Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Miburo]

Damn, are you a real fan???! You MUST support your rider both in good and difficult moments, otherwise you are a gloryhunter.

I agree with that but this stage was painful though, she'll be back tomorrow

If Froome drops Contador in the tour though and put minutes on him then maybe

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I agree with that but this stage was painful though, she'll be back tomorrow

If Froome drops Contador in the tour though and put minutes on him then maybe

Why don't you do as me? cheer for a team like in fotball. Makes things like this much more bareable.

In 09 for example I loved AC as much as you guys. Same in 10, but come 11 I favoured him over most but not all. 12 I liked his attacking and winning style. But now as he seems less potent than an 99 year old man without viagra... well

 

[airstream]

Lol that's somehow funny coming from airstream.

I still support Alberto but I can no longer watch team sky's US postal like domination.

Ask Miburo and Vino attacks everyone to give you a few drops of optimism and keep you head high.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Why don't you do as me? cheer for a team like in fotball. Makes things like this much more bareable.

In 09 for example I loved AC as much as you guys. Same in 10, but come 11 I favoured him over most but not all. 12 I liked his attacking and winning style. But now as he seems less potent than an 99 year old man without viagra... well

I can't just choose who or what I support. It's a feeling. I like a couple of teams but Alberto is special. Because of him I started following cycling. I cannot not support him.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I agree with that but this stage was painful though, she'll be back tomorrow

If Froome drops Contador in the tour though and put minutes on him then maybe

I just don't understand your eternal optimism.

 

[Pentacycle]

This was a great stage no matter what...at least as a Tour preview. Contador messed up big time attacking from 6 km out, and again with 2 to go. He clearly lacked any tactical sense today. Like I said in another thread, Contador needs to stay behind the Sky train until the final few km's, and then go completely berserk. He did the exact opposite today. He's not far above anyone else, as if it was 2009, but this is reality. He needs to stop believing his fairytale self he once was, but he seems a little bit stuck there.

Time for AC to get serious and race more like Froome did today. Harsh for himself and his fans, but realistic.

 

[Miburo]

I just don't understand your eternal optimism.

If Contador didn't attack twice, then maybe he could have followed Froome. And it's march. A lot of things can still happen.

Contador will do whatever what he can, aslong as he believes in it i'll believe in it

 

[LaFlorecita]

This was a great stage no matter what...at least as a Tour preview. Contador messed up big time attacking from 6 km out, and again with 2 to go. He clearly lacked any tactical sense today. Like I said in another thread, Contador needs to stay behind the Sky train until the final few km's, and then go completely berserk. He did the exact opposite today. He's not far above anyone else, as if it was 2009, but this is reality. He needs to stop believing his fairytale self he once was, but he seems a little bit stuck there.

Time for AC to get serious and race more like Froome did today. Harsh for himself and his fans, but realistic.

Race more like Froome? You mean hide behind a train, get dropped by the other contenders and then pass them going twice as fast?

I don't believe he is able to do that

 

[wwabbit]

Lol that's somehow funny coming from airstream.

I still support Alberto but I can no longer watch team sky's US postal like domination.

Don't feel bad. I'm sure 4 years ago there were plenty of people that could no longer watch Contador's domination either!

 

[Pentacycle]

Race more like Froome? You mean hide behind a train, get dropped by the other contenders and then pass them going twice as fast?

I don't believe he is able to do that

'More' is the key word. I'm not hoping he transforms into a boring train driver like those Sky machines, but saving some energy before the last km's would be a start.

Do you agree that he could've been much closer today, if he didn't waste all he had in those futile early attacks?

 

[Jelantik]

This was a great stage no matter what...at least as a Tour preview. Contador messed up big time attacking from 6 km out, and again with 2 to go. He clearly lacked any tactical sense today. Like I said in another thread, Contador needs to stay behind the Sky train until the final few km's, and then go completely berserk. He did the exact opposite today. He's not far above anyone else, as if it was 2009, but this is reality. He needs to stop believing his fairytale self he once was, but he seems a little bit stuck there.

Time for AC to get serious and race more like Froome did today. Harsh for himself and his fans, but realistic.

Maybe he did make a mistake. But he might test the water to see if an attack like that will derail sky train. Froome is clearly smart to use his teammate strength to contain contador. It seems to me that's sky plan is to always use the teammate as close as the final km and Froome will launch a timely attack. (this is the second time he is successfully timed his attacked perfectly. First in Oman with Porte, now with Uran). And the fact that their domestiques can even content to win (GT), makes them a dangerous squad. It's good if Contador can attack, because he can get some gap, but he can't sustain it (maybe it's just impossible if 1 vs 3 sky team). My IMHO, Contador's teammate better be stronger and match SKY domestique comes to TDF. Otherwise, we'll see the same scenario again as today and Oman. TDF seems to be the battle of the domestiques as well.

 

[Jelantik]

It's impossible. Contador can win the Tour surely, but it will be done with irreally giant effort.


Strongly disagree. A price of the matter is 15 miserable secs? Say, Alberto would have outsprinted Froomey and won the stage. What could have most of us talked? It would be something like: 'Look it is only March and he wins. Gotta crush everyone everyone in July... With good reason. No one knows what tactics would be optimal for today's stage, but it was not a fail, IF one contemplates objectively, without burdening oneself with excessive expectations. Only the most inveterate optimist could sincerely suppose that Contador would crush everyone today by more that 20-30 seconds. There will be a lot of blood with absolutely unpredictable outcome in July. I'm sure a winner won't be defined until Annecy stage and going to avatar bet with anyone for that. So, no panic.

