Pre-Dauphiné press conference. Sounds like he won't deliberately lose time in the first stages, but will rather take it day by day.
https://youtu.be/80IHBg1udsQ
https://youtu.be/80IHBg1udsQ
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Nadal and Federer were epic in the Australian open, they rolled back the years.
Nadal latest match in the French Open 6-0 6-1 6-0
Red Rick said:
Nadal and Federer were epic in the Australian open, they rolled back the years.
Nadal latest match in the French Open 6-0 6-1 6-0
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While Contador's top-level certainly has been half a level above Quintana's best, we have seen that level on two occasions, Quintana's perhaps biggest strength is his consistency and recovery. Thats why its pretty likely he will podium in this Tour as well.LeSensei said:
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Doesn't mean much. I'm sure Bardet and Pinot can deliver a very good performance and a very good battle. Doesn't mean they're at the same level of the best riders, only that they are relatively (that is the key word, remember) better than the others.
The same happens with Nadal and Federer.
Climber123 said:Red Rick said:
Nadal and Federer were epic in the Australian open, they rolled back the years.
Nadal latest match in the French Open 6-0 6-1 6-0
Doesn't mean much. I'm sure Bardet and Pinot can deliver a very good performance and a very good battle. Doesn't mean they're at the same level of the best riders, only that they are relatively (that is the key word, remember) better than the others.
The same happens with Nadal and Federer.
Re: Re:
I meant throughout the tournament. They were immense.
Point is Contador decline is overstated. I have a feeling he will prove it in devastating fashion this July.
Last years Vuelta was no indication as he was a broken rider yet he still stayed pretty close to Quintana/Froome for much of the time.
lenric said:Climber123 said:Red Rick said:
Nadal and Federer were epic in the Australian open, they rolled back the years.
Nadal latest match in the French Open 6-0 6-1 6-0
Doesn't mean much. I'm sure Bardet and Pinot can deliver a very good performance and a very good battle. Doesn't mean they're at the same level of the best riders, only that they are relatively (that is the key word, remember) better than the others.
The same happens with Nadal and Federer.
I meant throughout the tournament. They were immense.
Point is Contador decline is overstated. I have a feeling he will prove it in devastating fashion this July.
Last years Vuelta was no indication as he was a broken rider yet he still stayed pretty close to Quintana/Froome for much of the time.
I looked closely and am unsure whether he looks tired or skinny. Maybe bothTheYouyou7 said:
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That's a fallacy. Because a) no one knows how the crashes had affected him, thus it's unknown how'd he performed in the Vuelta without them and b) both Quintana and Froome (and Chaves, for that matter) had ridden one more GT prior to the Vuelta, unlike Contador.
Climber123 said:lenric said:Climber123 said:Red Rick said:
Nadal and Federer were epic in the Australian open, they rolled back the years.
Nadal latest match in the French Open 6-0 6-1 6-0
Doesn't mean much. I'm sure Bardet and Pinot can deliver a very good performance and a very good battle. Doesn't mean they're at the same level of the best riders, only that they are relatively (that is the key word, remember) better than the others.
The same happens with Nadal and Federer.
Last years Vuelta was no indication as he was a broken rider yet he still stayed pretty close to Quintana/Froome for much of the time.
That's a fallacy. Because a) no one knows how the crashes had affected him, thus it's unknown how'd he performed in the Vuelta without them and b) both Quintana and Froome (and Chaves, for that matter) had ridden one more GT prior to the Vuelta, unlike Contador.
The point isn't to say that Contador was on Froome/Quintana's level last year (he wasn't). But that it's fair to say that the injury/crashes had a wattage drain > 0, which is enough to suggest that we didn't know what his level would have been compared to his competitors when he is at full strength.
There's nothing more that needs to be said regarding his level then. Just that trying to overanalyze how he performed at the Vuelta last year is probably an exercise in futility.
There's nothing more that needs to be said regarding his level then. Just that trying to overanalyze how he performed at the Vuelta last year is probably an exercise in futility.
There's two assumptions that need to be true for Contador's Vuelta of last year to indicate his best level
1. He started the Vuelta in his best possible shape
2. He wasn't affected by the crashes.
2. is an assumption that's impossible to be verified. I think that crashes certainly affect you down the race. But then we can all say it fits our argument because we simply can't know
1. is an assumption that I'm gonna go ahead and say that it's false, and I'm basing that off the level Contador showed in the Dauphine and in Burgos. In the DL he won the MTT against a field that would later get 4 out of 5 top 5 placings in the Tour, and put the hurt on everyone in the last mountain stage, whereas in Burgos he got dropped hard by Sergio Pardilla and could barely beat Ben Hermans.
1. He started the Vuelta in his best possible shape
2. He wasn't affected by the crashes.
2. is an assumption that's impossible to be verified. I think that crashes certainly affect you down the race. But then we can all say it fits our argument because we simply can't know
1. is an assumption that I'm gonna go ahead and say that it's false, and I'm basing that off the level Contador showed in the Dauphine and in Burgos. In the DL he won the MTT against a field that would later get 4 out of 5 top 5 placings in the Tour, and put the hurt on everyone in the last mountain stage, whereas in Burgos he got dropped hard by Sergio Pardilla and could barely beat Ben Hermans.
Last year Vuelta can't be compared to 2014's. In 2014 he was in an amazing shape in the Tour and he managed to mantain that form during the Vuelta. The situation this year was different, he abandoned the Tour with fever, and he didn't recover as well from the season effort. That is probably the biggest difference as of now compared to 6 or 7 years ago. Alberto's recovery over the weeks is great, but not as great over the whole season. This is probably why he decided to go slower this year.
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I deleted the irrelevant partsliamito said:
Anyone still convinced he won't top-5 here?
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Nah, he will just chill a bit like he said......liamito said:
Anyone still convinced he won't top-5 here?
AC is using his usual verbal stunt of not taking too much pressure on himself and not giving any indication of his form to the opponents. it's really optimal in terms of mind games. let's have a look at how it works this time.
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.
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2010 Contador couldn't drop Menchov on AX3 and lost time to Schleck and Sanchez at Morzine. 2014 Contador looked almost invincible.
portugal11 said:
2010 Contador couldn't drop Menchov on AX3 and lost time to Schleck and Sanchez at Morzine. 2014 Contador looked almost invincible.
Singer01
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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.LanLions said:
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It all depends on Froome's shape. He wouldn't be able to beat 2013 Froome, but 2016, possibly.LanLions said:
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