Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

You knew it was coming...

"I don't want to look back, but the truth is I'd worked so hard for this, to arrive in top shape here. Three days before coming here I broke my own record on a climb in Madrid that I've been doing my whole life. Without the crashes, I believe I'd now be fighting for the yellow jersey."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-a-lot-can-still-happen-at-the-tour-de-france/

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

You knew it was coming...

"I don't want to look back, but the truth is I'd worked so hard for this, to arrive in top shape here. Three days before coming here I broke my own record on a climb in Madrid that I've been doing my whole life. Without the crashes, I believe I'd now be fighting for the yellow jersey."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-a-lot-can-still-happen-at-the-tour-de-france/

Look, i like Contador since he is the old champion fighting for one last big win, but in the end thats just excuses. Every year the same.

 

[Leinster]

If he was 5.37 down, but in 3rd place, he'd be saying pretty much the same stuff, but without so many guys between himself and yellow.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I really hope he takes another year. Giro + Vuelta please. Also the "I could have been fighting for the yellow jersey" is obviously just bull****.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I really hope he takes another year. Giro + Vuelta please. Also the "I could have been fighting for the yellow jersey" is obviously just bull****.

I don't think so. When I see how many riders are still close on GC (FFS, Yates is barely 2 minutes behind) I think it's likely he would have been among those guys that are within 2 minutes. And then anything is possible.

 

[DFA123]

Sounds like he definitely needs a new motivation. A season of stage hunting and going for the hilly autumn classic (+ worlds?) is still the best solution I think. No pressure to still be the Contador of 2009, and a great chance to have some fun on the bike, animating races.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Sounds like he definitely needs a new motivation. A season of stage hunting and going for the hilly autumn classic (+ worlds?) is still the best solution I think. No pressure to still be the Contador of 2009, and a great chance to have some fun on the bike, animating races.

Yeah, no. De Jongh said Alberto won't continue if he feels he can't win big races anymore, so a season of stage hunting is definitely not happening.

 

[Rollthedice]

Does he have a contract signed for next year with Trek?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Does he have a contract signed for next year with Trek?

Clearly not, else the 2018 season wouldn't be in doubt.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Sounds like he definitely needs a new motivation. A season of stage hunting and going for the hilly autumn classic (+ worlds?) is still the best solution I think. No pressure to still be the Contador of 2009, and a great chance to have some fun on the bike, animating races.

Yeah, no. De Jongh said Alberto won't continue if he feels he can't win big races anymore, so a season of stage hunting is definitely not happening.

I disagree. I think it will definitely happen. Winning a stage of the Tour or Giro is a big race, as is Lombarida, Milano-Torino, the Worlds, Giro dell'Emilia and all the other hilly classics that he could focus on.

It's easy to see why his motivation is so low right now. Right now he looks a huge distance away from challenging for a GT again, and, unlike most other GC riders, he doesn't even get the buzz of occasional stage wins to keep his morale high. I think him and his team will realise this over the winter and will change approach. It's the logical way forward, and a way for him to get another year on big money.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

You knew it was coming...

"I don't want to look back, but the truth is I'd worked so hard for this, to arrive in top shape here. Three days before coming here I broke my own record on a climb in Madrid that I've been doing my whole life. Without the crashes, I believe I'd now be fighting for the yellow jersey."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-a-lot-can-still-happen-at-the-tour-de-france/

Look, i like Contador since he is the old champion fighting for one last big win, but in the end thats just excuses. Every year the same.

He said afterwards the stage to Chambéry that the crash didn't really matter, that it was a matter of legs. And now he is pulling this. Contador should of ALL PEOPLE know that isolated 20-30 minute efforts doesn't translate 10/10 to actual racing, I dont know why he contonies with this crap. He has said this stuff year and year and it is becoming increasingly obvious that he simply just lacks endurance on harder stages, that he can't use 'his best numbers ever' at the end of a long a touch mountain stage. Its just baloney.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

You knew it was coming...

