Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[BlurryVII]

I have a good feeling about Tirreno. Contador looks very lean on the pics I've seen, certainly lost the extra weight from Andalucia. Can't wait.

 

[Jspear]

I have a good feeling about Tirreno. Contador looks very lean on the pics I've seen, certainly lost the extra weight from Andalucia. Can't wait.

Ya he could definitely end up winning Tirreno with CF being sick now.

 

[rhubroma]

So Froome is sick at the moment is he?

 

[LaFlorecita]

So Froome is sick at the moment is he?

"Sick"

 

[LaFlorecita]

I have a good feeling about Tirreno. Contador looks very lean on the pics I've seen, certainly lost the extra weight from Andalucia. Can't wait.

Alberto training yesterday near Madrid, he looks fit even through the layers of clothing

 

[Bexon30]

"Sick"

Apparently he is but I wou read too much into that as whenever he's up against the big boys now he really has to go ape just to prove who he considers to be the boss. I'm sure he plays games more and more during races now yoyoing to see how strong others are. Come July they'll be no yoyo, just crazy riding. As regards Alberto looking slim and lighter than Andalusia are there any recent pics? I'm hoping this Tierreno is epic.

Edit : cool flo. Man i'd love that bike awesome colour scheme.

 

[Miburo]

Contador is gonna be really good, prob too good.

I bet he's still annoyed with that loss against Froome, he'll do anything he can to take revenge in this race.

 

[rick james]

Contador is gonna be really good, prob too good.

I bet he's still annoyed with that loss against Froome, he'll do anything he can to take revenge in this race.

LOL, very good

 

[SeriousSam]

With Froome sick, he now has a great chance to win TA.

 

[LaFlorecita]

With Froome sick, he now has a great chance to win TA.

I personally refuse to believe he is sick. I would not be surprised if Sky is trying to put pressure on Contador. "If Froome beats Contador, or is very close to him, while he's been sick... Can you imagine how good he'll be when he's had a good preparation?"

 

[LaFlorecita]

Either way, a lot will depend on the TTT and the ITT. Alberto needs to ride a great ITT, like in Andalucia, and the team needs to pull off an excellent TTT.

 

[Miburo]

Either way, a lot will depend on the TTT and the ITT. Alberto needs to ride a great ITT, like in Andalucia, and the team needs to pull off an excellent TTT.

Even if he rides an average ITT i won't be worried, last year his ITT was also rather poor.

 

[SeriousSam]

I personally refuse to believe he is sick. I would not be surprised if Sky is trying to put pressure on Contador. "If Froome beats Contador, or is very close to him, while he's been sick... Can you imagine how good he'll be when he's had a good preparation?"

Very unlikely. Froome already demonstrated his climbing is better than Contador's at this point in time. The remaining uncertainty about the Tour is mainly about what their respective ceilings are, which, it is safe to say, neither have yet reached this year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Even if he rides an average ITT i won't be worried, last year his ITT was also rather poor.

Yes, but last year he had a 2 minute advantage. This year, he most likely won't, so he will have to ride a good ITT.

 

[TANK91]

Very unlikely. Froome already demonstrated his climbing is better than Contador's at this point in time. The remaining uncertainty about the Tour is mainly about what their respective ceilings are, which, it is safe to say, neither have yet reached this year.

Well Contador beat him on a stage i would not be so quick to say that. It is very tough to guage this rivalry. I think it will be so close that they almost share the races. I agree he looks a lil bit better as he absoloute crushed Contador and dropped him from his wheel.But Contador's win on stage 3 was stunning aswell.

 

[Carstenbf]

Well Contador beat him on a stage i would not be so quick to say that. It is very tough to guage this rivalry. I think it will be so close that they almost share the races. I agree he looks a lil bit better as he absoloute crushed Contador and dropped him from his wheel.But Contador's win on stage 3 was stunning aswell.

