Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[webbie146]

Stage 1

My memory fails me to often haha

Tommorow is going to be awesome, the final climb is pretty brutal

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

AC and Aru to leave the rest behind tomorrow. AC to dance on his pedal as if he was possesed by Baryshnikov, and Aru as if he had visited heaven and stolen Gabriels wings

 

[LaFlorecita]

AC and Aru to leave the rest behind tomorrow. AC to dance on his pedal as if he was possesed by Baryshnikov, and Aru as if he had visited heaven and stolen Gabriels wings

I would not mind that

 

[Red Rick]

Don't worry LaFLo, you forgot he's gonna win stages in the third week

 

[LaFlorecita]

Don't worry LaFLo, you forgot he's gonna win stages in the third week

WTF added a sad smiley instead of happy and did not notice

I hope he can win a stage but at this point the priority is that he doesn't lose the red jersey

 

[BlurryVII]

So Purito's got a mustache on this pic

 

[Jelantik]

Am I the only one who thinks that Contador was a bit struggling at the end? I thought he might have burned his matches too early. If he would stayed longer, he might not loose 7 sec from Froome. (Yeah I know it's small, but you can't let Froome won psychological war and gained his confidence).

Froome on the other hand, looks like he is resurrecting. A little dangerous if they keep letting him come back. I hope this isn't a sign that Contador is weakening and Froome is getting stronger. Froome is still a dangerous man, until someone strong enough to finish him off for good when he is yo-yoing at the back. But from the look of today's stage, looks like everyone is sorta in similar levels. (except valverde and uran)

Valverde? Lol. What was he thinking? If he keeps doing that he will be off the podium by next week.

 

[Jelantik]

Valverde isn't a threat anymore, I think he'll keep losing time in the next couple of stages.

Another positive point is that AC didn't lose much time.
But it's still worrying though, as I believe we were all wrong from the beginning, we all thought AC would be flying by the 2nd-3rd week but he isn't getting better day by day, he is as good as he was on Zubia. The worst case scenario would be that his form is actually decreasing because he looked much better on stage 9.
Let's wait and see, I thought it would be a domination but he doesn't have the form which is normal. It's gonna come down to tactics...

Or is it possible because he wasn't smart enough to time his effort? Froome rode smart today. If everyone decides to keep blowing themselves out, then Froome will finish them off. Alberto needs to ride smart especially with his current form that doesn't help him to sustain his attack. Remind me of Dauphene 2013. Today is a hard lesson for Valverde. He'll stop making stupid attack if he doesn't want to get kicked out of the podium by purito and froome.

 

[Sciocco]

Am I the only one who thinks that Contador was a bit struggling at the end? I thought he might have burned his matches too early. If he would stayed longer, he might not loose 7 sec from Froome. (Yeah I know it's small, but you can't let Froome won psychological war and gained his confidence).

Froome on the other hand, looks like he is resurrecting. A little dangerous if they keep letting him come back. I hope this isn't a sign that Contador is weakening and Froome is getting stronger. Froome is still a dangerous man, until someone strong enough to finish him off for good when he is yo-yoing at the back. But from the look of today's stage, looks like everyone is sorta in similar levels. (except valverde and uran)

Valverde? Lol. What was he thinking? If he keeps doing that he will be off the podium by next week.

I think it is tough to make a call on Froome. One day he is riding a terrible ITT, another day dropping everyone, and yet another day being dropped himself. He is all over the place, but with mostly small time differences. I wonder if we will have an idea after these next two stages? I hope not, would be nice to see Contador attack hard on stage 20.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I think it is tough to make a call on Froome. One day he is riding a terrible ITT, another day dropping everyone, and yet another day being dropped himself. He is all over the place, but with mostly small time differences. I wonder if we will have an idea after these next two stages? I hope not, would be nice to see Contador attack hard on stage 20.

It would be nicer to see Contador go into stage 20 with at least a 30s advantage so he doesn't have to attack hard.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Am I the only one who thinks that Contador was a bit struggling at the end? I thought he might have burned his matches too early. If he would stayed longer, he might not loose 7 sec from Froome. (Yeah I know it's small, but you can't let Froome won psychological war and gained his confidence).

Froome on the other hand, looks like he is resurrecting. A little dangerous if they keep letting him come back. I hope this isn't a sign that Contador is weakening and Froome is getting stronger. Froome is still a dangerous man, until someone strong enough to finish him off for good when he is yo-yoing at the back. But from the look of today's stage, looks like everyone is sorta in similar levels. (except valverde and uran)

Valverde? Lol. What was he thinking? If he keeps doing that he will be off the podium by next week.

I think everyone saw Contador struggle, because guess what, he was struggling.

And I wouldn't count out Valverde, he's looked strong everywhere so far, and he usually cracks on extreme gradients.