"I don't want to look back, but the truth is I'd worked so hard for this, to arrive in top shape here. Three days before coming here I broke my own record on a climb in Madrid that I've been doing my whole life. Without the crashes, I believe I'd now be fighting for the yellow jersey."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-a-lot-can-still-happen-at-the-tour-de-france/

Look, i like Contador since he is the old champion fighting for one last big win, but in the end thats just excuses. Every year the same.

He said afterwards the stage to Chambéry that the crash didn't really matter, that it was a matter of legs. And now he is pulling this. Contador should of ALL PEOPLE know that isolated 20-30 minute efforts doesn't translate 10/10 to actual racing, I dont know why he contonies with this crap. He has said this stuff year and year and it is becoming increasingly obvious that he simply just lacks endurance on harder stages, that he can't use 'his best numbers ever' at the end of a long a touch mountain stage. Its just baloney.

Yep, he's almost become a parody of himself now. After seven consecutive years of relative failure at the Tour, surely he can just admit that he's not good enough to win the biggest race these days. It sounds almost like he was prepared to admit it himself earlier in this race, but now, just because Froome has shown a slight weakness, he's started with the revisionism again.

 

[Valv.Piti]

All I can say its super frustrating. And many fans will believe him because they want to.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Sounds like he definitely needs a new motivation. A season of stage hunting and going for the hilly autumn classic (+ worlds?) is still the best solution I think. No pressure to still be the Contador of 2009, and a great chance to have some fun on the bike, animating races.

Yeah, no. De Jongh said Alberto won't continue if he feels he can't win big races anymore, so a season of stage hunting is definitely not happening.

I disagree. I think it will definitely happen. Winning a stage of the Tour or Giro is a big race, as is Lombarida, Milano-Torino, the Worlds, Giro dell'Emilia and all the other hilly classics that he could focus on.

It's easy to see why his motivation is so low right now. Right now he looks a huge distance away from challenging for a GT again, and, unlike most other GC riders, he doesn't even get the buzz of occasional stage wins to keep his morale high. I think him and his team will realise this over the winter and will change approach. It's the logical way forward, and a way for him to get another year on big money.

Okay buddy, you know him better than De Jongh I suppose.
PS: Trek are definitely NOT going to be paying him big money for the odd stage win here and there.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

All I can say its super frustrating. And many fans will believe him because they want to.

Yeah, perhaps we're being a little harsh on him though. He must know he can't win the Tour these days, so maybe it's just self promotion, getting himself a nice retirement fund. And fair play to him; if you see it that he's managed to convince enough fans that he's still a top level rider, which in turn has convinced Trek that he's still marketable enough to pay him a huge salary for another couiple of years, then all his statements start to make a lot more sense.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

I really hope he takes another year. Giro + Vuelta please. Also the "I could have been fighting for the yellow jersey" is obviously just bull****.

I don't think so. When I see how many riders are still close on GC (FFS, Yates is barely 2 minutes behind) I think it's likely he would have been among those guys that are within 2 minutes. And then anything is possible.

But he did crash so it's a moot point.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

After seven consecutive years of relative failure at the Tour, surely he can just admit that he's not good enough to win the biggest race these days.

If you look at the circumstances of those failures surely it's understandable that he won't readily admit he's "not good enough to win the biggest race"?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

All I can say its super frustrating. And many fans will believe him because they want to.

Yeah, perhaps we're being a little harsh on him though. He must know he can't win the Tour these days, so maybe it's just self promotion, getting himself a nice retirement fund. And fair play to him; if you see it that he's managed to convince enough fans that he's still a top level rider, which in turn has convinced Trek that he's still marketable enough to pay him a huge salary for another couiple of years, then all his statements start to make a lot more sense.

