Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

So is everyone still saying Contador is past it....cos he didn't look it yesterday on the CdF...was it not the fastest time ever ?

And what about his recovery ? Not bad in the final week....so that is still there
And still maanged ot finish not far behind GC guys

he has blown hot and cold ....not sure what that is about though ...
The crashes didn't help but surely the physical is not gone ...far from it ....

I think there is a mental element to all this...a fear of crashing and it happens, and feeling of playing catch up and it happens

Of course he is not as strong as he was 7/8 years ago but he is not done either

Berto still performs as good as ever in short efforts - short stage, MTT or first climb of the day. I expect him do ride a good TT as well.
But when the stages get longer especially if there's a lot of climbing before the final climb - his legs just go empty.
I'm guessing he and his group of coaches have noticed this by now but the question is how do you counter it... simple solution is on hard long mountain stages never make the race hard from the start, but of course other teams might do that instead especially if/when they realize it's his weakness.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

So is everyone still saying Contador is past it....cos he didn't look it yesterday on the CdF...was it not the fastest time ever ?

And what about his recovery ? Not bad in the final week....so that is still there
And still maanged ot finish not far behind GC guys

he has blown hot and cold ....not sure what that is about though ...
The crashes didn't help but surely the physical is not gone ...far from it ....

I think there is a mental element to all this...a fear of crashing and it happens, and feeling of playing catch up and it happens

Of course he is not as strong as he was 7/8 years ago but he is not done either

He seems to have a problem with endurance on the long stages. Recovery does seem to be ok, as you say, although lets see how he does today following his efforts yesterday. Given a short, hilly TT or a short intense medium mountain or full mountain stage, he's still pretty much the best there is. But the long mountain stages he seems to struggle towards the end.

I would agree but endurance is the one thing that stays with age ...hence my issues re writing Contador off

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I would agree but endurance is the one thing that stays with age ...hence my issues re writing Contador off

Maybe for most riders... it doesn't seem to be the case for Alberto

 

[arvc40]

Re:

So is everyone still saying Contador is past it....cos he didn't look it yesterday on the CdF...was it not the fastest time ever ?

And what about his recovery ? Not bad in the final week....so that is still there
And still maanged ot finish not far behind GC guys

he has blown hot and cold ....not sure what that is about though ...
The crashes didn't help but surely the physical is not gone ...far from it ....

I think there is a mental element to all this...a fear of crashing and it happens, and feeling of playing catch up and it happens

Of course he is not as strong as he was 7/8 years ago but he is not done either

Contador has proven time and time again even during his late 20's that there are stronger Athletes than him at the Tour. His first Tour win was given to him, he was not the strongest even in that race.

He is probably riding at a higher capacity for his genetics than people would like to believe.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Not this again... you don't win 25 stage races and 7/9 GTs during 10 years if you're not genetically extremely gifted.

 

[arvc40]

Re:

Not this again... you don't win 25 stage races and 7/9 GTs during 10 years if you're not genetically extremely gifted.

He is not showing those gifts at the Tour for a long long time, just a fact. 2009 Tour is his best achievement at the highest level. Cream of the crop perform at the Tour

 

[LaFlorecita]

So because the Giro and Vuelta aren't the biggest race in the world, we should ignore world class performances in those races? What a load of rubbish.

 

[arvc40]

Re:

So because the Giro and Vuelta aren't the biggest race in the world, we should ignore world class performances in those races? What a load of rubbish.

No, they are not to be ignored. He's a great rider.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

So because the Giro and Vuelta aren't the biggest race in the world, we should ignore world class performances in those races? What a load of rubbish.

No, they are not to be ignored. He's a great rider.

Exactly & genetically one of the best ever, as evidenced by his palmares and amazing performances throughout his career, & mentally 1 of the toughest

 

[Walkman]

Re:

Not this again... you don't win 25 stage races and 7/9 GTs during 10 years if you're not genetically extremely gifted.

Does that apply to Lance too?

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

So because the Giro and Vuelta aren't the biggest race in the world, we should ignore world class performances in those races? What a load of rubbish.