 

[Granville57]

So Purito's got a mustache on this pic

I do see a resemblance.

 

[Sciocco]

It would be nicer to see Contador go into stage 20 with at least a 30s advantage so he doesn't have to attack hard.

I certainly hope he wins, but a Contador-esque attack on one stage would be nice to see too. Attack hard on stage 20, take the stage win and use the final stage ITT as a celebration.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Froome on the other hand, looks like he is resurrecting. A little dangerous if they keep letting him come back. I hope this isn't a sign that Contador is weakening and Froome is getting stronger. Froome is still a dangerous man, until someone strong enough to finish him off for good when he is yo-yoing at the back. But from the look of today's stage, looks like everyone is sorta in similar levels. (except valverde and uran)

Valverde? Lol. What was he thinking? If he keeps doing that he will be off the podium by next week.

I don't think Froome is getting much stronger relative to Contador, Aru, Purito and Valverde. If at all. Valverde seemingly wasted the most energy, followed by Contador, Purito and Aru. Froome seemingly wasted the least.

So I don't think you can draw too many conclusion from yesterday's finish, except that no one is on great form. Valverde probably has the best form of the remaining contenders (but is the most limited climber)

 

[ILovecycling]

We should be more tranquilo, there is so much tense, nervousness here, always when Alberto rides a GT


Vamos Alberto!!!

 

[Miburo]

He has a very simple task, follow froome, piti and purito. That's his only job.

And i doubt they'll attack him each at his turn, i hope not. Anyway this isn't the first time Contador is in that position.

Look at the giro '08 where he clearly wasn't the best climber but he still won it. And in the vuelta this year he has proven to be the most consistent climber.

 

[Red Rick]

Fabio Aru might be a natural ally. Aru will be looking to distance Uran, so he could start dragging the group when Uran drops.

 

[trevim]

We should be more tranquilo, there is so much tense, nervousness here, always when Alberto rides a GT


Vamos Alberto!!!

I think the only GT with Contador that I could actually enjoy was Giro 2011 simply because he had so muh ease. It's all stress, even worse than Champions League football for me. I'll need a cardiac check up when he retires

 

[Miburo]

Aru is a fan of Contador, if Contador asks him to take a pull in a similar situation as yesterday there's no way he'll refuse that

 

[LaFlorecita]

I think the only GT with Contador that I could actually enjoy was Giro 2011 simply because he had so muh ease. It's all stress, even worse than Champions League football for me. I'll need a cardiac check up when he retires

Yes I know the feeling, 180BPM on every MTF

 

[Carols]

Or is it possible because he wasn't smart enough to time his effort? Froome rode smart today. If everyone decides to keep blowing themselves out, then Froome will finish them off. Alberto needs to ride smart especially with his current form that doesn't help him to sustain his attack. Remind me of Dauphene 2013. Today is a hard lesson for Valverde. He'll stop making stupid attack if he doesn't want to get kicked out of the podium by purito and froome.

Alberto may have been caught in the heat of the moment and wanted to put Bala away. He accomplished that but overreached. Sure maybe it was because he didn't know the climb or he was over confident.

Bala well he can't win. If he doesn't attack he is called names and if he does he is called names.

Alberto getting dropped by both Froome and Purito is Not a Good Sign. Hopefully he recovered well overnight. There are two very tough days coming up and he has little team support once the road goes up.

 

[Carols]

Yes I know the feeling, 180BPM on every MTF

LOL! I usually take a tranquillo pill and a heart pill about 30 minutes before the climb starts .

 

[kingjr]

He has a very simple task, follow froome, piti and purito. That's his only job.

Sounds easy enough

 

[Jelantik]

I don't think Froome is getting much stronger relative to Contador, Aru, Purito and Valverde. If at all. Valverde seemingly wasted the most energy, followed by Contador, Purito and Aru. Froome seemingly wasted the least.

So I don't think you can draw too many conclusion from yesterday's finish, except that no one is on great form. Valverde probably has the best form of the remaining contenders (but is the most limited climber)

I hope you are right. Froome was the least one who spent a lot of energy. Just saw his interview, He said it himself that he was hoping everyone will blow himself out. That makes him dangerous. Contador can't let him chipping his time away slowly because the last ITT is flat. I hope today Contador is smarter. But his team, boy.. compare to sky.. 7 vs.. (how many TS)? Monday is another tough day.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I hope you are right. Froome was the least one who spent a lot of energy. Just saw his interview, He said it himself that he was hoping everyone will blow himself out. That makes him dangerous. Contador can't let him chipping his time away slowly because the last ITT is flat. I hope today Contador is smarter. But his team, boy.. compare to sky.. 7 vs.. (how many TS)? Monday is another tough day.

See this year's Dauphiné.