Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Butterhead]

ai ai.. i won't sell contador short yet. His season hasn't started yet and so does Froome. I would wait to see how their form looks like at the first quarter of the season. Froome and Sky definitely got 'Contador's number'. They got the antidote of his 30 seconds burst. Now, it's been more than a year since contador's band, he should got his racing miles and he already got the taste to race against Froome and Sky. So we'll see what happen. He looks like (from his tweeter, photos) more ready this year than last year. His first test will be at T-A - head to head with froome (hopefully nibali)

I know everyone said that Nibali is better than contador. Even Brailsford single out nibali as chris froome's biggest rival. But I don't know.. I can hardly see how nibali is stronger than contador in the climb. And I think contador is still above Nibali. But I can be wrong. TDF will tell.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bra...mes-biggest-rival-for-the-2014-tour-de-france

Brailsford has just started his usual spin. It is clear that he is de-emphasizing the competition of Contador as he is Froomes main rival.
And since Saxo dropped Froome and SKY during stage 13 of the TDF last year, its also now SKY vs Tinkoff-Saxo, of course hes downsizing it, -not that Nibali isnt a contender on same level as AC, but they have an unsolved business with Tinkoff-Saxo, July can´t come fast enough.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Brailsford has just started his usual spin. It is clear that he is de-emphasizing the competition of Contador as he is Froomes main rival.
And since Saxo dropped Froome and SKY during stage 13 of the TDF last year, its also now SKY vs Tinkoff-Saxo, of course hes downsizing it, -not that Nibali isnt a contender on same level as AC, but they have an unsolved business with Tinkoff-Saxo, July can´t come fast enough.

Lol I don't pay any attention to whatever Brailsfraud says. 90% is bullcrap

 

[Butterhead]

Lol I don't pay any attention to whatever Brailsfraud says. 90% is bullcrap

Good girl

I´ve also always seen him as the english answer to Claus Hembo, or it´s vice versa...anyway, I doens´t listen to any of them either since most of it is...yes, bullcrap

 

[karlboss]

ai ai.. i won't sell contador short yet. His season hasn't started yet and so does Froome. I would wait to see how their form looks like at the first quarter of the season. Froome and Sky definitely got 'Contador's number'. They got the antidote of his 30 seconds burst. Now, it's been more than a year since contador's band, he should got his racing miles and he already got the taste to race against Froome and Sky. So we'll see what happen. He looks like (from his tweeter, photos) more ready this year than last year. His first test will be at T-A - head to head with froome (hopefully nibali)

I know everyone said that Nibali is better than contador. Even Brailsford single out nibali as chris froome's biggest rival. But I don't know.. I can hardly see how nibali is stronger than contador in the climb. And I think contador is still above Nibali. But I can be wrong. TDF will tell.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bra...mes-biggest-rival-for-the-2014-tour-de-france

I guess I'm expecting Contador to be at the level he was last year and the year before which is with Rodriguez and Valverde, a whisker behind Nibali, and nowhere near Froome. To me it appears that the only people who may get close are Quintana and Porte, who still needs to be consistent over 3 weeks. In Contador's twitter pics he looks no more ready than last year, his talk is the same as last year, I guess I'm pessimistic in looking for a return to 2010 form, I'll believe it when i see it.
As for Froome's nearest rival, I'd place it evenly as Contador and Nibali. I'd include Valverde on strength but he's less of a threat as he rides more predictably. I think more will depend on tactics than strength.

 

[hayzer114]

Its about time that other teams take the finger out and start taking it to sky, the tour for the past two years hasn't been a spectacle as teams have been afraid of Sky once they come to the front. Astana, Tinkoff, Movistar are every but as strong as Sky on paper but it seems that every one is paying too much attention to the media hype around sky. They are only as good as you allow them to be. Look at the 2012 Vuelta, Contador, Rodriguez and Valverde took it to Froome (albeit he was coming from the tour) and he cracked. If you stay with Froome and allow him to control the tempo he will just destroy you, Contador needs to attack on the climbs with his old ferocity, same with Nibali, he needs to go out and dominate the tour like he did the Giro last year and then relentlessly attack on the descents. Contador/Nibali need to take the iniative and go for broke other wise its two from two for Froome. If at first you don't succeed try try again.

