Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Miburo]

Alberto does not "suck at cobbles- badly". He's not great on them, but not terrible either. See 2010. This year he was just unlucky they were wet.

I'm sure that Contador could top 15 roubaix if he really wanted to, if you've that talent you can do anything on a bike.

One bad ride on the cobbles doesn't mean anything, besides he didn't wanna take any risks on wet cobbles.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Contador might need to make up up to a minute on Uran in the mountains, a feat which he can when enjoying the landscape en philosofizing about the meaning of life

Lol

I just looked at the parcours again and there are not many really hard MTFs, 2 are moderately hard but nothing special, the rest is 5% action, hmmm... Maybe Alberto will have to attack from far out, there are plenty hard penultimate climbs

 

[LaFlorecita]

I'm sure that Contador could top 15 roubaix if he really wanted to, if you've that talent you can do anything on a bike.

One bad ride on the cobbles doesn't mean anything, besides he didn't wanna take any risks on wet cobbles.

Errr, no, he would not be able to finish top 15 at PR

 

[Miburo]

Errr, no, he would not be able to finish top 15 at PR

I think he can, then again this is just what i think. There's no proof to back it up.

There's for the RVV though.

 

[May0maniac]

Lol

I just looked at the parcours again and there are not many really hard MTFs, 2 are moderately hard but nothing special, the rest is 5% action, hmmm... Maybe Alberto will have to attack from far out, there are plenty hard penultimate climbs

With all the respect for Uran, Aru was able to gain 1min on the first 2 real mountain stages, so contador shouldn't have big problems. The Mortirolo and the Fauniera stage should be both hard enough, Contador should be able to gain over 1min over Uran with those 2 stages.

 

[Red Rick]

Contador, who doesn't care about getting 2nd in the Tour, is really care about 15th in Roubaix. He's more likelier to win the triple when he tried than he'd be to top 15 roubaix

 

[Red Rick]

With all the respect for Uran, Aru was able to gain 1min on the first 2 real mountain stages, so contador shouldn't have big problems. The Mortirolo and the Fauniera stage should be both hard enough, Contador should be able to gain over 1min over Uran with those 2 stages.

Wait, the Fauniera is in

Shame it's Finestre preceded by flat road though

 

[May0maniac]

Wait, the Fauniera is in

Shame it's Finestre preceded by flat road though

Sorry, my fault

 

[Mellow Velo]

Wait, the Fauniera is in

Shame it's Finestre preceded by flat road though

Why a shame it's Finestre?

http://www.climbbybike.com/most_difficult_climbs.asp?Country=Italy&CountryID=2&MountainID=1912

Fauniera not in the top 20.

 

[ILovecycling]

So no nibali, Contador at 85% should be enough for this. Will be the easiest GT win of his career.

Yea ik shouldn't underestimate opponents...There's no one worthy, aru isn't good enough yet. Uran?

dont underestimate Uran, he will smoke AC in that 60k TT by a minute.otoh depends how good he will be in mountains, he needs to improve

 

[Miburo]

dont underestimate Uran, he will smoke AC in that 60k TT by a minute.otoh depends how good he will be in mountains, he needs to improve

He's a better ITT, yea but who cares? He'll lose minutes in the mountain, i'm rating Uran correctly.

Have you watched the giro and the vuelta? He'll have no chance to win this.

 

[Red Rick]

Why a shame it's Finestre?

http://www.climbbybike.com/most_difficult_climbs.asp?Country=Italy&CountryID=2&MountainID=1912

Fauniera not in the top 20.

Finestre disappointed me last time and the stage isn't that great. Fauniera has better opportunity for action I think.

 

[Miburo]

Contador, who doesn't care about getting 2nd in the Tour, is really care about 15th in Roubaix. He's more likelier to win the triple when he tried than he'd be to top 15 roubaix

When did i say Contador will do it?

Don't try and act like a smartass by missquoting people, idiot.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Finestre disappointed me last time and the stage isn't that great. Fauniera has better opportunity for action I think.

You obviously weren't following the sport back in 2005, then.
One of the very best mountain stages in recent history.
Also the penultimate stage; the Giro overall victory changed hands twice in that one day.

 

[Red Rick]

You obviously weren't following the sport back in 2005, then.
One of the very best mountain stages in recent history.
Also the penultimate stage; the Giro overall victory changed hands twice in that one day.

