Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[TourOfSardinia]

Re:

The reasonable man in me is cautiously optimistic.

The mouthbreathing hooligan in me is all aboard the hypetrain.

So ofcourse the only question remaining is how many stages he'll gift.

that's more like it

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Of course my opinion is subjective, just like anyone elses. I try to support it with facts where possible, but am always open to any new evidence or arguments. On this point, I'm yet to read anything convincing though.

Fair enough

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Well he's invoked the mythical 2014 Form. Let's see if he's just blowing smoke or if it's enough to win.

Contador went as far to say that he believes he is as strong as he was in 2014, when he claimed to be stronger than ever – before crashing and breaking his leg at the end of the first week.

“We have to get to the start of the race, but I think that I am in similar shape,” he explained. When asked to elaborate, he said: “In the number of watts I can do, my times, and weight, basically in all respects.”

Nah, he's fibbing!

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

I think you need to do a bit more reading around the forum. People have said that only a win would be a good result for Contador. My counter is that any podium position would be a good result, while 4th or 5th place would be about par and a reasonable result. If you feel the same, then we are in agreement.

Fans can dream all they like; I don't want to stop anyone from dreaming. But this isn't a fans only thread, so it's fair game to discuss counter arguments as well. Such as the fact that he hasn't won a WT race, or even a stage in well over a year. And hasn't challenged for the win at the Tour in six years - over half his career.

I've read just about every post in the last 100 or so pages of this thread.

With a rider of Contador's palmares, adding a 3rd place at this year's tour would not change much about how Contador is perceived as a rider. Sure, it would be a 'good' result, but it's ultimately pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of his career, and even a detractor would be quick to recognize this. Twenty years from now, no one is going to remember that Contador got a 3rd place at the 2017 tour.

The reason people are jumping on you about it is because you feel the need to make a comment and then defend it endlessly because you feel like you alone have the longest view in the room. Yes, Contador hasn't won anything in a while. He's perpetually the bridesmaid. Which, frankly, if he can do that over three weeks, he just might pull it off.

By the same logic, I hope you're in Porte's thread constantly fighting with posters about how a podium for Porte would be a good result since he's never podiumed in a GT. Or in Aru's thread claiming he would be lucky to finish 5th or 6th since he's never finished ahead of Contador in a GT (by extension, since you suggest Contador should finish 4th-5th). Or Froome's thread saying he has no chance to win the Tour because his placings the last 5 years have all mirrored his placing at the Dauphine. These are all historically valid points, no?

Podium for Porte would be a great result, but I'm afraid he won't achieve that

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

I know you were talking about stage 8. And I pointed out why it was fallacious. Because you can't quite compare them, since Porte had lost 15 minutes some stages before.

But even if you want to compare them, then you're wrong. And I'll tell you why: neither Porte dropped like a stone, neither was Contador superior to Porte (bar the ITT).
Porte won stage 7 21 seconds ahead of Contador. Contador won the same 21 seconds to Porte in the last stage.[/quote]
So i can't see why was contador one step below compared to froome, aru, bardet, porte, valverde (valverde and porte were stronger at the moment than contador but froome and the rest didn't have a better season at all). So DFA is just bashing contador again...

 

[TheYouyou7]

Re: Re:

Well he's invoked the mythical 2014 Form. Let's see if he's just blowing smoke or if it's enough to win.

Contador went as far to say that he believes he is as strong as he was in 2014, when he claimed to be stronger than ever – before crashing and breaking his leg at the end of the first week.

“We have to get to the start of the race, but I think that I am in similar shape,” he explained. When asked to elaborate, he said: “In the number of watts I can do, my times, and weight, basically in all respects.”

Nah, he's fibbing!

That's what i suspect but when i see his photos i begin to think that it may not be bull****

 

[arvc40]

Contador going to win. Nobody going to drop him.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Well he's invoked the mythical 2014 Form. Let's see if he's just blowing smoke or if it's enough to win.

Contador went as far to say that he believes he is as strong as he was in 2014, when he claimed to be stronger than ever – before crashing and breaking his leg at the end of the first week.

“We have to get to the start of the race, but I think that I am in similar shape,” he explained. When asked to elaborate, he said: “In the number of watts I can do, my times, and weight, basically in all respects.”

Nah, he's fibbing!

That's what i suspect but when i see his photos i begin to think that it may not be bull****

Have you seen photos of Porte and Froome? They are lean mean machines, fit and ready to fight.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

I know you were talking about stage 8. And I pointed out why it was fallacious. Because you can't quite compare them, since Porte had lost 15 minutes some stages before.

But even if you want to compare them, then you're wrong. And I'll tell you why: neither Porte dropped like a stone, neither was Contador superior to Porte (bar the ITT).
Porte won stage 7 21 seconds ahead of Contador. Contador won the same 21 seconds to Porte in the last stage.

