Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[portugal11]

He was dropped too easy but still was better than froome. I really have to adjust my expectations about contador but it is not easy. At least he didn't blow up and he is pacing a little bit better

 

[Climber123]

Re:

He was dropped too easy but still was better than froome. I really have to adjust my expectations about contador but it is not easy. At least he didn't blow up and he is pacing a little bit better

Stop worrying dude, he looks fine.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

Encouraging. You can't expect him to equal Porte in the Porte Era but he was close to being the best of the rest

The Porte era? Will it last as long as the TJVG era after the 2015 Dauphine?

Porte is actually winning Dauphine, TJ wasn't

That Froome was a different rider than this one. I'm also talking about the "hot favorite" thing. He looks strong right now, but he's peaking early IMO. He's always been a talented rider, but we all know hes never had to deal with being "the favorite" for an entire GT where- fair or not- he doesn't have a great track record of living up to expectations. This isn't even like Cadel, who finally won a Tour at 33 or 34. Cuddles had proven himself consistently in GTs of contending, Porte hasn't yet. So while I wouldn't write him off, I'm skeptical he can win the Tour.

 

[bajbar]

I think he went all out today - based on the face expessions. Looks like he took it a bit easier yesterday - didn't go into the red. So, like the TT, I deem this performance promissing.

 

[liamito]

https://twitter.com/AG2RLMCyclisme/status/873537638883569668

What did he do?

 

[portugal11]

Re:

I think he went all out today - based on the face expessions. Looks like he took it a bit easier yesterday - didn't go into the red. So, like the TT, I deem this performance promissing.

I saw that too. Today he was really fighting in following porte. I would prefer see him only in froome's wheel

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

I think he went all out today - based on the face expessions. Looks like he took it a bit easier yesterday - didn't go into the red. So, like the TT, I deem this performance promissing.

I saw that too. Today he was really fighting in following porte. I would prefer see him only in froome's wheel

Considering that Froome's wheel was behind, it's ok.

 

[Red Rick]

Is it true that Conti got a time penalty for something?

 

[Publicus]

Re:

Is it true that Conti got a time penalty for something?

Apparently so. I can't find any explanation as to why

 

[bajbar]

Re: Re:

Is it true that Conti got a time penalty for something?

Apparently so. I can't find any explanation as to why

Taking food in the last 20k apparently. I don't think he cares much though...

 

[Publicus]

Re: Re:

Is it true that Conti got a time penalty for something?

Apparently so. I can't find any explanation as to why

Taking food in the last 20k apparently. I don't think he cares much though...

What a fatty! I wished they'd be more consistent about rule enforcement

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Dunno if it's a correct assessment, but Danish television have this little "theory" that if he's doing interviews in English, it means he's feeling pretty good.

The stuff people come up with. This has to be a joke though.

We will see in July how his form will be.

I can actually see what they build it on:
If you're struggling you might not have the mental "overview" to start conducting interviews in a foreign language, which you doesn't speak very well.
Of course it's entirely possible that Trek has a - somewhat strict - everbody must speak English rule, so he's simply practicing.

Practicing
He's been doing interviews in English for say 6 or 7 years - he has gotten better in recent years but to say he is practicing is weird to me, his English is pretty good, he just has a thick Spanish accent and sometimes makes grammar mistakes.

He prefers to do interviews in Spanish but for certain audiences he will do interviews in English - i.e. GCN or Aussie SBS. However on ITV he is often interviewed in Spanish by Daniel Friebe and on Eurosport too, of course.
I don't think it depends on how he feels although obviously after a stage when he is tired he would rather be interviewed in Spanish.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Good to read that Berto was better today, I again didn't manage to catch the stage

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re:

Good to read that Berto was better today, I again didn't manage to catch the stage

Final kilometers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBjSIl4ZmaE

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Good to read that Berto was better today, I again didn't manage to catch the stage

Final kilometers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBjSIl4ZmaE

Thanks! Not too bad a shame he got the time penalty but he had no chance to win either way and now he's been warned

 

[yaco]

A similar performance to yesterday when you considering the difficulty of the climbs and the race tempo - Needs to improve.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re:

A similar performance to yesterday when you considering the difficulty of the climbs and the race tempo - Needs to improve.

Him and Fuglsang were the only riders that followed Porte's attack

 

[Valv.Piti]

So I suppose he will really try tomorrow or have I misunderstood it?