No, they are not to be ignored. He's a great rider.

So what you are saying is that he is an over-achiever?

 

[Scarponi]

In hind sight yesterday probably cost him a chance today. If he was fresh he could have made the gap like barguil did. All hindsight though

 

[The Hitch]

Giro and Vuelta are important, but for a rider of Contador's standing (all time great) they are smaller than the Tour. Especially as he's won a few of each, the Tour performances are more important.

 

[The Hitch]

i did want to come into say, Contador's Tour and his season are an absolute dud. Poor all around.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

In hind sight yesterday probably cost him a chance today. If he was fresh he could have made the gap like barguil did. All hindsight though

I think so as well, but as you say, in hindsight. I thought he'd drop much earlier cause he was so far back so it was nice to see him attack

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

i did want to come into say, Contador's Tour and his season are an absolute dud. Poor all around.

Giro and Vuelta are important, but for a rider of Contador's standing (all time great) they are smaller than the Tour. Especially as he's won a few of each, the Tour performances are more important.

Ok.

 

[DFA123]

What do we think Contador will do for the rest of the season? Will he ride for Mollema at San Sebastian or maybe even be tempted to go to the Vuelta after such a disappointing Tour? It would surely be hard for him to finish for the year now without any wins and without doing himself justice.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

i did want to come into say, Contador's Tour and his season are an absolute dud. Poor all around.

Ok.

If he's talking about results, then he is unfortunately right, because Contador doesn't even have a single victory this season.
Even though, he was much better than 2013 this year (both his level in spring, and his attacking spirit, were way above 2013) he doesn't have a single win. (rather lots of 2nd places)

 

[Climber123]

I hope he will do the Vuelta, the form seemed to improve since last week.

 

[Climber123]

Good ride today, only dropped off towards the end.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

i did want to come into say, Contador's Tour and his season are an absolute dud. Poor all around.

Ok.

If he's talking about results, then he is unfortunately right, because Contador doesn't even have a single victory this season.
Even though, he was much better than 2013 this year (both his level in spring, and his attacking spirit, were way above 2013) he doesn't have a single win. (rather lots of 2nd places)

Though, his spring wasn't dud and poor as Hitch says. He lost P-N with 2 seconds and was the best rider, (if Bahrain hadn't helped Henao for whatever reason he would have won the race) lost PV with 6 seconds (was 2nd), was 2nd at Catalunya as well.

 

[DFA123]

I hope he will do the Vuelta, the form seemed to improve since last week.

I think he should do as well. Looks like it's going to be a pretty low quality field apart from Froome as well, so definite chance of a podium there.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Yes in terms of results this was a bad year for him, as you say even worse than 2013, his worst year since 2004 which is just sad to think about. But that isn't a good representation of his form throughout the year, he really deserved to at least win a stage or two somewhere along the way anyway, if I were him I'd call it a season (ok, if the team wants him to race he can show up in Italy at the end of the season), rest, recover and start building again for next year.

 

[cellardoor]

I think I'm right in saying that he's never been to the Vuelta when he's finished the Tour. If he's planning to do the Giro next year then I think it would be best for him to skip the Vuelta even if it will then hold less interest for me personally. Perhaps targetting Milan-Turin and Giro Lombardia, either for himself or helping Mollema might be the best.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

I think I'm right in saying that he's never been to the Vuelta when he's finished the Tour. If he's planning to do the Giro next year then I think it would be best for him to skip the Vuelta even if it will then hold less interest for me personally. Perhaps targetting Milan-Turin and Giro Lombardia, either for himself or helping Mollema might be the best.

If Contador doesn't go to the Vuelta though, and Mollema surely won't, then the team is looking a bit bare. The route is hardly ideal for Degenkolb either and Zubeldia is retiring. They went all in for the Tour and that has kind of backfired. I guess they could go stage-hunting with Felline and Pantano, but neither of those has done back to back GTs before I think, so maybe they will force Contador to represent them there. Spain is a pretty big market for Trek bikes now after all.