 

[Nilsson]

I guess I'm expecting Contador to be at the level he was last year and the year before which is with Rodriguez and Valverde, a whisker behind Nibali, and nowhere near Froome. To me it appears that the only people who may get close are Quintana and Porte, who still needs to be consistent over 3 weeks. In Contador's twitter pics he looks no more ready than last year, his talk is the same as last year, I guess I'm pessimistic in looking for a return to 2010 form, I'll believe it when i see it.
As for Froome's nearest rival, I'd place it evenly as Contador and Nibali. I'd include Valverde on strength but he's less of a threat as he rides more predictably. I think more will depend on tactics than strength.

On the other hand, he's training a lot more (possibly even more than ever) and traveling a lot less. Therefore, I'm pretty sure he will be better than last year, and maybe even a bit more consistent and durable than in 2012.

 

[karlboss]

On the other hand, he's training a lot more (possibly even more than ever) and traveling a lot less. Therefore, I'm pretty sure he will be better than last year, and maybe even a bit more consistent and durable than in 2012.

To me it just sounds like the usual off season stuff, you know just before the tour he was putting out numbers equal to his best years...again believe it when i see it.

 

[Publicus]

I guess I'm expecting Contador to be at the level he was last year and the year before which is with Rodriguez and Valverde, a whisker behind Nibali, and nowhere near Froome. To me it appears that the only people who may get close are Quintana and Porte, who still needs to be consistent over 3 weeks. In Contador's twitter pics he looks no more ready than last year, his talk is the same as last year, I guess I'm pessimistic in looking for a return to 2010 form, I'll believe it when i see it.
As for Froome's nearest rival, I'd place it evenly as Contador and Nibali. I'd include Valverde on strength but he's less of a threat as he rides more predictably. I think more will depend on tactics than strength.

I'm still pulling for AC, but this is where I am with his comments about this year (though I will say he's keeping a much lower profile this year compared to last--not sure if that translates into anything, just an observation).

 

[Butterhead]

I guess I'm expecting Contador to be at the level he was last year and the year before which is with Rodriguez and Valverde, a whisker behind Nibali, and nowhere near Froome. To me it appears that the only people who may get close are Quintana and Porte, who still needs to be consistent over 3 weeks. In Contador's twitter pics he looks no more ready than last year, his talk is the same as last year, I guess I'm pessimistic in looking for a return to 2010 form, I'll believe it when i see it.
As for Froome's nearest rival, I'd place it evenly as Contador and Nibali. I'd include Valverde on strength but he's less of a threat as he rides more predictably. I think more will depend on tactics than strength.

Last years weather played a huge role on AC´s performance, as it did for many others to. The extreme cold spring isnt the best preparation if you suffer from heavy allergies, and because of the cold spring the pollen season started later than usual and influenced AC´s performance in the tour, something that usually happens earlier in the season.

Why would he lie about his numbers, the team said they had no idea why he performed so poorly, the numbers up till the tour suggested his form were where it should be, but already during the first stages on Corsica he could feel something was wrong, and its what he told, he also suffered from allergy in the tour, then its impossible to perform 100%.

That said, I do believe AC lacked a bit of motivation, also because of Bjarnes absence from the team, many things didn´t work optimal last season, but giving the blame on Contadors ability to compete on the highest level and not be a contender for Froome is just not true, and besides, from what ive seen from Saxo, they arent one bit scared of SKY but have been the only team up there to take on the challenge.

Hopefully Riis will avoid a ban and stay with the team for the next 3 years, if he does that, then I´m sure we will see a good show in July.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

To me it just sounds like the usual off season stuff, you know just before the tour he was putting out numbers equal to his best years...again believe it when i see it.

He even said he broke a training record...

IMO he'll have much better form in his first race this year (versus San Luis 2013), but I don't think he'll improve much on his results from last year in the races that count. He might even do worse results-wise in races like T-A, where he was lucky to finish 3rd.

 

[Butterhead]

I really don´t get it.

On what bases do you justify that AC suddenly went from a top 3 contender to suddenly only be a top 10 contender?
The guy just turned 31, he is in his prime, he had a bad year, it happens for everyone, look at wiggins, look at Gilbert, Look at Husvord, Look at Boonen etc etc, writing him off like hes a second grade gc rider is just ridiculous, and in same sentence say that Porte is a favorite, its like saying a Beetle would turn into a Porche 911 just because it changed mechanic.