Back then I was still playing pokemon on my gameboy, sorry

 

[LaFlorecita]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLqV033CoBQ

long vid of the camp

 

[LaFlorecita]

Back then I was still playing pokemon on my gameboy, sorry

you don't play pokemon anymore come on dude

 

[thehook]

So Alberto attacked on Kilamangro

Thanks for posting the video.

 

[Red Rick]

you don't play pokemon anymore come on dude

Now I play on my smartphone obviously

 

[LaFlorecita]

Now I play on my smartphone obviously

me too

 

[Red Rick]

Just another inside last 5km attack by Contador....

In other news, Froome has complained about the lack of out of competition testing on the Kilimanjaro

 

[greenedge]

too heavy imho, he shouldnt ride vasco I think

I'd counter that by arguing he shouldn't ride Catalunya, no ITT and the climbs aren't as short and steep as those in Pais Vasco. Also that gives him time to do T-A, altitude then P-V. I've always thought Contador is a rider who needs racing to get into form and although he and Froome seem to be great at training they don't do the Quintana approach of racing as little as possible before a GT and I'm sure each rider has their own preferences.

Knowing Contador he'll probably ride all 3.

 

[Electress]

I suspect Alberto has his number now. It makes sense. That's probably the reason why Chris was calling for testing while training in the Canary Islands: He was probably handed the #s (the real) Contador was doing and his brain went "holy f***!".

I mean, I've re-watched some of the DL and Vuelta stages and you can clearly see that Chris was trying to work Alberto psychologically from the very beginning by pulling 2013 Mt Ventoux-style super accelerations over and over and he just couldn't get it done. In fact, watch the Ancares stage: Chris does acceleration after acceleration and gets dropped like a hooker at a police station with 1K to go.

I think Contador's recovery from his injury, his commanding performance at the Vuelta even though not 100%, and Froome's inability to drop AC followed by AC's leaving him for dead stage 20 despite the accelerations, will have been a bit of a wake up call for Sky and Froome. I think 2013 led them to underestimate Contador, and 2014 they've realised that they've got to vary their tactics. Fact is, Froome can no longer assume that Sky Train + 'going mutant' = cracking Contador. AC is in the driving seat psychologically IMO. Not helped by Froome's weird inability to stay consistently upright. I would not be confident he'd be better than AC on wet cobbles...

What did Froome say when interviewed that he'd learned from the Vuelta? That if Contador gets any time, his isn't going to relinquish it.


Rgarding that video - Sagan was carrying a seriously hefty pack. Did no one tell him there were porters? Still, should help him get his weight down.

Wish we'd seen the misery in the wet and cold…now that would have been an insight into team behaviour. Sagan looked utterly miserable in the pictures I saw.

 

[contador977]

So... Froome was stronger because he led most of the climb while Alberto sat on his wheel. Ok, this is your proof that the Kenyan was stronger than Alberto? Buddy, fact of the matter is Alberto dropped Chris multiple times at the DL + the Vuelta this year, this is not arguable, it's a fact.

What you are arguing are the circumstances that led to Froome's supposed lesser form in those two competitions. THAT we can argue on. Do you understand the difference? You can use all the hypothetical mumbo-jumbo you want but Alberto shellacked Froome in the DL + Vuelta in 2014. I understand it's hard to digest but it is what it is.

I think Froome was a little bit stronger than Contador at the Dauphine. Froome 's attack at the Dauphine were stronger than the Vuelta. Contador could barely stay on Froome's wheel in Stage 2 . The elastic was stretching between the 2 riders. Contador was in pain and although he half attemtped to come around Froome in the last few meters, u could see on his face, it was not happening. Contador was not dropped but it was very close.

At the Vuelta Froome attacked but Contador is has gas in the tank to come around him in the last km to take the stage victory on 2 occasions. At the Dauphine this was not happening. Froome was too strong at the Dauphine. If Contador cant take time from Froome in the mountains and the long ITT are in Froome's favour, then what do u do? I think Froome during a mountainous route might lose time on a certain day, that he may not be able to endure day after day attacks from a Quintana or Contador, but Im not sure.

The circumstances that lead to Contador attacking Froome later in the Dauphine and Froome not following, were obviously the crashes Froome sustained. At the Vuelta it had to do with who was more on form late in the year. If the Vuelta was 5 days longer, I could see Froome in red, he was getting strong and reliable. Dropping everyone in the mountains but Contador.

 

[sir fly]

Contador won't be competitive at the Tour whatever approach he takes.
He was nowhere near wheelsucker Evans and pathetic whiner Schleck last time he did the double. It's hard to believe that 4 years older Contador will do better against the bloodthirsty predators of the current era.