To sum it up, Froome can win the battle, but Contador wants to win the war..

 

[airstream]

This was a great stage no matter what...at least as a Tour preview. Contador messed up big time attacking from 6 km out, and again with 2 to go. He clearly lacked any tactical sense today. Like I said in another thread, Contador needs to stay behind the Sky train until the final few km's, and then go completely berserk. He did the exact opposite today. He's not far above anyone else, as if it was 2009, but this is reality. He needs to stop believing his fairytale self he once was, but he seems a little bit stuck there.

Time for AC to get serious and race more like Froome did today. Harsh for himself and his fans, but realistic.

He is experimenting and trying to find something new and it is a tough search, actually. Sky tempo wasn't extremely fast. Until Alberto exploded for the 1st time, Sky were burning their macthes very accurately. They felt their superiority today. So IMO if Contador had decided to go the way you described, the train would have been very likely to catch him, anyway.

 

[Pentacycle]

He is experementing and trying to do something new. Sky tempo wasn't extremely fast. Until Alberto exploded for the 1st time, Sky were burning their macthes very accurately. They felt their superiority today. So I think if Contador had decided to go the way you described, the train would have been very likely to catch him, anyway.

The time for this kind of experimenting is over by now. Oman was nice to see him try and derail Sky, but he has to be serious about winning a big race. The real experiment will come when he actually doesn't attack early and tries to take time on Froome, so riding maturely and not like a puppy who jumps on every possible occasion.

 

[airstream]

The time for this kind of experimenting is over by now. Oman was nice to see him try and derail Sky, but he has to be serious about winning a big race. The real experiment will come when he actually doesn't attack early and tries to take time on Froome, so riding maturely and not like a puppy who jumps on every possible occasion.

Then it makes to wonder why Contador attacks from 6k to go? It couldn't be accidental because the guy has huge experience. Very likely, he attacked since he considered much stronger than all the rest otherwise such a brazen move is like suicide. One can recognize that he is a 'puppy' only committing an attack like that. I think Contador was right when he decided to make a move, because it was the only way to check out how good Sky are and I'm saying so not because he lost. Sure, he could wait until the last 1.5-2 km to go, but there is no guarantee that he would turn out to be the strongest in this case, because we have an explosive climber Froome and Nibali who obviously worked well on his explosiveness.

 

[Lanark]

Using a more conservative tactic Contador could maybe have finished a couple of seconds closer, but Froome was just much better today. To win Contador had to take time today, losing less wouldn't have helped him. His attacks were fine.

 

[Contadoraus Schlecks]

Then it makes to wonder why Contador attacks from 6k to go? It couldn't be accidental because the guy has huge experience. Very likely, he attacked since he considered much stronger than all the rest otherwise such a brazen move is like suicide. One can recognize that he is a 'puppy' only committing an attack like that. I think Contador was right when he decided to make a move, because it was the only way to check out how good Sky are and I'm saying so not because he lost. Sure, he could wait until the last 1.5-2 km to go, but there is no guarantee that he would turn out to be the strongest in this case, because we have an explosive climber Froome and Nibali who obviously worked well on his explosiveness.

I know that you subscribe to the notion that other riders have improved to the extent that they can challenge Contador. While I agree with this in part I believe more that Contador has dropped a few levels. Nibali may have worked on his explosiveness but to rival / better Contador is very odd. We saw a similar situation with j rod in the vuelta.

Contador came in today with Uran, this simply wouldn't have happened with Contador of old.

 

[SeriousSam]

So, the reason he shouldn't have waited for the last 1.5-2km is that "there is no guarantee that he would turn out to be the strongest", unlike when he would attack earlier, in which case it would be guaranteed that he is the strongest and that he isn't reeled in. Except no, that's absurd.

Airtight reasoning from airstream.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Wonderi if ac is doing the ardennes this year?

 

[Miburo]

Wonderi if ac is doing the ardennes this year?

He might do FW but that's prob it.

 

[Netserk]

Contador will perhaps never be at his pre-ban level again

Maybe he is too old

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

He might do FW but that's prob it.

Ok, a theory (that you might have liked) is that he was still training hard to get a peak for the ardennes (like Gilbert and so on)

 

[Miburo]

Ok, a theory (that you might have liked) is that he was still training hard to get a peak for the ardennes (like Gilbert and so on)

You know that's bull**** lol

I said that in T-A there are no excuses, he should be pretty good there. But ok it's just one day, his recuperation is his strength.

Maybe with some rain something might be possible on lanciano

There are really no excuses, i can't find any. Ok he shouldn't have attacked 2 times but that **** used to not matter.

Please Contador prove me wrong tomorrow

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

You know that's bull**** lol

I said that in T-A there are no excuses, he should be pretty good there. But ok it's just one day, his recuperation is his strength.

Maybe with some rain something might be possible on lanciano

There are really no excuses, i can't find any. Ok he shouldn't have attacked 2 times but that **** used to not matter.

Please Contador prove me wrong tomorrow

Did not say it was likely

 

[willbick]

i really dont understand all the contador love on here. if u wanna see someone attacking all the time by cheating u might as well cheer on a guy on a motorbike