AC is not finished by a mile, if he can stay clear of his allergy problems then Froome will have his hands full, mark my words.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

I really don´t get it.

On what bases do you justify that AC suddenly went from a top 3 contender to suddenly only be a top 10 contender?

That didn't happen, though. He was still very much a top-5 contender last year.

Contador won the 2012 Vuelta against tired riders, similar to Horner last year. Though, unlike Horner, and apart from his surprisingly strong performance in that post-rest day stage, he wasn't very impressive there, either.

 

[webvan]

Yeah it's a shame but we've discussed that before and there really aren't too many examples of TDF winners riders fading and then coming back on top, Lemond and Hinault don't count as they were injured, so that leaves Fignon who nearly made it back in 1989.

 

[Butterhead]

That didn't happen, though. He was still very much a top-5 contender last year.

Contador won the 2012 Vuelta against tired riders, similar to Horner last year. Though, unlike Horner, and apart from his surprisingly strong performance in that post-rest day stage, he wasn't very impressive there, either.

He had been out of competition for a long time and just returned, I would say he did more than you could expect. Winning it were even more impressive.

But as another one said, its been discussed before, lets just wait and see how he performs in his first 2 or 3 races, that will indicate how competitive he will or can be in the tour.

I´m just not ready to sign him of yet, he have this season to prove he still got it.

 

[Arredondo]

He had been out of competition for a long time and just returned, I would say he did more than you could expect. Winning it were even more impressive.

But as another one said, its been discussed before, lets just wait and see how he performs in his first 2 or 3 races, that will indicate how competitive he will or can be in the tour.

I´m just not ready to sign him of yet, he have this season to prove he still got it.

He was only out for sixth months, and is riding almost two years now.

 

[Alphabet]

There's no chance Contador is finished, and people writing him off are going to wind up with egg on their faces sooner or later. He would have finished 2nd, with ease, at last year's Tour if he didn't adopt a yellow or nothing mentality. And let's not forget that even though he faded on the final two stages in the mountains, he did an exceptional time trial in the third week, despite being (clearly) not at his best throughout the whole Tour. When he gets back to his maximum potential (for the sake of argument, let's say that the 2009 Tour and 2011 Giro levels are, for whatever reason, not achievable for Contador anymore), he is still going to be Froome's biggest competitor. Whether that's enough to add another Tour to his palmares, I'm not sure; but he certainly has it in him to win a Giro or a Vuelta, at the least, before he's truly past it.

90% is bullcrap

You're being kind with that figure.

 

[Pentacycle]

He was only out for sixth months, and is riding almost two years now.

He actually has ridden little more than a season since his comeback, and the only race he rode between the 2011 TdF and 2012 Enecotour was San Luis.

 

[roundabout]

He would have finished 2nd, with ease, at last year's Tour if he didn't adopt a yellow or nothing mentality.

bull****

In what universe did his mini attacks cost him 2 minutes?

 

[LaFlorecita]

bull****

In what universe did his mini attacks cost him 2 minutes?

He did blow himself up twice trying to follow the pace.

 

[Miburo]

There's no way in hell that Contador could have made the podium in the tour last year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

There's no way in hell that Contador could have made the podium in the tour last year.

Pfff

 

[Butterhead]

There's no way in hell that Contador could have made the podium in the tour last year.

Lool, just love the "I know everything" experts.

 

[roundabout]

He did blow himself up twice trying to follow the pace.

does Quintana get to ride conservatively in this other universe?

 

[LaFlorecita]

does Quintana get to ride conservatively in this other universe?

I have no idea what you're on about.

 

[Lanark]

I have no idea what you're on about.

Seems fairly obvious. It's disingenous to suggest that Contador could have finished 2nd if he rode more conservatively (which he did already), while Quintana attacked on the penultimate climb in the Ax-3-Domaines stage, and attacked early in the Ventoux stage, both certainly much more emblematic of a 'yellow or die' attitude than what Contador showed, and certainly actions that cost him much more time than those negligable attacks by Contador.

Froome and Quintana were just much better last year in the Tour, the place were Contador finished was an honest representation of his level during that Tour. Maybe he can improve this year, it's not impossible or very unlikely. But even an improvement might not be enough, after all, the last time he showed a level high enough to beat a 100% Froome was in the Giro 2011, almost 30 months ago, and the last time before that was in the 2009 Tour. He will have to reach that level again to win the Tour this year.