Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

Let's imagine that at the Tour Contador manages to improve on form of the past two years, though obviously doesn't reach the levels of 2009/2014; would a Contador with similar form to that of 2010 be able to challenge Froome in the mountains? By this I mean purely head to head, ambushes discounted.

2014 contador wouldn't beat 2010 contador.

2010 Contador couldn't drop Menchov on AX3 and lost time to Schleck and Sanchez at Morzine. 2014 Contador looked almost invincible.

He lost time because he was too cocky and was responding to everybody, so he cracked when andy atracked. Contador dropped menchov very easily in all big mountains. He and andy were toying with the competition in every single mountain.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Let's imagine that at the Tour Contador manages to improve on form of the past two years, though obviously doesn't reach the levels of 2009/2014; would a Contador with similar form to that of 2010 be able to challenge Froome in the mountains? By this I mean purely head to head, ambushes discounted.

It all depends on Froome's shape. He wouldn't be able to beat 2013 Froome, but 2016, possibly.

 

[LanLions]

Re: Re:

Let's imagine that at the Tour Contador manages to improve on form of the past two years, though obviously doesn't reach the levels of 2009/2014; would a Contador with similar form to that of 2010 be able to challenge Froome in the mountains? By this I mean purely head to head, ambushes discounted.

2014 contador wouldn't beat 2010 contador.

2010 Contador couldn't drop Menchov on AX3 and lost time to Schleck and Sanchez at Morzine. 2014 Contador looked almost invincible.

He lost time because he was too cocky and was responding to everybody, so he cracked when andy atracked. Contador dropped menchov very easily in all big mountains. He and andy were toying with the competition in every single mountain.

Responding to an attack from Gesink and an attack from Kreizuger hardly justified the gap that Schleck got over him, its not as if he was riding into the wind for longer than a few seconds, he was instantly on to Kreizugers wheel anyway and Schleck was always on Contador's. The majority of cycling fans know that 2014 was in better shape than 2010 Contador, the final time trial in the 2010 tour shows Contador's diminished form.

 

[LanLions]

Re: Re:

Let's imagine that at the Tour Contador manages to improve on form of the past two years, though obviously doesn't reach the levels of 2009/2014; would a Contador with similar form to that of 2010 be able to challenge Froome in the mountains? By this I mean purely head to head, ambushes discounted.

It all depends on Froome's shape. He wouldn't be able to beat 2013 Froome, but 2016, possibly.

Agreed, I think that the form Contador was showing on the last mountain stage of the Dauphine would have been enough at least for an intense battle with Froome over three weeks. I remember feeling hard done by after seeing Froome's performance at Andora.

 

[DanielSong39]

2014 Contador didn't beat 2014 Nibali but did beat 2014 Froome in the Vuelta.

Still a good year all things considered. Won the Velo d'Or that year, if I remember correctly.

 

[Red Rick]

I thought it was widely known that Contador was *** on Avoriaz and ended up very lucky that Schleck decided to emulate Purito rather than put the hammer down.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

2014 Contador didn't beat 2014 Nibali but did beat 2014 Froome in the Vuelta.

Still a good year all things considered. Won the Velo d'Or that year, if I remember correctly.

he didn't really get the chance

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I thought it was widely known that Contador was **** on Avoriaz and ended up very lucky that Schleck decided to emulate Purito rather than put the hammer down.

Was that the stage he let Dani Navarro set a hard tempo? I don't remember now.

 

[LanLions]

Re: Re:

I thought it was widely known that Contador was **** on Avoriaz and ended up very lucky that Schleck decided to emulate Purito rather than put the hammer down.

Was that the stage he let Dani Navarro set a hard tempo? I don't remember now.

Yes It was, that was done likely to distance Lance further though. I think if Frank had been there then the Schlecks would have mixed it up early on Avoriaz and Contador would likely have lost the tour there.

 

[LaFlorecita]

He's not at Tour weight yet - I guess it makes sense because he said he took a more relaxed approach

 

[hfer07]

Alberto said in the Dauphine press conference presentation that he's using the race strictly for preparation, since he's yet to add his last hard block i.e. moto-pacing etc. prior to the Tour. He seems to be OK but perhaps is optics, although I think he looked much more fit in the beginning of the season..?

