 2015 double might suddenly be looking a little more impressive to Quintana...

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I'm mostly worried about the first TT. He doesn't really do well in short, flat TTs anymore, especially at the start of a race.

Hm, what makes yoo say that?

He's ridden two short ITTs this year. One in Paris-Nice (14,5 km) where he finished 2nd 19 seconds behind Alaphilippe, ahead of Zakarin and Porte, among others. The other one was in Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol (12 km). There he finished 3rd, behind Campenaerts and Valverde. Not sure about the shape of his competitors, but he beat a strong time trialist like Kiriyenka.

Last year he rode one short, flat ITT, in the Volta ao Algarve. He lost a minute to Cancellara and Martin there, and 20-30 seconds to guys like Thomas. Dowsett and Castroviejo. But I wouldn't emphasize an early season ITT from over a year ago when he has done pretty good so far this season.

The Paris-Nice TT wasn't flat though. His result in Andalucia was good, but not super impressive either.
I hope he goes full out in the Dauphiné TT to test himself, let's see what we can expect.

 

[bajbar]

The final ITT has a steep 2k hill in the middle (plus a downhill), which should suit him a lot. The first one should be a problem (looking back at 2015). But Froome only gained 8 seconds two years ago... So not a lot at all...

 

[Gloin22]

are people still talking about him as if he's a contender?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

The final ITT has a steep 2k hill in the middle (plus a downhill), which should suit him a lot. The first one should be a problem (looking back at 2015). But Froome only gained 8 seconds two years ago... So not a lot at all...

He should stay within 10-15 seconds in that first TT... otherwise it doesn't bode well for the rest of the race.

 

[Red Rick]

There are plenty of contenders for any WT race, though the WT only knows one Contador

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

are people still talking about him as if he's a contender?

Yes, you don't think he's a contender?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

There are plenty of contenders for any WT race, though the WT only knows one Contador

This is true, but I don't think the parcours suits him very well... we will see. He's not the favorite (that's Froome) but he's in the 2nd group of favorites with Quintana, Valverde and Porte. If he's in top form and doesn't crash, he definitely could beat them. Then there's just Froome to work over, but he can have an off-day/off-season/poorly timed mechanical/crash/illness as well.

 

[Ramira]

Re: Re:

are people still talking about him as if he's a contender?

Yes, you don't think he's a contender?

Yeah he might not be a favourite. But if he's not a contender who is? Just Froome and maybe Quintana? Because the only person who's been better than him in one week races so far is Valverde, and I don't see him winning the tour right now.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

At the 2015 Giro his performance was probably hampered by his crashes
He crashed 3 or 4 times ahead of the Giro and twice during the Giro

However I guess the level he can reach NOW could be the same as the level he showed during that race. Which was still pretty good, considering Landa was absolutely flying.
I'd sell my left kidney for him to deliver the same TT performance at the Tour.

Bear in mind, however, that he won't win the Tour in ITTs, since Froome also is very good at them. Probably better than Contador. Especially on the flat ones (don't know if they are flat, or not btw).

Yes, his level was hampered by crashes, that's obviously true. But in Mortirolo, for example, I believe he was 100% (or very close, at least) fit. Though not 100% in terms of his peak form, naturally.

But who knows? This year he seems way more relaxed. Who knows if that can make him feel less pressured in the Tour? Who knows in what form will Froome be?
Who knows if we'll have a joker (Mr. Porte)? So many questions and we're more than one month away from the answers..

I just hope that, for once, he doesn't fall. Neither anyone else.

I think that he can reach very close to his climbing level at the '15 Giro, in this years Tour. And that this could be enough to win the race. It is not a given that Froome will be in the same form as recent years, and the ITT's will not be hugely important IMO, especially as there are many mountain stages where time can be made. Also if you think back to the first ITT in TDF '15. Froome wasn't any good at all in it. I doubt that he'll take any significant time on Contador there. And the one rider who might be scary uphill to Alberto is Porte, though he doesn't have the confidence of the previous champions of course, and who knows how he would handle being in yellow by two minutes going into the third week. A big concern for Contador is Thomas' Giro problems, now meaning that he will give even more support to Froome in July. And Thomas has excellent climbing form.

And then there is Chaves and Valverde, both with question marks for different reasons, but both cannot be completely discounted from the yellow jersey discussion.

But Alberto has a chance. Like you said, if he stays on his bike.

Giro 2015 Climbing level was not as good as Tour 2016 or Giro 2017.
He would need much more than Giro 2015 legs to win against Froome and sprint-up-a-mountain-Porte.
These guys will bring an insane level. Add to that 37 kms of TT where he will for sure lose time to Froome.

He needs to bring a level we've never seen before to actually hit out for a Tour win.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I don't think it's a given he will lose time in the final TT. If he's in a position to win he'll be up there with the best.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

are people still talking about him as if he's a contender?

Yes, you don't think he's a contender?

Yeah he might not be a favourite. But if he's not a contender who is? Just Froome and maybe Quintana? Because the only person who's been better than him in one week races so far is Valverde, and I don't see him winning the tour right now.

He's a contender. Still below Porte, Quintana and obviously Froome, but a contender obviously.
And I'd rate him higher than Quintana (because of the colombian riding the Giro) if not for his tendency to fall.

But I'm optimistic about Contador not falling anymore. I mean, he falls like 3 or 4 times a year and he has reached that quota in the spring.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

are people still talking about him as if he's a contender?

Yes, you don't think he's a contender?

Yeah he might not be a favourite. But if he's not a contender who is? Just Froome and maybe Quintana? Because the only person who's been better than him in one week races so far is Valverde, and I don't see him winning the tour right now.

He's a contender. Still below Porte, Quintana and obviously Froome, but a contender obviously.
And I'd rate him higher than Quintana (because of the colombian riding the Giro) if not for his tendency to fall.

But I'm optimistic about Contador not falling anymore. I mean, he falls like 3 or 4 times a year and he has reached that quota in the spring.

You're too optimistic. He crashed 6 times before the Tour in 2015 and still managed to crash once more at the Tour

 

[portugal11]

Last year, porte made top5 because the race was very conservative (bardet and yates the same). This year with contador, they will crack somewhere because contador is so unpredictable that he will put everyone on red at the beggining of a stage (for example)

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

Last year, porte made top5 because the race was very conservative (bardet and yates the same). This year with contador, they will crack somewhere because contador is so unpredictable that he will put everyone on red at the beggining of a stage (for example)

What?
Porte wasn't on the podium because of the unfortunate puncture where he lost 2 mins.

He'll put everyone in the red? Lol. This isn't Vuelta.
If previous Tours are any indication, Froome would have domestiques stronger than Contador. :lol: :lol: