Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Contadoraus Schlecks]

Evans was simply a case of the perfect race for him. Evans was consistent throughout. Many thought he had blown his chance for a Tour win but the reality is he could have quite easily had three Tour wins. Many of Evans rivals crashed out although although the only one who had a serious chance was probably VDB. He still had to beat both Schlecks, Contador post Giro with knee issues, Basso, Sanchez and a few others. The falls made the race more predictable but Contador and Andy made up for it in the final few days. Wiggins win was the same sort of. Perfect route and like Evans had been in the form of his life pre Tour. Froome as right hand man, strongest team and much too consistent for Nibali and VDB.

Even though Contador is still young, the authority of Froome's win by 5 minutes or so means Contador has a lot of ground to make up. Then you have Quintana and younger riders improving. I hope Andy gets back to his best as that will add another dimension to next year's race along with Nibali. Will be interesting to see how Nibali goes in the Tour. He is an improved rider but I still think he will have a hard time winning the Tour. If Contador never wins another Tour, the reasons for that will always be contentious. Either Froome is much better than many give him credit for or Contador has hit the wall and simply has not got another Tour win in him against new opposition. Not everyone carries on into their thirties with the same dominance as before and Contador was very good when he was young. Let's face it if Porte and Kreuziger were riding for different teams in the Tour, they would have beaten Contador as well.

I think that Froome 2013 was very similar, if not better than Contador 2009 (his peak). The winning margins were almost identical. It's hard to see Contador reaching 2009 level again so that suggests Froome will dominate him. I do however think that a strong Contador (he would clearly have to be better than this year) could beat Niballi, Porte & Quintana, so really the crux of it is Froome's presence at the Tour.

 

[ILovecycling]

Cant wait for the worlds champ to finish, only the worlds left for fleur to have a wiggins/froome avatar.

what was the deal?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Cant wait for the worlds champ to finish, only the worlds left for fleur to have a wiggins/froome avatar.

FU zam he will win worlds

what was the deal?

We were discussing this season and zaman said if Velasco wins giro or tour or worlds i will take a velasco avatar forever and then I felt sorry for him because it was a one sided bet so zam said okay if he doesn't win any of those races you'll get a sky or andy avatar for a week.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Contador is past his peak. It's so easy to see, even Flo, his biggest fan can see it clearly..

Contador has been a great rider, too bad he was inflicted in the 'scandal' as it for sure affected him. But's he is past it.

He won't become better. He'll stay at this level and slowly decrease.

However he still has the weapons to create some great racing for sure. Although I am not sure targeting Tour is a right choice for him now.

He is past his peak but this year is a bad year, next year he'll be much better

 

[Dedelou]

He is past his peak but this year is a bad year, next year he'll be much better

Future will tell if he is past his peak at the present but remember that so much goes into winning. So far in grand Tours it is still Alberto 5 - Nibali 2 - Froome 1, Wiggins 1. So What will happen next year is yet to be written and Contador like any other riders needs not to be at his best to win since sometime the looser can be unexpected. So far in the history of cycling only a very few have won several grand Tours consecutively. As far as the Tour de France: only Indurain and Lance have ever done more than 3

 

[Pricey_sky]

Part of me still wishes for Contador and Schleck to reach their old form but I just cant see it happening. Cycling continues to move on at a fast pace with Froome and Quintana now the best climbers in the peleton. Add Nibali to that for next years Tour and it is obvious how difficult it will be for Alberto just to podium again.

 

[movingtarget]

Future will tell if he is past his peak at the present but remember that so much goes into winning. So far in grand Tours it is still Alberto 5 - Nibali 2 - Froome 1, Wiggins 1. So What will happen next year is yet to be written and Contador like any other riders needs not to be at his best to win since sometime the looser can be unexpected. So far in the history of cycling only a very few have won several grand Tours consecutively. As far as the Tour de France: only Indurain and Lance have ever done more than 3

Actually two riders won 4 consecutive Tours. Anquetil won the Tour from 61-64. Eddy Merckx won the Tour from 69-72. Hinault won the Tour in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985. He would have also won in 80 but had a knee injury and could not start. Not sure what happened to Contador this year. Maybe an undiagnosed health problem or he might have over trained or it could have just been a case of not hitting form at the right time against opposition that has improved. It won't be any easier for him next year.

 

[ILovecycling]

FU zam he will win worlds



We were discussing this season and zaman said if Velasco wins giro or tour or worlds i will take a velasco avatar forever and then I felt sorry for him because it was a one sided bet so zam said okay if he doesn't win any of those races you'll get a sky or andy avatar for a week.

Oh ****

 

[Zam_Olyas]

FU zam he will win worlds



We were discussing this season and zaman said if Velasco wins giro or tour or worlds i will take a velasco avatar forever and then I felt sorry for him because it was a one sided bet so zam said okay if he doesn't win any of those races you'll get a sky or andy avatar for a week.