So i can't see why was contador one step below compared to froome, aru, bardet, porte, valverde (valverde and porte were stronger at the moment than contador but froome and the rest didn't have a better season at all). So DFA is just bashing contador again...[/quote]

I can't also see why Contador was one step above Porte in Paris Nice, which was your argument. Imo, they were equally good.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

I know you were talking about stage 8. And I pointed out why it was fallacious. Because you can't quite compare them, since Porte had lost 15 minutes some stages before.

But even if you want to compare them, then you're wrong. And I'll tell you why: neither Porte dropped like a stone, neither was Contador superior to Porte (bar the ITT).
Porte won stage 7 21 seconds ahead of Contador. Contador won the same 21 seconds to Porte in the last stage.

So i can't see why was contador one step below compared to froome, aru, bardet, porte, valverde (valverde and porte were stronger at the moment than contador but froome and the rest didn't have a better season at all). So DFA is just bashing contador again...

I can't also see why Contador was one step above Porte in Paris Nice, which was your argument. Imo, they were equally good.[/quote]
No!! My point was that contador wasn't even close to be one step below porte in paris nice, I was just responding to DFA who said ALL top favourites for le tour were one step above contador and that is just BS!!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Contador to win the Tour by 3 minutes. You heard it here first

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

Contador has won all of his primarily targeted GTs he has finished since 2013, in fact he has done so for over a decade except that year. If not for bad luck, he is the man to beat.

Which, of course, is a grand total of 1 GT. An alternative reading of that statistic, is that he's the man to stay well clear from in the peloton.

I usually disagree with what you say, but this could be the post of the day!

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re:

The reasonable man in me is cautiously optimistic.

The mouthbreathing hooligan in me is all aboard the hypetrain.

So ofcourse the only question remaining is how many stages he'll gift.

Well it was until this post came along

Love this thread!

Vamos Alberto!

Another question: What happens on the forum after he passes Nairo today?

Edit: Whoops, just realised that this will be pretty hard for even Alberto to do! I have lost my *** already, and the Tour hasn't even started :lol:

 

[gregrowlerson]

For anyone looking for omens, another interesting coincidence is that all of Bertie's worst luck/outcomes have occurred with the Tour in years that end with an even number:

2006: DNS (OP)
2008: DNS (Astana not invited)
2010: DSQ (1st but later banned)
2012: DNS (Still serving ban)
2014: DNF (Crashed out on stage 10)
2016: DNF (Crashed on stage 1, abandoned on stage 9)

So on the plus side, this year is an odd numbered year....

 

[Jelantik]

Before talking about whether he can win or not, let's hope he can stay upright first. Then we'll go from there.

 

[gatete]

Re:

For anyone looking for omens, another interesting coincidence is that all of Bertie's worst luck/outcomes have occurred with the Tour in years that end with an even number:

2006: DNS (OP)
2008: DNS (Astana not invited)
2010: DSQ (1st but later banned)
2012: DNS (Still serving ban)
2014: DNF (Crashed out on stage 10)
2016: DNF (Crashed on stage 1, abandoned on stage 9)

So on the plus side, this year is an odd numbered year....

2013: geesh

 

[Pantani_lives]

Re:

Before talking about whether he can win or not, let's hope he can stay upright first. Then we'll go from there.

Before talking about whether... Let's talk about the weather.

 

[Forever The Best]

I don't understand the hype train to be honest. He was worse than the spring of 2016 and that is already signs of declining.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Re:

Contador to win the Tour by 3 minutes. You heard it here first

I want whatever you're smoking! lol

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

For anyone looking for omens, another interesting coincidence is that all of Bertie's worst luck/outcomes have occurred with the Tour in years that end with an even number:

2006: DNS (OP)
2008: DNS (Astana not invited)
2010: DSQ (1st but later banned)
2012: DNS (Still serving ban)
2014: DNF (Crashed out on stage 10)
2016: DNF (Crashed on stage 1, abandoned on stage 9)

So on the plus side, this year is an odd numbered year....

2013: geesh

That was still better than all of the above outcomes.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Well he's invoked the mythical 2014 Form. Let's see if he's just blowing smoke or if it's enough to win.

Contador went as far to say that he believes he is as strong as he was in 2014, when he claimed to be stronger than ever – before crashing and breaking his leg at the end of the first week.

“We have to get to the start of the race, but I think that I am in similar shape,” he explained. When asked to elaborate, he said: “In the number of watts I can do, my times, and weight, basically in all respects.”

yeah ,as the 2013 when he had the best career data
as said by la flo, I would have been happier if he speaks with a low profile but...we'll see. hope it is true

 

[arvc40]

Couldn't resist. £100 @ 18s.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re:

Couldn't resist. £100 @ 18s.

I hope this is not to win the ITT

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Couldn't resist. £100 @ 18s.

I hope this is not to win the ITT

I hope it wasn't our hype that pushed him over the edge

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Couldn't resist. £100 @ 18s.

I hope this is not to win the ITT

Overall, throwing money on Contador winning such a time trial would net you a fair amount more. Its not 2009 more after all...