Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[LaFlorecita]

Valv.Piti you're saying Quintana wanted to attack on the 2nd climb? In that case interesting that he changed his plans when he saw Contador attacking. Smart IMO because he's one of the best companions you can have in such a break - he'll always try his hardest

 

[LaFlorecita]

Oh FFS are we now going to have people devalue Berto's ride by saying Landa did more work. It was the same last year to Formigal. I even saw some (ok, British) media give Landa all the credit for the attack - makes me angry.

 

[Red Rick]

Looking at the parcours right now, it's just an incredible shame there's only 2 mountain stages left.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Back when he was a second-category racer in Brittany, recounted Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) after his Tour de France stage 13 victory, he used to imitate Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and his 'smoking gun' salute whenever he took a win of his own.

On Friday, Barguil had no such time for such 'Pistolero' celebrations as he blasted across the finish line in Foix, but his victory had an extra resonance, the 26-year-old recognised, because amongst those he defeated in the group of the three closest chasers was none other than Contador himself.

"It means a lot to me to be able to beat him," said the Team Sunweb rider, France's first winner on Bastille Day since 2005. "He's a hero of mine, and that makes it very special."

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Looking at the parcours right now, it's just an incredible shame there's only 2 mountain stages left.

Yep. I guess Izoard is Berto's best chance for a stage win, but I think we'll see the GC men fight it out. Still, I'm happy Berto has found his mojo, the Alps will be fun.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Looking at the parcours right now, it's just an incredible shame there's only 2 mountain stages left.

Well hard mountain stages.

A third stage could be tricky!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Back when he was a second-category racer in Brittany, recounted Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) after his Tour de France stage 13 victory, he used to imitate Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and his 'smoking gun' salute whenever he took a win of his own.

On Friday, Barguil had no such time for such 'Pistolero' celebrations as he blasted across the finish line in Foix, but his victory had an extra resonance, the 26-year-old recognised, because amongst those he defeated in the group of the three closest chasers was none other than Contador himself.

"It means a lot to me to be able to beat him," said the Team Sunweb rider, France's first winner on Bastille Day since 2005. "He's a hero of mine, and that makes it very special."

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Valv.Piti you're saying Quintana wanted to attack on the 2nd climb? In that case interesting that he changed his plans when he saw Contador attacking. Smart IMO because he's one of the best companions you can have in such a break - he'll always try his hardest

Didnt Quintana attack on the 2nd climb, Agnes? If he attacked on Latrape I must have missed it. Either way, its not right to give credit to Contador for Quintana's ride today - thats on himself.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

Looking at the parcours right now, it's just an incredible shame there's only 2 mountain stages left.

Sunday's stage has 2 cat1 climbs, the 2nd summit 30 km from the finish, with another cat 4 With 13km left. It may not be a high mountain showdown, but Kittel won't be winning it, and GC riders will at the very least have to be alert.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Looking at the parcours right now, it's just an incredible shame there's only 2 mountain stages left.

Yep. I guess Izoard is Berto's best chance for a stage win, but I think we'll see the GC men fight it out. Still, I'm happy Berto has found his mojo, the Alps will be fun.

I can't help but bash my head against the wall.

Finally it's shaping up to be an interesting Tour. Froome's got yellow but is weak. Sky have a tactical to play with and THERE's ONLY ONE CLIMB TO PLAY IT.

Croix de Fer better be madness.

 

[Forever The Best]

Contador, Landa and Quintana attack on Croix de Fer and link up with Pantano, Mollema and Betancur. Aru and Bardet leave all work to Froome who leads the group in valley and on Telegraphe-Galibier combo Froome cracks. Contador, Landa and Quintana go through the top together and Contador wins the stage. Aru and Bardet arrive 1:30-2:00 behind and Froome arrives at 3-4 minutes.

Well, probably won't happen but they have to try.

 

[lenric]

Great ride from Contador. If he can avoid falling for a fifth time, with an ITT incoming, top-5 is still possible. And he knows it.

 

[Valv.Piti]

And yes, Contador is certainly one of the best companions in such a break - the problem for Quintana was Contador valued the stage win higher than a greater, say, an extra minute so they never really used each other like Formigal. Very different scenario. Which I think was the right thing to do in the moment (valuing this stage win the highest), but 20/20 hindsight you know. The whole thing would have been even more interesting since Kwiatkowski potentially could have helped as well, if he did, that was Landa in yellow 100% and race blown completely to pieces.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

I think today ought to lay to bed some of the whinings about Sky/Froome kicking Contador when he's down not going to let him share in the limelight. Not only did they let him, they helped him along! Landa took more of the lead than Contador did when they were together.

Not that I think that Sky "kick Contador when he's down" but what really should be laid to rest is the bs about him being "irrelevant". If they are seen as kicking him when he's down it's because he has relevance and is seen as dangerous. If he were irrelevant Sky would've let him go rather than sending their chief lieutenant with him. They would've been foolish to simply let him disappear up the rode unchaperoned.

As I have yet to watch the stage, other than highlights and reading the play-by-play of the forum comments for the stage I can't comment on who took the most turns.