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Dunno if it's a correct assessment, but Danish television have this little "theory" that if he's doing interviews in English, it means he's feeling pretty good.

The stuff people come up with. This has to be a joke though.

We will see in July how his form will be.

I can actually see what they build it on:
If you're struggling you might not have the mental "overview" to start conducting interviews in a foreign language, which you doesn't speak very well.
Of course it's entirely possible that Trek has a - somewhat strict - everbody must speak English rule, so he's simply practicing.

Practicing
He's been doing interviews in English for say 6 or 7 years - he has gotten better in recent years but to say he is practicing is weird to me, his English is pretty good, he just has a thick Spanish accent and sometimes makes grammar mistakes.

He prefers to do interviews in Spanish but for certain audiences he will do interviews in English - i.e. GCN or Aussie SBS. However on ITV he is often interviewed in Spanish by Daniel Friebe and on Eurosport too, of course.
I don't think it depends on how he feels although obviously after a stage when he is tired he would rather be interviewed in Spanish.

It's been pretty back-and-forth with what language he uses. Like you said, he - obviously - prefers Spanish, and most of the time when he's been interviewed by Danish TV they've been speaking that language. Of course these interviews recently have all been before stage start, so... obviously not tired yet. And maybe he just decided that the interviewer's Spanish was so ridiculous it was better to do it in English...
However, even if he's been doing interviews in English for years, he'd still need to keep practicing. Everybody needs to keep practicing when it comes to foreign languages.
What foreign language do they learn first in Spain?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Dunno if it's a correct assessment, but Danish television have this little "theory" that if he's doing interviews in English, it means he's feeling pretty good.

The stuff people come up with. This has to be a joke though.

We will see in July how his form will be.

I can actually see what they build it on:
If you're struggling you might not have the mental "overview" to start conducting interviews in a foreign language, which you doesn't speak very well.
Of course it's entirely possible that Trek has a - somewhat strict - everbody must speak English rule, so he's simply practicing.

Practicing
He's been doing interviews in English for say 6 or 7 years - he has gotten better in recent years but to say he is practicing is weird to me, his English is pretty good, he just has a thick Spanish accent and sometimes makes grammar mistakes.

He prefers to do interviews in Spanish but for certain audiences he will do interviews in English - i.e. GCN or Aussie SBS. However on ITV he is often interviewed in Spanish by Daniel Friebe and on Eurosport too, of course.
I don't think it depends on how he feels although obviously after a stage when he is tired he would rather be interviewed in Spanish.

It's been pretty back-and-forth with what language he uses. Like you said, he - obviously - prefers Spanish, and most of the time when he's been interviewed by Danish TV they've been speaking that language. Of course these interviews recently have all been before stage start, so... obviously not tired yet. And maybe he just decided that the interviewer's Spanish was so ridiculous it was better to do it in English...
However, even if he's been doing interviews in English for years, he'd still need to keep practicing. Everybody needs to keep practicing when it comes to foreign languages.
What foreign language do they learn first in Spain?

I'd guess English, but I'm not sure. And I wouldn't be surprised if say 20 years ago they didn't teach English at all. Maybe a Spanish forum member can tell us.

So the theory is that since he is doing interviews in English at this race, he must feel good? I like that theory, but not sure it holds much water

Of course everyone needs to practice, but I'd think in an international team English is the main language anyway

 

[rune1107]

This goes in my top 5 most ridiculous theories in this topic. But whatever keeps our boat floating right? :razz:

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

A similar performance to yesterday when you considering the difficulty of the climbs and the race tempo - Needs to improve.

Well, he was better than Aru, Froome and Valverde today. But yes, he needs to improve

 

[LaFlorecita]

This goes in my top 5 most ridiculous theories in this topic. But whatever keeps our boat floating right? :razz:

I don't think it's that ridiculous, I can see why someone would think of that as a possibility, but I don't think it's the case

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure English is the main language of American team Trek, just like it - probably - was on Danish-then-Russian team Saxo/Tinkoff. However, on that team they might have been a bit more relaxed about whether or not he spoke English, but maybe not so much on Trek, where it would be reasonable to expect that he could do interviews for major American media in English.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Is it true that Conti got a time penalty for something?

Apparently so. I can't find any explanation as to why

Taking food in the last 20k apparently. I don't think he cares much though...

What a fatty! I wished they'd be more consistent about rule enforcement

Just saw this - he couldn't help himself
It could have been a bottle as well though