Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

so will the rain hinder hi performance of help him, how does he normally ride in rain?

As far as I know, he prefers rain over high heat.
Not sure if he necessarily prefers rain over dry weather.

He prefers rain. He already said one time that he can breath better on tough conditions like rain.

Yeah but I believe that's related to the rain clearing pollen out of the air. We know he has pollen allergies.
I don't know if there are high pollen counts in Spain right now.

Maybe he is like rui costa, rui prefers dry weather but he knows that he can adapt to rain and cold weather better than almost the entire peloton so he can take advantage in those conditions

 

[portugal11]

This is looking good for contador. A shame that he doesn't have any teammate in the front group

 

[portugal11]

Not bad but he isn't good enough to win a stage.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Moves into top-10, I think

Not great but from the way he looked, I expected him to drop way earlier, so I'm quite happy. He still was one of the few to try an attack, chapeau. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Not bad but he isn't good enough to win a stage.

I don't know. I think he looked like he was struggling for most of the final 40 kms, and in the end he limited the damage fairly well.

 

[Scarponi]

Cycling is brutal. Literally missing 2% of his old self and he rides with nibs and froome.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Moves into top-10, I think

Not great but from the way he looked, I expected him to drop way earlier, so I'm quite happy. He still was one of the few to try an attack, chapeau. Onwards and upwards.

Pretty much just sat on Nibali's wheel didnt he?

 

[Carols]

He rode on class and guts for the final 30+km! I'm surprised the gap wasn't much larger, he managed it well.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Moves into top-10, I think

Not great but from the way he looked, I expected him to drop way earlier, so I'm quite happy. He still was one of the few to try an attack, chapeau. Onwards and upwards.

Pretty much just sat on Nibali's wheel didnt he?

No...

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Not bad but he isn't good enough to win a stage.

I don't know. I think he looked like he was struggling for most of the final 40 kms, and in the end he limited the damage fairly well.

Can't win a stage if you're struggling while others still feel fresh.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Moves into top-10, I think

Not great but from the way he looked, I expected him to drop way earlier, so I'm quite happy. He still was one of the few to try an attack, chapeau. Onwards and upwards.

Pretty much just sat on Nibali's wheel didnt he?

No...

Looked like he went onto Nibali's wheel and then really didn't have the legs to contribute much to the break (would have been suicide anyways), but yeah, I guess thats an attack.

 

[Matteo.]

Yeah. A good result in general but the stage win looks difficult to obtain

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Moves into top-10, I think

Not great but from the way he looked, I expected him to drop way earlier, so I'm quite happy. He still was one of the few to try an attack, chapeau. Onwards and upwards.

Pretty much just sat on Nibali's wheel didnt he?

No...

Looked like he went onto Nibali's wheel and then really didn't have the legs to contribute much to the break (would have been suicide anyways), but yeah, I guess thats an attack.

You must have missed him attacking with Nibali on his wheel a few minutes before Nibali's attack, I guess.

 

[DFA123]

Slightly disappointing finish for Contador today; it looked like with 3km to go he had a great chance to get that long awaited stage win. But I think he picked the wrong wheel in following Froome - who seemed to be playing with him a bit, before dropping him easily. Perhaps Contador just didn't have the legs to follow Nibali though, but it's a shame he didn't try something more when the road kicked up.

 

[arvc40]

He was on the right wheel in the Final, unfortunately Froome just rode away. Hopefully Contador can feel better in days to come and drop everyone.

 

[damian13ster]

Re:

Slightly disappointing finish for Contador today; it looked like with 3km to go he had a great chance to get that long awaited stage win. But I think he picked the wrong wheel in following Froome - who seemed to be playing with him a bit, before dropping him easily. Perhaps Contador just didn't have the legs to follow Nibali though, but it's a shame he didn't try something more when the road kicked up.

He really got obsessed with Froome's ass since Chris's emergence. Seems like his goal is just try to hold on to it as long as possible. I also think he would do better today not dropping off with Froome and staying at the front of the group instead but oh well. Maybe he will get his stage but it's less and less likely as each stage passes and fresh stage-hunters get into the mix from both breakaways and GC groups (see Lopez today)

 

[arvc40]

Contador must be careful he doesn't catch a small cold now !

 

[Lexman]

Re:

Moves into top-10, I think

Not great but from the way he looked, I expected him to drop way earlier, so I'm quite happy. He still was one of the few to try an attack, chapeau. Onwards and upwards.

9th place at almost 4 minutes of the dawg

only one minute and a half from 3rd podium spot

 

[Pennino]

Don't know what to think. Passed a lot of guys which is good, but this stage pisses me off once again. Guess I would be happy with a podium even just holding on as long as possible on robot's wheel. Being the best human is also ok, I presume.

 

[Climber123]

Good ride from Alberto. A shame he didn't (couldn't follow) Nibali when he attacked. Still an outside chance of a podium here with the time trial coming. Only Nibali, Froome and Kelderman looked stronger today of the GC contenders and I have a feeling the latter two will fade..

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Cycling is brutal. Literally missing 2% of his old self and he rides with nibs and froome.

It's called the aging athlete. Even Froome isn't what he was.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Slightly disappointing finish for Contador today; it looked like with 3km to go he had a great chance to get that long awaited stage win. But I think he picked the wrong wheel in following Froome - who seemed to be playing with him a bit, before dropping him easily. Perhaps Contador just didn't have the legs to follow Nibali though, but it's a shame he didn't try something more when the road kicked up.

Yes with 3km to go when everyone was still together he was in with a chance but in those 3km it became clear he didn't have the legs. If he had sat on Nibali's wheel he might have lost a few seconds less - no way he would have won..he didn't try something more because he couldn't, that was obvious. Or do you also think Zakarin should have tried more, after all he looked good with 3km to go?

 

[Arredondo]

I think he has ridden really well the last stages. I don't think he can perform any better, GC-wise. But in order to win a stage, he needs to change armery. He's not going to win a mountain stage by following the other GC-guys. Froome, Nibali, Lopez will all be better in the final week.

Maybe just forget about a minor GC-place and trying to win a stage by joining a break?

 

[Scarponi]

Re: Re:

Cycling is brutal. Literally missing 2% of his old self and he rides with nibs and froome.

It's called the aging athlete. Even Froome isn't what he was.

Agreed it's weird to see cycling at the moment. No one is dropping a massive attack and sticking anymore. This year the biggest wins were maybe Quints on blockhaus, A Non relevant GC Porte at Nice and Spilak grinding at a low quality Suisse.

 

[Climber123]

At least he looks much better than in the Tour. I am thinking that tomorrow's stage is ideal for him to try something.