Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[GraftPunk]

Re: Re:

Screw it, if he hadn't done what he did it would have been a dreadful stage. That's exactly the kind of thing he should be doing if you ask me.

Absolutely. Animated the stage and rode with all he had. What more can you ask as a fan?

This this this

 

[DFA123]

Re:

I think thats entirely too hard. I think they did the right thing considering he is their star rider and had confidence in Alberto on Gailbier, but as it turns out he never really recovered from the hard effort previously. You can argue Mollema should have went for it himself, but its a bit easy in hindsight really. They animated the stage the stage and thats also worth quite a bit in Tour de France. Still a better result than Quintana.... altho doesnt say much.

But these things aren't unforseeable factors. We've all seen how Contador has been riding this Tour; it was inevitable that doing such a hard effort on the CdF would leave him near empty on the Galibier. Ultimately, the only real useful contribution Trek made to the stage was the work in the valley which ensured that Roglic won the stage ahead of the GC guys. Which I guess is something for the spectators, but not a great outcome for the team.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Me watching Contador today with the brutal attack and setting records along the way

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

I think thats entirely too hard. I think they did the right thing considering he is their star rider and had confidence in Alberto on Gailbier, but as it turns out he never really recovered from the hard effort previously. You can argue Mollema should have went for it himself, but its a bit easy in hindsight really. They animated the stage the stage and thats also worth quite a bit in Tour de France. Still a better result than Quintana.... altho doesnt say much.

But these things aren't unforseeable factors. We've all seen how Contador has been riding this Tour; it was inevitable that doing such a hard effort on the CdF would leave him near empty on the Galibier. Ultimately, the only real useful contribution Trek made to the stage was the work in the valley which ensured that Roglic won the stage ahead of the GC guys. Which I guess is something for the spectators, but not a great outcome for the team.

I somewhat agree and yes, it was pretty foreseeable altho I must admit I thought he wouldn't let anyone ride away from him on Galibier since he had a decent amount in the wheels by then. It would have interesting to see how it panned out with Mollema, but ultimately, for the spectacle and everything, I can't blame Trek and Contador at all. They at least tried something - more than you can say about just about any team.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

I think thats entirely too hard. I think they did the right thing considering he is their star rider and had confidence in Alberto on Gailbier, but as it turns out he never really recovered from the hard effort previously. You can argue Mollema should have went for it himself, but its a bit easy in hindsight really. They animated the stage the stage and thats also worth quite a bit in Tour de France. Still a better result than Quintana.... altho doesnt say much.

But these things aren't unforseeable factors. We've all seen how Contador has been riding this Tour; it was inevitable that doing such a hard effort on the CdF would leave him near empty on the Galibier. Ultimately, the only real useful contribution Trek made to the stage was the work in the valley which ensured that Roglic won the stage ahead of the GC guys. Which I guess is something for the spectators, but not a great outcome for the team.

I somewhat agree and yes, it was pretty foreseeable altho I must admit I thought he wouldn't let anyone ride away from him on Galibier since he had a decent amount in the wheels by then. It would have interesting to see how it panned out with Mollema, but ultimately, for the spectacle and everything, I can't blame Trek and Contador at all. They at least tried something - more than you can say about just about any team.

This is true, their intention at least was good in terms of trying to create something out of nothing. I just think they got their strategy badly wrong today. In one move they compromised two promising options in the break, while at the same time their 'star' rider was going above threshold for a long period to close a gap, with 100km of riding still left in the day. They were hoping for a miracle to win from that scenario.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Contador has a good chance to be on the podium in Paris I think. And that's because he may well win super combativity award.

nah, Barguil will take it surely. And he would deserve it, as would De Gendt.

De Gendt surely. Barguil has probably been the most aggressive, but he'll have the polka dots, a top 10 and stage win already. It seems a bit greedy to give him that as well. However Contador has a great chance as a sort of 'good effort, thank you for everything' award.

 

[Red Rick]

As of today, Contador as an equal amount of TdF stage wins and combativity awards.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Contador has a good chance to be on the podium in Paris I think. And that's because he may well win super combativity award.

nah, Barguil will take it surely. And he would deserve it, as would De Gendt.

De Gendt surely. Barguil has probably been the most aggressive, but he'll have the polka dots, a top 10 and stage win already. It seems a bit greedy to give him that as well. However Contador has a great chance as a sort of 'good effort, thank you for everything' award.

As much as I love Alberto, he has attacked twice in this entire race. He wouldn't be the most deserving winner of that award. And I don't think it'd give him any satisfaction either, so give it to De Gendt, he'd be happy with it.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re: Re:

Contador has a good chance to be on the podium in Paris I think. And that's because he may well win super combativity award.

nah, Barguil will take it surely. And he would deserve it, as would De Gendt.

De Gendt surely. Barguil has probably been the most aggressive, but he'll have the polka dots, a top 10 and stage win already. It seems a bit greedy to give him that as well. However Contador has a great chance as a sort of 'good effort, thank you for everything' award.

As much as I love Alberto, he has attacked twice in this entire race. He wouldn't be the most deserving winner of that award. And I don't think it'd give him any satisfaction either, so give it to De Gendt, he'd be happy with it.

He's got the award twice this Tour so they might just give it to him anyway.

 

[Monstre du Cyclisme]

I really enjoyed the ride of Alberto. He was cooked after his big efforts at the Croix-de-Fer but he had given everything beforehand. It also was the right tactic. This stage was meant to be last big stage of Alberto's career. Mollemas has won a stage already so there was no point to give him the chance for a second victory. This stage was for Alberto and for the myriad fans of Alberto. They should get a last big fight and we have finally got one. An attack at the Télégraphe would have been to late. Neither would he have caught the break nor would he have been able to hold off Froome at the rest of Galibier if he had attacked only at the Télégraphe. Alberto gave us a good show and I am thankful for that.

