Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[murali]

What is this non-sense abt AC wheelsucking?

I think i will trust AC's racing brain over here. He will do whatever is best. The whole point of this stage is seeing wht he will or wont do.

I personally think tht he will follow the guy in front till he is ready to launch himself. if he is getting gaps, then he wud be happy, or else he wont mind.

 

[Cimber]

AC just needs to concern about himself. If he is in top shape none of the remaining riders should be able to follow him on the tough and long mountains. Today I dont see Berto making up time - he might even lose some to a guy like Valverde. But monday should suit him better

 

[LaFlorecita]

Contador only needs to be concerned with Nibali. Nibali has to be concerned with everyone.

Exactly this.

 

[LaFlorecita]

This can't be coming from a rider who's team wouldn't even slow their roll when one of their own rider's, a Tour contender, crashed and coincidentally took down that same team's primary competition for the yellow jersey?? Can't be!

Lol crazy stuff

 

[inthepink]

Contador only needs to be concerned with Nibali. Nibali has to be concerned with everyone.

Exactly

You said it in one sentence when it took me half a page

Astana have to be made to defend their position ...TCS do not have resource to control the race and not good tactics while 2.5minutes behind

 

[indianfanboy]

Nibali can be selective to chase the attacks as he has a big cushion but Contador cant afford to lose any more time to rivals like Porte,Valverde even if he manages to distance Nibali....The best thing for Contador to do is attack(on monday)

 

[Dr. Juice]

AC just needs to concern about himself. If he is in top shape none of the remaining riders should be able to follow him on the tough and long mountains. Today I dont see Berto making up time - he might even lose some to a guy like Valverde. But monday should suit him better

Exactly. He will attack on monday for sure. That's a decent mountain stage and a steep last climb (although not long). Should gain some 30 seconds on Nibali and/ or most other rivals if he feels good.

He was right in saying that the Pirenees will decide the tour. He won't take yellow until end of Hautacam. And if he's still some seconds behind, we can prepare for a massacre on the Pla d' Adet stage.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Exactly. He will attack on monday for sure. That's a decent mountain stage and a steep last climb (although not long). Should gain some 30 seconds on Nibali and/ or most other rivals if he feels good.

He was right in saying that the Pirenees will decide the tour. He won't take yellow until end of Hautacam. And if he's still some seconds behind, we can prepare for a massacre on the Pla d' Adet stage.

Pla d'Adet is the day before Hautacam

 

[indianfanboy]

Exactly. He will attack on monday for sure. That's a decent mountain stage and a steep last climb (although not long). Should gain some 30 seconds on Nibali and/ or most other rivals if he feels good.

He was right in saying that the Pirenees will decide the tour. He won't take yellow until end of Hautacam. And if he's still some seconds behind, we can prepare for a massacre on the Pla d' Adet stage.

Yeah and it would be ideal if he could reduce the gap to around 1 minute before we enter the pyreness

 

[Alcanelo]

Rewatching Contador-Schleck on Col du Tourmalet '10....what a stage, beautiful to watch it again...wouldn't it be great to have Andy and Contador on the same team pacing each other up the mountains?

 

[Sciocco]

Rewatching Contador-Schleck on Col du Tourmalet '10....what a stage, beautiful to watch it again...wouldn't it be great to have Andy and Contador on the same team pacing each other up the mountains?

That would be neat, but with how Schleck has ridden for the last little while, he shouldn't get paid anything more than minimum wage. Also, I doubt Riis would take the Schlecks.

 

[Carols]

Rewatching Contador-Schleck on Col du Tourmalet '10....what a stage, beautiful to watch it again...wouldn't it be great to have Andy and Contador on the same team pacing each other up the mountains?

????? The Andy of the last 3+ years couldn't hold Berto's wheel for 10 seconds

 

[Alcanelo]

Obviously Andy's form is suspect with a while now but a few years ago maybe it would have been perfect... I always liked seeing Bertie and Kreuziger together and with Andy it'd even be more enjoyable to watch

 

[maxmartin]

LOL Tinkoff is in the team bus today, the TV showed AC has no smile at all when Tinkoff was around

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Contador only needs to be concerned with Nibali. Nibali has to be concerned with everyone.

Last month Contador was only concerned with Froome and lost the Dauphine because of that, even though he put in a huge effort. No one knows how Nibali will perform in the key mountain stages. It doesn't make much sense at this point to target Nibali and no one else.

 

[murali]

Last month Contador was only concerned with Froome and lost the Dauphine because of that, even though he put in a huge effort. No one knows how Nibali will perform in the key mountain stages. It doesn't make much sense at this point to target Nibali and no one else.

I thought tht Froome made mistakes because of AC. i think he went to training before he fully recovered from DL crash.
(just my gut feeling)

i dont think AC will be nibbles-centric here.

 

[lenric]

Last month Contador was only concerned with Froome and lost the Dauphine because of that, even though he put in a huge effort. No one knows how Nibali will perform in the key mountain stages. It doesn't make much sense at this point to target Nibali and no one else.

It makes sense, because Fuglsang will answer attacks made by guys like Valverde, Talansky or Porte and Nibali will follow him, so as to he doesn't have the need to answer any attack. When Nibali follows Fuglsang, Contador follows him, so Fugslang will necessarily work indirectly for Contador.

Assuming Nibali is in good form, off course.

 

[ILovecycling]

Road is starting to rise,hopefuly our champion is feeling comfortable now

 

[LaFlorecita]

Road is starting to rise,hopefuly our champion is feeling comfortable now

Let's hope so

 

[murali]

AC cuts the lead of nibbles by 3 secs.

now it is just 154 more seconds to make up.

 

[Jelantik]

Contador cleaning the pretender out the GC list today. He looked really comfortable. Nibali looked cooked. Majka, Paulinho did a great pull and so does Rogers. Nicho not bad too. Good day so far. Look now contador sits on 6. Just need to get ride of couple people that doesn't belong to top 5 (kwiat and fuglsang)

 

[No_Balls]

Still more positive signs that one could wish for. Alberto didnt do a full-out attack and cut symbolic seconds. Saxo looked pretty decent and Nibalis team are not at all ready for the mountains assuming Saxo keeps this up.

It looks pretty good.

 

[indianfanboy]

Alberto is hiding an extra gear and he looked so effortless...Nibali surely gave it everything and a very good poker face by him but your legs never lie

 

[LaFlorecita]

Still more positive signs that one could wish for. Alberto didnt do a full-out attack and cut symbolic seconds. Saxo looked pretty decent and Nibalis team are not at all ready for the mountains assuming Saxo keeps this up.

It looks pretty good.

My thoughts:
Contador accelerated, only Nibali could follow. Once the road got a little less steep, Bertie put in a dig and took a few seconds. Nibali looked cooked crossing the line looking forward to Monday!!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto is hiding an extra gear and he looked so effortless...Nibali surely gave it everything and a very good poker face by him but your legs never lie

Agreed. On longer climbs Berto will drop Nibali good and proper I think... he put the pressure on for a couple 100m today and then attacked when it got less steep.... 3s gap Thought Alberto looked fresher than Nibali crossing the line