Geez fyefi, i was the one who felt sorry you coz you are blonde and says you will have the AV for only a week....did you learn to lie on your holiday in vn ?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Okay whatever

 

[murali]

Contador is past his peak. It's so easy to see, even Flo, his biggest fan can see it clearly..

Contador has been a great rider, too bad he was inflicted in the 'scandal' as it for sure affected him. But's he is past it.

He won't become better. He'll stay at this level and slowly decrease.

However he still has the weapons to create some great racing for sure. Although I am not sure targeting Tour is a right choice for him now.

He is past his peak but this year is a bad year, next year he'll be much better

Anyone who discounts contador is a fool. A half-fit contador is actually more potent than most of the other people. This year's TdF, though bad in terms of form, actually proves that Contador cannot be discounted. Without making any clinic references, Contador had as much of a chance to finish in the podium as any other rider.

Fact is that Contador was not at his right form when he came to the tour. Also, he was the only person trying throughout for a win. I am more willing to believe that he lost the tour by trying too much, than to believe that he is past his peak. (Bad comment, flo. didn't expect tht from you).

He tried too hard, and he failed. Many of the risks that he and the team took, didn't really work out well. Also, there was one stage that he could have attempted a long range attack, but the entire team were asked to try for Team GC just to please a certain a-hol, who happily stopped funding the team just after the tour.

In short, even if the punters claim that Froome is more likely to win next year, i would rather put my money on Contador than on any other contender(probably with the exception of Quintana if he improved his TT, and they don't have flat TTs in tour), the same way I would have put money this year.

 

[oldcrank]

He tried too hard, and he failed.

You are half right.

 

[murali]

You are half right.

i know the halves that i am right.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Will Tinkov ever leave Alberto alone?

@olegtinkov: Nicolas is a real MAN and a gentleman too, unlike Contador.IMHO.
#Vuelta

Meanwhile Roche defends Alberto against Tinkov's criticism.

 

[pastronef]

Will Tinkov ever leave Alberto alone?

after Dec 31 Tinkov can say what he wants, he'll have no word in Alberto's team and decisions anymore.
luckily

 

[spalco]

Tinkov is a ******. You can say a lot of things about Contador, but not that he doesn't go all-out. I don't even want to know what he would say if Saxo had had Andy on the roster instead of Contador.

 

[roundabout]

Rodriguez and Valverde are racing the Vuelta to win.

And they hadn't sat doing nothing before the Tour.

But hey, let's measure Contador against Andy.

 

[Miburo]

Rodriguez and Valverde are racing the Vuelta to win.

And they hadn't sat doing nothing before the Tour.

But hey, let's measure Contador against Andy.

What GT's did they win in the last 10 years?

Contador had a horrible shape this year, he can't turn it around in the vuelta suddenly.

Tinkov is frustrated, talking about how great Contador is and then this. Shows us what kinda person is.

Yea Contador doesn't work hard. The guy won the vuelta last year with no competition legs, he got lucky i guess.

And Contador did nothing before the tour? What did Valverde do? Contador was in the top 5 of the 1 week stage races usually, is that doing nothing?

You used to troll with better material.

 

[jens_attacks]

anyone who takes tinkov seriously is beyond my understanding...

 

[roundabout]

I am pretty sure Valverde did win one.

Didn't Riis want Contador to do the Vuelta as well?

 

[roundabout]

What GT's did they win in the last 10 years?

Contador had a horrible shape this year, he can't turn it around in the vuelta suddenly.

Tinkov is frustrated, talking about how great Contador is and then this. Shows us what kinda person is.

Yea Contador doesn't work hard. The guy won the vuelta last year with no competition legs, he got lucky i guess.

And Contador did nothing before the tour? What did Valverde do? Contador was in the top 5 of the 1 week stage races usually, is that doing nothing?

You used to troll with better material.

Did I write that Contador did nothing?

No. Read my post again, and maybe you will figure out what I meant.

 

[Cyivel]

Tinkov is a complete candy ***.

 

[hfer07]

Just another proof that money does not make one a gentleman and have class.....
Tinkof is every bit of what TH describes him to be alike...

 

[SiAp1984]

Not sure what happened to Contador this year. Maybe an undiagnosed health problem or he might have over trained ... It won't be any easier for him next year.

Right, these are the most obvious reasons... oh wait... the guy is just past his prime and that may well be the reason why Tinkov blasted AC the way he did. I guess Riis and AC told him year-in year-out since AC has won the Vuelta 2012 (due to (i) one desperate move to Fuente dé and (ii) Valverde and Movistar being happy with racing for second instead of chasing him down and win the race) that AC was still the best stahe racer in the world. And, surprise, he is not anymore. However, he still earns plenty of money for winning nothing, not even a stage. Tinkov paid for the année-sans of AC and has any right to be angry.

I wonder how long Riis will stay loyal to AC. Kreuziger seems ready to step up. He would have podiumed this year...

 

[LaFlorecita]

@olegtinkov: @KellyContador your relative should learn how to behave when he meeting lady, especially the wife of the person that pays his 50% salary

Before the TDF everything seemed fine so maybe he met Oleg's wife during the Tour?