Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Damn I was woefully wrong. Looks like Contador doesn't have anything anymore. But retirement

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I'd say they were still a level above Contador. But only one level, not the two or three we saw at the Dauphine, so I guess that's a kind of positive.
.

Which is not at all surprising because Contador did not go into the red at the Dauphiné.

Well no, to me its certainly not surprising that he's still a level below Froome and Porte. He's obviously improved from the Dauphine, but still not enough to be on the level of the latest big three I think.

Are you deliberately misinterpreting my post to rile me up or did you misunderstand?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

6 out of 10. Not sure what I expected.

Getting 2nd and distancing Froome, Porte and the others should tell us a little something about how this climb should be interpreted

I have no idea what you're saying here

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Damn I was woefully wrong. Looks like Contador doesn't have anything anymore. But retirement

For goodness' sake he's still better than 95% of the peloton.

 

[VanBsr]

Re: Re:

6 out of 10. Not sure what I expected.

Getting 2nd and distancing Froome, Porte and the others should tell us a little something about how this climb should be interpreted

I have no idea what you're saying here

I think he talk about Martin s perfomance

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

6 out of 10. Not sure what I expected.

Getting 2nd and distancing Froome, Porte and the others should tell us a little something about how this climb should be interpreted

I have no idea what you're saying here

I think he talk about Martin s perfomance

Right, that must be it

 

[lenric]

If his goal in 2018 is to win the Giro, then he should retire, because that won't obviously happen. Or, at least, as easily as in 2015.
Otherwise, keep riding however he wants, as long as he's not stating he's coming here and there to win when he simply doesn't have it in him anymore.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

6 out of 10. Not sure what I expected.

Martin getting 2nd and distancing Froome, Porte and the others should tell us a little something about how this climb should be interpreted

I have no idea what you're saying here

I think he talk about Martin s perfomance

Right, that must be it

Yeah, sorry, can't make coherent sentences anymore

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

I'd say they were still a level above Contador. But only one level, not the two or three we saw at the Dauphine, so I guess that's a kind of positive.
.

Which is not at all surprising because Contador did not go into the red at the Dauphiné.

Well no, to me its certainly not surprising that he's still a level below Froome and Porte. He's obviously improved from the Dauphine, but still not enough to be on the level of the latest big three I think.

Are you deliberately misinterpreting my post to rile me up or did you misunderstand?

What i mean is that of course he is better than the Dauphine where he probably didn't go flat out, but he isn't sufficiently better that he has closed the gap that was there to Froome, Porte and Aru.

So it's good that he's closed the gap a bit (even though it's expected - you can never be sure), but it's slightly disappointing that he hasn't closed that gap a bit more.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

If his goal in 2018 is to win the Giro, then he should retire, because that won't obviously happen. Or, at least, as easily as in 2015.
Otherwise, keep riding however he wants, as long as he's not stating he's coming here and there to win when he simply doesn't have it in him anymore.

No, you clearly have no clue what the guy is like because you've got it the wrong way around. When he stops setting ambitious goals for himself, that's when he should retire. Aiming high is what motivates him. He won't be able to turn himself inside out on training, starve himself and spend 3 months a year in isolation on a volcano if his aim is an anonymous top-5.

 

[fantomas]

His seems on good form. The usual signs of fatigue, as we have seen in the last few years, weren't there. The problem is, others look good, too, though Froome not as strong as previous years - or maybe the others just are stronger. Who knows?

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re:

6 seconds lost to Froome/Porte. That could have been a lot worse. Good pacing by Berto. This was uplifting

I agree with this. I am more upbeat than not. At his age a one climb stage is likely to be less favourable to Alberto than a multi mountain one. There is still hope, even for the victory.

 

[Red Rick]

There's one reason riders should retire

Because they *** want to retire

 

[BigMac]

Agreed.

I can't get over how arrogant it is to suggest when someone else should retire.

Stinks to high heaven.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

If his goal in 2018 is to win the Giro, then he should retire, because that won't obviously happen. Or, at least, as easily as in 2015.
Otherwise, keep riding however he wants, as long as he's not stating he's coming here and there to win when he simply doesn't have it in him anymore.