 

[portugal11]

I'm starting to feel very worried with his shape. He looks heavier than ever since 2013... he seems too relaxed

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto said in the Dauphine press conference presentation that he's using the race strictly for preparation, since he's yet to add his last hard block i.e. moto-pacing etc. prior to the Tour. He seems to be OK but perhaps is optics, although I think he looked much more fit in the beginning of the season..?

I'm not sure
Andalucia

Abu Dhabi

Paris-Nice

Catalunya

Pais Vasco

 

[Climber123]

Rinse.Repeat.Lol

 

[Valv.Piti]

Well the pre-ban training methods mean we will see a pre-ban Contador? :surprised:

Seriously tho, I definitely think its the right approach - especially considering his always hard spring schedule. Lets see in July.

 

[Climber123]

So what would be a par performance in the TT on Wednesday? 1sec/km behind Froome?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

So what would be a par performance in the TT on Wednesday? 1sec/km behind Froome?

Yes, I think so. On a flat course, I always consider 1s/km behind the TT specialists a good performance.
I hope all riders have the same weather conditions

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I'm starting to feel very worried with his shape. He looks heavier than ever since 2013... he seems too relaxed

nah

A reminder of what he looked like in 2014:

I think we'd have considered him fat in 2014 as well his body just never looks super skinny and of course it depends on the picture. I normally look at his face & videos are better to judge.

 

[Climber123]

Re: Re:

So what would be a par performance in the TT on Wednesday? 1sec/km behind Froome?

Yes, I think so. On a flat course, I always consider 1s/km behind the TT specialists a good performance.
I hope all riders have the same weather conditions

I cannot wait, for me this is the one performance that really counts.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

So what would be a par performance in the TT on Wednesday? 1sec/km behind Froome?

Yes, I think so. On a flat course, I always consider 1s/km behind the TT specialists a good performance.
I hope all riders have the same weather conditions

I cannot wait, for me this is the one performance that really counts.

I hope he delivers so we can relax, but otoh if his performance isn't that great, we shouldn't panic, because he is lacking some race rhythm.

 

[Red Rick]

Vuelta 2012 is the skinniest I can remember in 'recent' times, tho he was tiny before he started winning GTs.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Vuelta 2012 is the skinniest I can remember in 'recent' times, tho he was tiny before he started winning GTs.

I agree, probably too skinny considering his 2013 shape.
In 2007 he was really skinny as well.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

So what would be a par performance in the TT on Wednesday? 1sec/km behind Froome?

Yes, I think so. On a flat course, I always consider 1s/km behind the TT specialists a good performance.
I hope all riders have the same weather conditions

I cannot wait, for me this is the one performance that really counts.

I hope he delivers so we can relax, but otoh if his performance isn't that great, we shouldn't panic, because he is lacking some race rhythm.

Usually in the past, the likes of Nibali and Contador are able to put in a decent TT even if they are not in optimal shape. Froome as well. It seems to be a skill which depends a lot less on shape or race rhythm than climbing. Don't know if it's true or not just going from empiricism.

 

[Climber123]

Re: Re:

So what would be a par performance in the TT on Wednesday? 1sec/km behind Froome?

Yes, I think so. On a flat course, I always consider 1s/km behind the TT specialists a good performance.
I hope all riders have the same weather conditions

I cannot wait, for me this is the one performance that really counts.

I hope he delivers so we can relax, but otoh if his performance isn't that great, we shouldn't panic, because he is lacking some race rhythm.

Usually in the past, the likes of Nibali and Contador are able to put in a decent TT even if they are not in optimal shape. Froome as well. It seems to be a skill which depends a lot less on shape or race rhythm than climbing. Don't know if it's true or not just going from empiricism.

Yeah like last years Dauphne, great TT but took a few climbing stages to show form. Same with Vuelta 2014

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

So what would be a par performance in the TT on Wednesday? 1sec/km behind Froome?

Yes, I think so. On a flat course, I always consider 1s/km behind the TT specialists a good performance.
I hope all riders have the same weather conditions

I cannot wait, for me this is the one performance that really counts.

I hope he delivers so we can relax, but otoh if his performance isn't that great, we shouldn't panic, because he is lacking some race rhythm.

Usually in the past, the likes of Nibali and Contador are able to put in a decent TT even if they are not in optimal shape. Froome as well. It seems to be a skill which depends a lot less on shape or race rhythm than climbing. Don't know if it's true or not just going from empiricism.

I think it depends on the rider. Nibali for example has done decent to good TT's in the past while climbing atrociously. Contador is a polar opposite.

I'm putting the over/under at 1,8s/km.