Agreed. But given the time difference at the bottom of the last climb, it seemed to me that Froome was a good deal faster up the last climb even the day Contador won. (sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong )

 

[LaFlorecita]

Agreed. But given the time difference at the bottom of the last climb, it seemed to me that Froome was a good deal faster up the last climb even the day Contador won. (sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong )

What time difference? Froome started the climb at most 5 seconds behind Contador.

 

[SeriousSam]

Letting someone go and then climbing quicker to control the damage isn't being dominated like desperately trying to hold someone's wheel but being dropped like a stone.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Letting someone go and then climbing quicker to control the damage isn't being dominated like desperately trying to hold someone's wheel but being dropped like a stone.

Who said otherwise?

 

[Jelantik]

Alberto training yesterday near Madrid, he looks fit even through the layers of clothing

He does look a little slimmer and sharp. TA will be epic

 

[arvc40]

Cant wait for Tirreno.

To much talk of colds, lack of intense training despite STATOSPHERIC ! performance. Tv cameras sending SRM's up the wall.

The dog ate my Power meter ! lol.

 

[BlurryVII]

Letting someone go and then climbing quicker to control the damage isn't being dominated like desperately trying to hold someone's wheel but being dropped like a stone.

What's your point? Andalucia doesn't mean anything, Contador is always off his climbing performance in february, especially this year doing the double. 2011, he can't beat Cummings, Van garderen between others on Malhao, 2009 (his best season) gets beaten by Colom on Malhao as well.
And this year he looked quite off his competitive weight. Contador in good form is certainly not gonna be dropped, I'd say it'd even go the other way around.

Now the thing about the first MTF, is that Froome didn't just let go, if he tried to follow AC on the bottom steep part where AC went pretty hard, he wouldn't have been able to go as fast on the second part of the climb. Contador was better that day, just like he was in the TT, ending point.

Now the thing is: you'll never see Froome getting dropped wheel to wheel because he never tries to follow AC when he attacks, he just kind of "let go" because he can't respond, that means he is dropped, he just wants avoid the "rough way". On the other hand, AC has an unfortunate tendency to always immediately jump on the wheel like he did with Andy Schleck at the time, which means when he gets dropped (which never actually happens when he is on form), people like you get excited .

 

[staubsauger]

Actually they are both pretty hard to drop hard instantly.

Froome because he has developed a good way to ride on his own straight rhythm if he can't follow a hard acceleration and pace changes. He limits his losses well in that case, which is dangerous as we saw in Spain two times now.

Contador on shape basically can only be dropped if you are able to diesel away from him like Ras did on Aubisque or if you caught him a little bit by surprise like Froome did on Allanadas. To jump away from himhas nearly been impossible so far. Even Ricco had a hard time really succeeding in that when Contador wasn't in best shape anyway. Still it was more Sella's constant tempo upping a la Pantani that cooked him back then!

 

[SeriousSam]

On the other hand, AC has an unfortunate tendency to always immediately jump on the wheel like he did with Andy Schleck at the time, which means when he gets dropped (which never actually happens when he is on form), people like you get excited .

Perhaps de Jongh should talk to him. I think Froome loses less time when he is in fact the weaker climber of the day because he paces himself better.

Anyway, as to who the better climber of the two is when both are in top form is the one big mystery which should have been resolved last year and might be resolved this year. It's very much uncertain, which is what makes the prospect of a GT battle so appealing, but I'm leaning towards Froome, based on the totality of evidence since 2012, but the latest clash has contributed a little bit to that as well, like the Dauphine (before Froome's crash) did last year.

As to Contador being always off his climbing performance at this time of the year, that seems to have changed beginning last year and continuing this year. He's joined the year long peakers. There's clearly no one who can outclimb him right now other than Froome and possibly Quintana.

 

[Carstenbf]

Contador on shape basically can only be dropped if you are able to diesel away from him like Ras did on Aubisque or if you caught him a little bit by surprise like Froome did on Allanadas. To jump away from him has nearly been impossible so far.

Glad you wrote nearly, cause Ventoux '13 sprang to mind. But then again, that year Contador was nowhere near his best.