Yes, millions of dollars in the bank yet all he cares about is money. *** that.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I really hope he takes another year. Giro + Vuelta please. Also the "I could have been fighting for the yellow jersey" is obviously just bull****.

I don't think so. When I see how many riders are still close on GC (FFS, Yates is barely 2 minutes behind) I think it's likely he would have been among those guys that are within 2 minutes. And then anything is possible.

But he did crash so it's a moot point.

That doesn't make it bull****.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

All I can say its super frustrating. And many fans will believe him because they want to.

Yeah, perhaps we're being a little harsh on him though. He must know he can't win the Tour these days, so maybe it's just self promotion, getting himself a nice retirement fund. And fair play to him; if you see it that he's managed to convince enough fans that he's still a top level rider, which in turn has convinced Trek that he's still marketable enough to pay him a huge salary for another couiple of years, then all his statements start to make a lot more sense.

Yes, millions of dollars in the bank yet all he cares about is money. **** that.

Well, he certainly wouldn't be the first rich guy to try to milk the cash cow even more. I doubt very much it's his sole motivation for continuing riding, but it certainly seems to be the most logical explanation for these statements which seem more based in marketing than reality.

 

[Valv.Piti]

If you maybe didn't defend Alberto with tooth a nails all the time, at times irrationally, I don't think it make a lot of sense to even come here to debate anything of any kind. I just think its frustrating to many observers that he doesn't get tired of this; he is pulling the same stuff over, and over, and over again. And now this little nugget from Madrid. It just doesn't matter. Porte was 1 minute faster than everyone on Madone, yet Froome is still superior to him in every other aspect of cycling. Froome is, at this point, so ridiculously more all-round than Alberto as well, but you obviously can't see that in a 30 min effort climbing test. And you sure as hell can't look into such an effort and conclude 'well, then I must be better than ever..' History shows that he has done that loads of times AND that it doesn't matter. If the stages were 15 kilometres, and maybe even all time trials, with 1 day recovery between each of those effort, then yes, it would matter a lot.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Well, he certainly wouldn't be the first rich guy to try to milk the cash cow even more. I doubt very much it's his sole motivation for continuing riding, but it certainly seems to be the most logical explanation for these statements which seem more based in marketing than reality.

If you think that is a logical explanation let alone the most logical explanation you clearly haven't got a clue what kind of person he is.

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

You knew it was coming...

"I don't want to look back, but the truth is I'd worked so hard for this, to arrive in top shape here. Three days before coming here I broke my own record on a climb in Madrid that I've been doing my whole life. Without the crashes, I believe I'd now be fighting for the yellow jersey."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-a-lot-can-still-happen-at-the-tour-de-france/

Look, i like Contador since he is the old champion fighting for one last big win, but in the end thats just excuses. Every year the same.

He said afterwards the stage to Chambéry that the crash didn't really matter, that it was a matter of legs. And now he is pulling this. Contador should of ALL PEOPLE know that isolated 20-30 minute efforts doesn't translate 10/10 to actual racing, I dont know why he contonies with this crap. He has said this stuff year and year and it is becoming increasingly obvious that he simply just lacks endurance on harder stages, that he can't use 'his best numbers ever' at the end of a long a touch mountain stage. Its just baloney.

Yep, he's almost become a parody of himself now. After seven consecutive years of relative failure at the Tour, surely he can just admit that he's not good enough to win the biggest race these days. It sounds almost like he was prepared to admit it himself earlier in this race, but now, just because Froome has shown a slight weakness, he's started with the revisionism again.

Buckle up, your about to hear a list of his excuses...

 

[LaFlorecita]

With today's potential for crosswinds it seems likely he'll lose more time which is good for his chances for a stage win

 

[dacooley]

beating the record on the training climb in Madrid is quite possible, one would be stupid to completely deny it. still, it's only indicative and pretty much guarantes you nothing on if you'll manage to match froome, bardet or aru bombing the climbs going full gas. that's a real problem.