Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Red Rick]

Re:

I come to realization that speculating about Contador's form ahead of big races have been one of the major theme of cycling talks in the last 6 years at least. And the way he somehow delivered results in tough situations, or else unspectacularly failed, always drew such colorful reactions which gave way to even more speculations. Him as an enigma is the only thing that match the rise of Sky empire as pro cycling main story since, I think.

I think that's mostly on here. Other platforms don't seem as enlightened

 

[gunara]

Re: Re:

I come to realization that speculating about Contador's form ahead of big races have been one of the major theme of cycling talks in the last 6 years at least. And the way he somehow delivered results in tough situations, or else unspectacularly failed, always drew such colorful reactions which gave way to even more speculations. Him as an enigma is the only thing that match the rise of Sky empire as pro cycling main story since, I think.

I think that's mostly on here. Other platforms don't seem as enlightened

Probably, I must admit I spent almost that last 6 years of my cycling-following life exclusively here

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

I think Cardoso secured a Tour spot at this race. He was very strong.
Irizar as well.

My assumption has always been that Cardoso was likely but not certain to be in the Tour squad. He's the kind of climbing domestique team leaders like to have around - always turns up for a GT as around the 20th strongest climber but has zero personal ambition.

 

[movingtarget]

Had to laugh when he waved Porte through. It was like I heard you were coming just let me get out of the way here. Hopefully he gave a word of encouragement to Porte !

 

[ad9898]

He's been my favourite rider for a decade and still is, his charisma and style on the bike is without equal, however I think we now just have to enjoy him in the twilight of his career. He may still have a Giro or Vuelta in him depending on the route/competition but the Tour is beyond him. It's a pity that 2008 saw his team not invited to the Tour, I think that year was stratospheric for him, he could have won all 3 Grand Tours in one season putting him above and beyond all riders in the modern era. I can't count Merckx, he was the best in his time but in today's style of racing he wouldn't have won much at all

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Had to laugh when he waved Porte through. It was like I heard you were coming just let me get out of the way here. Hopefully he gave a word of encouragement to Porte !

Yeah that was funny

 

[Felice Gimondi]

How many days between altitude camp and the start of Dauphine for Contador? Depending on how that camp was executed it's no wonder why he had to ride conservatively in Dauphine.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

How many days between altitude camp and the start of Dauphine for Contador? Depending on how that camp was executed it's no wonder why he had to ride conservatively in Dauphine.

1 week

 

[Felice Gimondi]

Re: Re:

How many days between altitude camp and the start of Dauphine for Contador? Depending on how that camp was executed it's no wonder why he had to ride conservatively in Dauphine.

1 week

Can you confirm that? His instagram shows him being on Tenerife as late as 30th. May.

 

[amih77]

Re altitude camps, anyone knows about his schedule until TDF? Livigno? Route de Sud?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re altitude camps, anyone knows about his schedule until TDF? Livigno? Route de Sud?

I'm thinking a camp in Livigno and no other races, unless he and his coaches feel he needs some high intensity racing to get an extra edge.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

How many days between altitude camp and the start of Dauphine for Contador? Depending on how that camp was executed it's no wonder why he had to ride conservatively in Dauphine.

1 week

Can you confirm that? His instagram shows him being on Tenerife as late as 30th. May.

I think he got back on 31 May, at least that's when De Jongh got back and as you say he was in Tenerife on the 30th. 1st of June shows him in back in Pinto.
I love social media, perfect for stalkers like me

 

[Pennino]

Good fun reading six pages back in this thread. We might as well say that Berto himself has a slight advantage over LaFlo in terms of preparation for le Tour. Beware of the troll attacks my dear!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Who have trolled? I don't see any trolls here..

Basically, it comes down to if you believe Contador is able to do a super peak or not.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

Who have trolled? I don't see any trolls here..

Basically, it comes down to if you believe Contador is able to do a super peak or not.

The posts of that insulting troll got deleted.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I think he needs to provide the goods come July after all the talk of being conservative and using it as a prep race and I don't mean having some sort of kamikaze ride from far out after losing loads of time for whatever reason, just to keep his fans happy! Suppose his sponsors wanted to see him in the race because I don't see what difference it would have made training with his team elsewhere to riding this race, there seemed little effort put in (for his standards) apart from the TT and keeping Porte's wheel for a couple of hundred yards on Chat. Maybe he's keeping his cards close to his chest and sussing out the level of the opposition and what level he needs to attain to be competitive.

I hope what he's said and done pays dividends in the Tour and I would like to see him being competitive for the win/podium but a few of his rivals do seem to be a couple of levels above him at the moment. I know he will have a better team in the Tour which will help him big time, but if he doesn't produce, I hope he tells the truth of why it went wrong and not come up with excuses.

Good luck to him.

 

[amih77]

Re: Re:

How many days between altitude camp and the start of Dauphine for Contador? Depending on how that camp was executed it's no wonder why he had to ride conservatively in Dauphine.

1 week

Can you confirm that? His instagram shows him being on Tenerife as late as 30th. May.

I think he got back on 31 May, at least that's when De Jongh got back and as you say he was in Tenerife on the 30th. 1st of June shows him in back in Pinto.
I love social media, perfect for stalkers like me

Another way to check it is via SDJ's strava...

 

[red zone]

I think he needs to provide the goods come July after all the talk of being conservative and using it as a prep race and I don't mean having some sort of kamikaze ride from far out after losing loads of time for whatever reason, just to keep his fans happy! Suppose his sponsors wanted to see him in the race because I don't see what difference it would have made training with his team elsewhere to riding this race, there seemed little effort put in (for his standards) apart from the TT and keeping Porte's wheel for a couple of hundred yards on Chat. Maybe he's keeping his cards close to his chest and sussing out the level of the opposition and what level he needs to attain to be competitive.