Landa and Sky had dual purposes and helping Contador was only a consequence of them advancing Landa in the gc thus making him more of a threat to Froome's immediate rivals and making those same rivals and their teams work to limit the damage.

The "whinings about Sky/Froome kicking Contador when he's down not going to let him share in the limelight" I was referring to was posts in this thread. Go back 6-12 pages and you can read them.

You can read the feed report:
https://imgur.com/gallery/BmYii

So what. That is a snapshot in time. Landa was in the lead most of the time my broadcast showed them. Also, they showed them in descent a couple of times. I don't ever remember seeing Contador in the lead then.

Contador wouldn't lead on descents because he descends like my 80 year old father these days. Landa didn't take a pull on the first climb, and didn't really take a majority of the pulls until the last KMs of the second when Bertie started to tire.

 

[iGROTROn]

Re:

Great ride from Contador. If he can avoid falling for a fifth time, with an ITT incoming, top-5 is still possible. And he knows it.

+1

 

[LaFlorecita]

So, today I saw some glimpses of old school Berto & on the podium, although he looked a bit uncomfortable, I saw him happy again for the first time in several days I got a bit teary-eyed! Hoping for more happiness for Alberto and us fans in the what remains of the race

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Great ride from Contador. If he can avoid falling for a fifth time, with an ITT incoming, top-5 is still possible. And he knows it.

Not sure. He and the team made it quite clear he's going for stages. One issue I see though is as he gets closer and closer to the top-5 he'll be allowed less room to take a stage.

 

[Carols]

Re:

So, today I saw some glimpses of old school Berto & on the podium, although he looked a bit uncomfortable, I saw him happy again for the first time in several days I got a bit teary-eyed! Hoping for more happiness for Alberto and us fans in the what remains of the race

Yes it's a nice reprieve. Hopefully More Soon!

 

[Electress]

Re: Re:

So, today I saw some glimpses of old school Berto & on the podium, although he looked a bit uncomfortable, I saw him happy again for the first time in several days I got a bit teary-eyed! Hoping for more happiness for Alberto and us fans in the what remains of the race

Yes it's a nice reprieve. Hopefully More Soon!

Lovely pic. Been a tough few days so like you I'm pleased to see the smile back. I was pleased to hear he wanted to enjoy himself, too.

 

[Nacho]

Re: Re:

Contador wouldn't lead on descents because he descends like my 80 year old father these days. Landa didn't take a pull on the first climb, and didn't really take a majority of the pulls until the last KMs of the second when Bertie started to tire.

LOL! So, in otherwords you concede to my point.

 

[lenric]

Re:

So, today I saw some glimpses of old school Berto & on the podium, although he looked a bit uncomfortable, I saw him happy again for the first time in several days I got a bit teary-eyed! Hoping for more happiness for Alberto and us fans in the what remains of the race

Happy to see a smile from Contador.
Though he's obviously not as good as he once was, he needed to know he still had something like today in him, which hopefully will motivate him to fight harder. And, as all of us know, when we start having doubts about our capacity and our performance suffers, we must fight and eventually we're rewarded. The same happened with Contador.

I don't like Contador as much as I once did, but I always like to see people who are dispirited with themselves fighting back and thriving. Like someone we all know once said: pain is temporary, but quitting lasts forever.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

Contador wouldn't lead on descents because he descends like my 80 year old father these days. Landa didn't take a pull on the first climb, and didn't really take a majority of the pulls until the last KMs of the second when Bertie started to tire.

LOL! So, in otherwords you concede to my point.

No, I said Landa was leading on the descents. I said Bertie did the majority of the work on the first two climbs.

 

[dacolik]

Hello I am new to this forum but I have been reading it for quite a while so I decided to join you..
I never watched cycling till my 11th age, it was TDF 2010,first stage I ever watched was stage to col du Tourmalet. Two of cyclist were so superior to others and it was an amazing thing to see. But the one in yellow jersey is the man I started to cheer for many years to come and he was the reason I started to follow cycling. Just you wait people and watch, this TDF isn't yet over for Bertie!

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

So, today I saw some glimpses of old school Berto & on the podium, although he looked a bit uncomfortable, I saw him happy again for the first time in several days I got a bit teary-eyed! Hoping for more happiness for Alberto and us fans in the what remains of the race

Yes it's a nice reprieve. Hopefully More Soon!

Lovely pic. Been a tough few days so like you I'm pleased to see the smile back. I was pleased to hear he wanted to enjoy himself, too.

For once, at least he wasn't being hard on himself and enjoying his time on the race. The race runs away from him. If it's meant to be then the race will come to him.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

[/quote]So take it to the Landa thread .

Today we celebrate that Alberto still has some life in those legs![/quote]

Jip, I am planning my trip to the Giro. It was a mere blip, he is back [/quote]

I will just enjoy every Show he has left to give us without expectation. But I'm considering the Giro myself next year [/quote]

A forum party on Mortirolo?

I would love to see the Giro first hand myself, although alas, Italy is a long way away. But if Alberto confirms his GC aspirations there, then I'd at least look at the parcours and start dreaming