Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[arvc40]

Re:

Last year's Vuelta was the big wake up call that he could no longer compete with the very best in the mountains. He was fresh and had a decent lead up to that Vuelta, even winning a smaller stage race shortly before. But still he couldn't hold his own with Froome and Quintana - who both should have been relatively fatigued after their Tour de France campaigns.

Yeagh, and that in Spain too !. Should have special edge there

 

[LaFlorecita]

Berto crashed twice today, according to Irizar

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

Berto crashed twice today, according to Irizar

Ffs, crashed 4 times in span of 3 stages

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Berto crashed twice today, according to Irizar

Ffs, crashed 4 times in span of 3 stages

He just can't catch a break...

 

[LaFlorecita]

Sergi López-Egea‏ @sergi_lopezegea 2 min
La caída de Contador da la impresión de que puede ser importante

Ouch.. "Contador's crash looks like it could be important"

 

[arvc40]

Obviously bored, leased the crashes pep him up a bit.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Trek-Segafredo‏ @TrekSegafredo 6 min
#TourDeTFS both @michaelgogl and @albertocontador are okay ✅ - some extra bruising for Alberto, and Michael is banged up but will continue.

 

[Forever The Best]

The news aren't good at all.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm just gonna sigh deeply, and wait a day when he's fit and can put up a fight again, be that this Tour, later this year, or next year.

Or never, which would make me sad.

 

[LaFlorecita]

"Este Tour me está poniendo al límite psicológicamente".
:sad:

 

[Red Rick]

He's on the edge mentally?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

He's on the edge mentally?

yeah allegedly

 

[Carols]

Re:

He's on the edge mentally?

Translated:
"This Tour is pushing me to the limit psychologically."

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

Great posts by a lot of people in this thread. Especially the post of Hitch makes me a little bit sad. He should have won at least one post-ban and he will now be remembered as a worse cyclist than Froome because of his crashes on '14 and '16.
And as Hitch says, cycling is a brutal and cruel sport. And I also think that Contador is broken mentally after Tour and Vuelta '16 (he crashed twice in Tour '16 and abandoned because of it and couldn't recover for Vuelta in enough time) and P-N '17. He looked very good for 2017 but that last stage in P-N '17 just broke him mentally. After finishing 2nd in Catalunya and PV as well (the latter with a small gap) maybe he was totally done mentally and just gave up.

Not surprised.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

It's getting a bit embarrassing now for him. Wonder if Trek think they're getting their monies worth.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Great posts by a lot of people in this thread. Especially the post of Hitch makes me a little bit sad. He should have won at least one post-ban and he will now be remembered as a worse cyclist than Froome because of his crashes on '14 and '16.
And as Hitch says, cycling is a brutal and cruel sport. And I also think that Contador is broken mentally after Tour and Vuelta '16 (he crashed twice in Tour '16 and abandoned because of it and couldn't recover for Vuelta in enough time) and P-N '17. He looked very good for 2017 but that last stage in P-N '17 just broke him mentally. After finishing 2nd in Catalunya and PV as well (the latter with a small gap) maybe he was totally done mentally and just gave up.

Not surprised.

Yep, good call. It's kind of looking like his heart really isn't in it this season. Probably lured in by the big contract offer from Trek, but the same hunger doesn't seem to be there as it was before.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

[quote="Forever The Best":2nylqgs1][quote="Forever The Best":2nylqgs1]Great posts by a lot of people in this thread. Especially the post of Hitch makes me a little bit sad. He should have won at least one post-ban and he will now be remembered as a worse cyclist than Froome because of his crashes on '14 and '16.
And as Hitch says, cycling is a brutal and cruel sport. And I also think that Contador is broken mentally after Tour and Vuelta '16 (he crashed twice in Tour '16 and abandoned because of it and couldn't recover for Vuelta in enough time) and P-N '17. He looked very good for 2017 but that last stage in P-N '17 just broke him mentally. After finishing 2nd in Catalunya and PV as well (the latter with a small gap) maybe he was totally done mentally and just gave up.

Not surprised. [/quote]
Yep, good call. It's kind of looking like his heart really isn't in it this season. Probably lured in by the big contract offer from Trek, but the same hunger doesn't seem to be there as it was before.[/quote]
I already thought he was broken mentally after P-N 2017 (in the interview after the final stage of the P-N he was close to tears) where he attacked with 60km out and lost with 2 seconds. He definitely had the hunger in PN but after losing with 2 seconds he may have lost it.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

It's getting a bit embarrassing now for him. Wonder if Trek think they're getting their monies worth.

They seemed pretty damn happy with him before the start of this race. Doubt much has changed.