No, you clearly have no clue what the guy is like because you've got it the wrong way around. When he stops setting ambitious goals for himself, that's when he should retire. Aiming high is what motivates him. He won't be able to turn himself inside out on training, starve himself and spend 3 months a year in isolation on a volcano if his aim is an anonymous top-5.

I don't give a damn about the way he thinks, I'm not his wife, nor his friend. That's the thing about reality: it's not changed by your perception of it. You need to understand this, otherwise this is a useless conversation.

He can state how many times he wants that he's getting here and there to win and do whatever he has to do to be at his best. But his best isn't better than others best, no matter what he thinks about it. Hence, he overrates himself.

All the $hit chat about "my numbers are great, almost at 2014 level, whatever etc" seems noise, noise and noise. Nothing more than straw for his fans.

 

[yaco]

Looked dead set ordinary. I fear for him.on longer cl8mbs.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

6 seconds lost to Froome/Porte. That could have been a lot worse. Good pacing by Berto. This was uplifting

I agree with this. I am more upbeat than not. At his age a one climb stage is likely to be less favourable to Alberto than a multi mountain one. There is still hope, even for the victory.

I agree. Contador is not the only rider showing signs of his age.

 

[lenric]

Re:

I can't get over how arrogant it is to suggest when someone else should retire.

Stinks to high heaven.

You can ignore. If you can't, there's an ignore option.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

I can't get over how arrogant it is to suggest when someone else should retire.

Stinks to high heaven.

You can ignore. If you can't, there's an ignore option.

I don't ignore people.

Usually.

 

[bajbar]

Well, if anything, the way he closed the gap to the group ahead was impressive. He did lose a couple of seconds in the last ramp, which I expected. But the good thing is, that neither Froome nor Porte looked brilliant. I expected Porte to do what Aru did today. Porte seems to have kept the Dauphine shape. All the others have raised it... The Tour might be interesting after all!

 

[jilbiker]

Re:

Damn I was woefully wrong. Looks like Contador doesn't have anything anymore. But retirement

Some people age well (Valverde example) some people don't. AC seems in the latter. Nothing to feel bad about. Accept and move on. He is not what he used to be. And enough riders are better, that getting into the top 3 is difficult. Such riders like AC are not satisfied with a top 10 or even a podium finish. Ac would say "I used to have trophies for breakfast". So retire

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

6 seconds lost to Froome/Porte. That could have been a lot worse. Good pacing by Berto. This was uplifting

I agree with this. I am more upbeat than not. At his age a one climb stage is likely to be less favourable to Alberto than a multi mountain one. There is still hope, even for the victory.

He needs to get to the pace and level where Aru was today to podium this Tour, that is the speed where the podium goes at the moment as there are others who will improve during the weeks. Even Aru needs to improve, his pace today is not going to win the race.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

There's one reason riders should retire

Because they **** want to retire

Agreed.

I can't get over how arrogant it is to suggest when someone else should retire.

Stinks to high heaven.

+1000

 

[Netserk]

Time to retire.

Better make it happen ASAP and not start the stage tomorrow.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

If his goal in 2018 is to win the Giro, then he should retire, because that won't obviously happen. Or, at least, as easily as in 2015.
Otherwise, keep riding however he wants, as long as he's not stating he's coming here and there to win when he simply doesn't have it in him anymore.

No, you clearly have no clue what the guy is like because you've got it the wrong way around. When he stops setting ambitious goals for himself, that's when he should retire. Aiming high is what motivates him. He won't be able to turn himself inside out on training, starve himself and spend 3 months a year in isolation on a volcano if his aim is an anonymous top-5.

I don't give a damn about the way he thinks, I'm not his wife, nor his friend. That's the thing about reality: it's not changed by your perception of it. You need to understand this, otherwise this is a useless conversation.

He can state how many times he wants that he's getting here and there to win and do whatever he has to do to be at his best. But his best isn't better than others best, no matter what he thinks about it. Hence, he overrates himself.

All the $hit chat about "my numbers are great, almost at 2014 level, whatever etc" seems noise, noise and noise. Nothing more than straw for his fans.

You say if his goal is to win the 2018 Giro he should retire, he should only continue if he doesn't aim to win anymore.
And I say that's dumb not only because it's dumb but also because it doesn't show much knowledge: he does not want to retire and aiming for wins is what motivates him to train. So if his goal is to win, he'll continue, if his goal is to finish 5th, he retires.