I hope what he's said and done pays dividends in the Tour and I would like to see him being competitive for the win/podium but a few of his rivals do seem to be a couple of levels above him at the moment. I know he will have a better team in the Tour which will help him big time, but if he doesn't produce, I hope he tells the truth of why it went wrong and not come up with excuses.

Good luck to him.

If he has a poor tour it will be due to him being further past his prime than we believed and due to his competitors being better . What other truth do you expect to come out of his mouth other than what we'd know by watching him race ?

Alberto will fight to the end to the best of his abilities , this we know , what we don't know is how far can his abilities take him at this age .

 

[Carols]

Hopefully this new approach will mitigate some of the effects of aging. Vamos Alberto, win or lose you will give us a race . We need to appreciate whenever we get to see him, his time as a rider is dwindling.

 

[Publicus]

Re:

The part I dislike most about Contador is when he constantly needs to tell the media about this being a training ride. God damn, we know it already. Compare that to Valverde who have kept quiet, rode a very good time trial and then proceeded to have a little fun, attacking a long way from home on 3 stages in a row, you know, to test himself.

Where was the part when Contador needed to test himself? One day to attack and go deep? Might as well just have stayed home if this was all about 'the numbers' as he apparantly can't be bothered about this race, as he has said countless of times, and haven't put in a single attack (?) in the entire race.

I think this has more to do with his performance in this race, and almost any other for that matter, was simply at odds with what we've come to expect: he's AlWAYS racing for the win even when he intimates he's not. He's talked all year long about taking a different approach and even mused that he wasn't sure if he could REALLY do it and not race the Dauphine. I think reporters were asking about it constantly because he wasn't attacking or he was simply letting go when others attacked--in other words he wasn't (at least as far as I can tell) bringing it up on his own. Hence the relatively constant yammering about it versus say Valverde or others.

The race is over and he did precisely what he wanted. That's opened him up to a ton of criticism here and frankly has the betting public all but writing him off. Who knows if it will be worth it, but frankly he's been on the level and consistent about this approach all year. He's frankly damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. So he might as well do what he thinks is best and let the CHIPS fall where they may.

 

[Scarponi]

Paris Nice form was better then this obviously so he still has that to reach and more ?

 

[LaFlorecita]

I think he needs to provide the goods come July after all the talk of being conservative and using it as a prep race and I don't mean having some sort of kamikaze ride from far out after losing loads of time for whatever reason, just to keep his fans happy! Suppose his sponsors wanted to see him in the race because I don't see what difference it would have made training with his team elsewhere to riding this race, there seemed little effort put in (for his standards) apart from the TT and keeping Porte's wheel for a couple of hundred yards on Chat. Maybe he's keeping his cards close to his chest and sussing out the level of the opposition and what level he needs to attain to be competitive.

I hope what he's said and done pays dividends in the Tour and I would like to see him being competitive for the win/podium but a few of his rivals do seem to be a couple of levels above him at the moment. I know he will have a better team in the Tour which will help him big time, but if he doesn't produce, I hope he tells the truth of why it went wrong and not come up with excuses.

Good luck to him.

If he has a poor tour it will be due to him being further past his prime than we believed and due to his competitors being better . What other truth do you expect to come out of his mouth other than what we'd know by watching him race ?

Alberto will fight to the end to the best of his abilities , this we know , what we don't know is how far can his abilities take him at this age .

I agree but I also agree with wheresmybrakes in the sense that I hope if he has a clean run and still comes up short he admits he just can't do it anymore. I really hope he doesn't crash because we need to know if he still has it, not just us fans but also he himself. If he doesn't suffer any mishaps but doesn't win I think he'll be happier than if he crashes again and is again left wondering "what if".

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

The part I dislike most about Contador is when he constantly needs to tell the media about this being a training ride. God damn, we know it already. Compare that to Valverde who have kept quiet, rode a very good time trial and then proceeded to have a little fun, attacking a long way from home on 3 stages in a row, you know, to test himself.

Where was the part when Contador needed to test himself? One day to attack and go deep? Might as well just have stayed home if this was all about 'the numbers' as he apparantly can't be bothered about this race, as he has said countless of times, and haven't put in a single attack (?) in the entire race.

I think this has more to do with his performance in this race, and almost any other for that matter, was simply at odds with what we've come to expect: he's AlWAYS racing for the win even when he intimates he's not. He's talked all year long about taking a different approach and even mused that he wasn't sure if he could REALLY do it and not race the Dauphine. I think reporters were asking about it constantly because he wasn't attacking or he was simply letting go when others attacked--in other words he wasn't (at least as far as I can tell) bringing it up on his own. Hence the relatively constant yammering about it versus say Valverde or others.

The race is over and he did precisely what he wanted. That's opened him up to a ton of criticism here and frankly has the betting public all but writing him off. Who knows if it will be worth it, but frankly he's been on the level and consistent about this approach all year. He's frankly damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. So he might as well do what he thinks is best and let the CHIPS fall where they may.

The betting public didn't really adjust their expectations about him in light of what we learned at the Dauphine. Only one rider became substantially less likely to win the Tour as a result of the Dauphine, and that's Froome.

The markets did not see Contador's performance particularly negative wrt his chances, but his chances were not great to begin with. Which appears to coincide with the consensus in this thread

Because he was strong before the Dauphine, I think the account he gave of his performance is believable. I think he will be substantially stronger at the Tour, stronger than all but Froome and Porte.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Cool photo

 

[silvergrenade]

Cool photo

So much pain and varying levels of torture in one photograph.
You find it cool?