"He has the option but as we always have said it's up to him to decide. We'll be supportive for another year so we're looking to find solutions. Regardless of the Tour. I think he has a value and that he's a pure leader. I like that a lot," Guercilena explained.

"He's been quite fair with us so that's why we want to find a solution but whatever it is we'll be supportive of him."

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I already thought he was broken mentally after P-N 2017 (in the interview after the final stage of the P-N he was close to tears) where he attacked with 60km out and lost with 2 seconds. He definitely had the hunger in PN but after losing with 2 seconds he may have lost it.

He was definitely a little emotional after PN but I don't think he gets broken very easily. Still all those near losses and now such a *** Tour, it has to gnaw at him. He needs to clear his mind and start again with new goals so it may be better to completely forget about GC, I think he'd quite enjoy being a stage hunter

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

It's getting a bit embarrassing now for him. Wonder if Trek think they're getting their monies worth.

They seemed pretty damn happy with him before the start of this race. Doubt much has changed.

"He has the option but as we always have said it's up to him to decide. We'll be supportive for another year so we're looking to find solutions. Regardless of the Tour. I think he has a value and that he's a pure leader. I like that a lot," Guercilena explained.

"He's been quite fair with us so that's why we want to find a solution but whatever it is we'll be supportive of him."

Surely loads has changed since before the race. They (publically at least) went in with expectations of him winning and of getting glorious amounts of positive publicity. Instead, he's struggling to make the top 10 and the only time a Trek bike is on camera is when he has been dropped or has crashed.

 

[red zone]

as a fan of his this getting very difficult to watch , i didn't think he has a good chance to win but i was hoping he'd have enough in him to podium and put on a show

it's never easy to watch a competitor/champion like him fade not to mention so quickly , anyway he has nothing to prove and will go down as one of the great GT riders

holding out hope he can recover enough to finish strong and give his fans something to cheer one last time , my hearts still with him and he'll be missed when he hangs them up

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

It's getting a bit embarrassing now for him. Wonder if Trek think they're getting their monies worth.

They seemed pretty damn happy with him before the start of this race. Doubt much has changed.

"He has the option but as we always have said it's up to him to decide. We'll be supportive for another year so we're looking to find solutions. Regardless of the Tour. I think he has a value and that he's a pure leader. I like that a lot," Guercilena explained.

"He's been quite fair with us so that's why we want to find a solution but whatever it is we'll be supportive of him."

Surely loads has changed since before the race. They (publically at least) went in with expectations of him winning and of getting glorious amounts of positive publicity. Instead, he's struggling to make the top 10 and the only time a Trek bike is on camera is when he has been dropped or has crashed.

Have you read the quote I added? It clearly says that regardless of the Tour, Guercilena would like to keep him.
As someone already said a few days ago, last year people also started casting doubts about Alberto signing with Trek, they insinuated that perhaps Trek was no longer as interested after his bad Tour and that he would have to ride well at the Vuelta to secure the contract. Turned out he had signed already on the 1st rest day of the Tour.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

It's getting a bit embarrassing now for him. Wonder if Trek think they're getting their monies worth.

They seemed pretty damn happy with him before the start of this race. Doubt much has changed.

"He has the option but as we always have said it's up to him to decide. We'll be supportive for another year so we're looking to find solutions. Regardless of the Tour. I think he has a value and that he's a pure leader. I like that a lot," Guercilena explained.

"He's been quite fair with us so that's why we want to find a solution but whatever it is we'll be supportive of him."

Surely loads has changed since before the race. They (publically at least) went in with expectations of him winning and of getting glorious amounts of positive publicity. Instead, he's struggling to make the top 10 and the only time a Trek bike is on camera is when he has been dropped or has crashed.

Have you read the quote I added? It clearly says that regardless of the Tour, Guercilena would like to keep him.
As someone already said a few days ago, last year people also started casting doubts about Alberto signing with Trek, they insinuated that perhaps Trek was no longer as interested after his bad Tour and that he would have to ride well at the Vuelta to secure the contract. Turned out he had signed already on the 1st rest day of the Tour.

I'm not talking about him signing a new contract. If that offer is already on the table, or already signed, then his performance in the tour is irrelevant.

I'm talking about them being 'pretty damn happy with him'. His whole season, and pretty much Trek's whole season, has apparently been built around the goal of success at the Tour. And he is failing badly. So quite a lot has changed since they made that statement.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re:

It's getting a bit embarrassing now for him. Wonder if Trek think they're getting their monies worth.

He's like one of the best cyclist ever so I think that even when he doesn't get the best results this Tour he is good for them marketing wise.

 

[arvc40]

He will be a lot happier when he retires. Probably Happy and Fat !.