Alberto did a decent ride today but he obviously isn't as good as Froome anymore on such a hard stage. He is somewhere between 5-10th climber of the race and if you want to win a stage in this occasion you have to be inventive.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Contador has a good chance to be on the podium in Paris I think. And that's because he may well win super combativity award.

nah, Barguil will take it surely. And he would deserve it, as would De Gendt.

De Gendt surely. Barguil has probably been the most aggressive, but he'll have the polka dots, a top 10 and stage win already. It seems a bit greedy to give him that as well. However Contador has a great chance as a sort of 'good effort, thank you for everything' award.

As much as I love Alberto, he has attacked twice in this entire race. He wouldn't be the most deserving winner of that award. And I don't think it'd give him any satisfaction either, so give it to De Gendt, he'd be happy with it.

He's got the award twice this Tour so they might just give it to him anyway.

As far as I'm aware, for each week the most combative rider is selected on social media based on no. of Retweets (week 1: Calmejane; week 2: Barguil) and out of those the "super combative" rider will be chosen.

 

[Monstre du Cyclisme]

You also have to consider how marketing works. You always will associate Jan Ullrich with Bianchi due to his great ride in 2003. That year still influences sales figures nowadays that's for sure. Alberto rode with Liberty Seguros, Discovery Channel, Astana, Saxo Bank, Tinkoff and Trek. As you can see, Trek is the only bike brand. Fans always will associate Contador with Trek if he produces some memorable rides in this shirt. As he is no longer able to compete on the highest level with Froome, his only chance to get attention and get into people's mind is to try memorable long range attacks. He already has produced two of it. This is way more worth for sales figures than a possible second stage win of a more or less colorless Bauke Mollema who has a really tiny fan base compared to Alberto.

 

[Beech Mtn]

I'd like to see Alberto take up Sagan's mantra - "I may not be able to win the race, but I can decide who doesn't win" - and have a little chat with Rigo Uran and try to take him up the road at an opportune time tomorrow.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Re: Re:

Contador has a good chance to be on the podium in Paris I think. And that's because he may well win super combativity award.

De Gendt surely. Barguil has probably been the most aggressive, but he'll have the polka dots, a top 10 and stage win already. It seems a bit greedy to give him that as well. However Contador has a great chance as a sort of 'good effort, thank you for everything' award.

As much as I love Alberto, he has attacked twice in this entire race. He wouldn't be the most deserving winner of that award. And I don't think it'd give him any satisfaction either, so give it to De Gendt, he'd be happy with it.

He's got the award twice this Tour so they might just give it to him anyway.

As far as I'm aware, for each week the most combative rider is selected on social media based on no. of Retweets (week 1: Calmejane; week 2: Barguil) and out of those the "super combative" rider will be chosen.

This social media stuff must be new. It used to be voted on by a bunch of cycling journalists.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Dammit. On the one hand, setting a climbing record is nothing sneeze at, and I'm not sure GC contenders would have held onto Roglic after that effort either. On the other hand, that was depressing watching Roglic ride away from him and the GC guys catch him right at the top and drop him on the descent. But back on the first hand, despite his lack of legs, crashes, and psychological blows and reduced incentive to bury himself, he finished one of the hardest stages within 30 seconds of CF and with Aru.But...

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I'd like to see Alberto take up Sagan's mantra - "I may not be able to win the race, but I can decide who doesn't win" - and have a little chat with Rigo Uran and try to take him up the road at an opportune time tomorrow.

Why would he?

 

[LaFlorecita]

https://twitter.com/IBdailyblog/status/887734152547663872
Alberto & Basso after today's stage

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Also, remember when everyone was bashing AC in 2015 for merely winning the Giro over Aru and Landa, who have proven to be pretty damn good, and getting 5th in the Tour? Quintana has put that into context a little bit.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Re: Re:

I'd like to see Alberto take up Sagan's mantra - "I may not be able to win the race, but I can decide who doesn't win" - and have a little chat with Rigo Uran and try to take him up the road at an opportune time tomorrow.

Why would he?

Why not? Garmin were the team that offered him a ride back in the day when he was desperate. He owes nothing to Sky and Froome except maybe some pain. And finally, for the same reason Sagan does what he does sometimes.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re:

https://twitter.com/IBdailyblog/status/887734152547663872
Alberto & Basso after today's stage

Nice pic. Such a shame they never got to race with each other at Discovery, although we some nice moments in 2015. Two of my favourite riders of all time.

 

[cipurian]

What happened to Contador, why is he no longer able to win TDF? Is he lacking recovery in his old racing age?

 

[cellardoor]

Re:

Also, remember when everyone was bashing AC in 2015 for merely winning the Giro over Aru and Landa, who have proven to be pretty damn good, and getting 5th in the Tour? Quintana has put that into context a little bit.

I've been thinking about that too. Quintana's double attempt has certainly put Contador's in perspective.

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

Also, remember when everyone was bashing AC in 2015 for merely winning the Giro over Aru and Landa, who have proven to be pretty damn good, and getting 5th in the Tour? Quintana has put that into context a little bit.

Absolutely, while Contador is for sure already declining, this Giro was great, considering Quintanas attempt this year and Aru and Landa probably being one of the best GC riders of this generation (besides Froome, Bardet and Dumoulin and Quintana).

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

What happened to Contador, why is he no longer able to win TDF? Is he lacking recovery in his old racing age?

It seems like he is lacking resistance and endurance this days. Recovery looks still fine.

 

[Red Rick]

I actually think it's recovery. He's getting more and more inconsistent, and on lower recovery you can't train as much either.

I think he tried to do the same thing in 2016 as he did in 2014, and he ended up burning himself out a little.