Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[rm7]

Just saw the last km of the climb again, and Poels just attacked right before the top to make a small gap before the descent. No way in hell Contador should have used his energy to try close that gap on the descent or followed him.

 

[etymology]

Re:

Contaador fans are the biggest panickers in cycling, not only fleur. Besides we're still 2 months away from giro lol He shouldn't be the same as last year.

full disclosure: i am a huge contador fan. in the 40 or so years i have followed cycling, he is one of the best i've seen as well as one my favorite all time riders. that said:

i don't think contador's fans here are the biggest panickers in cycling. i think they (myself included) are amongst the most passionate. i would not mind berto smashing his competition every time he races, or better yet, winning or losing key stages by a few seconds solely to give his rivals the notion that they have an actual chance of wearing the leaders jersey at the conclusion of the race. (the latter would be "quite sporting" or "really MEAN!" depending on one's point of view)

regarding today's stage: i do not know if he was unable to follow poels' attack or if he decided not to follow with tomorrow's stage in mind or if he started to respond to poels' attack and decided "nah. if the gap is to be bridged, let someone else do it and i will follow them." i agree that with his goals this year, he should not be in the form he was in march of last year.

what i do know is that in my *opinion*, he did fine today. what i do know is that all stage races are races of attrition. with catalunya coming up a week after this race ends, with the giro/tour double being alberto's main objective this yea - IF he could have unleashed a blazing, stage winning attack today - i'd like to believe he is learning to suppress his propensity to "attack because i can" in favor of reserving some power for use tomorrow or at catalunya or later in his season.

if you think laflo maybe gets a wee bit excited when contador is racing, wellllllll, you do NOT want to be anywheres near me! in fact, i'm willing to bet my new bike that laflo does not have no longer used wheels to spin, roll, or gently toss about while watching mountain top finishes.

in conclusion: on terminillo, i'd passionately love to see bertie launch an attack so massive that nibs, quintana, d current race leader poels, and any other pretenders are so taken by sobs of inevitable defeat that they are forced to climb off their bikes in order to compose themselves enough to overcome crushing thoughts of "why do we even bother??" before remounting to ride to the finish. ; - )~~~


of course, even a passionate contador-ite such as myself knows THAT ain't happenin', so what i mostly hope for is a good day of racing with alberto taking the stage regardless of the time of his victory.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Just saw the last km of the climb again, and Poels just attacked right before the top to make a small gap before the descent. No way in hell Contador should have used his energy to try close that gap on the descent or followed him.

I trust you. Calm flo calm. Relax. Tomorrow RoboBasso and Roman will put everyone in difficulty and Berto will finish it off

Vamos!! Go go go!! Ride like the wind etc..

positive thoughts

Wait last time I was confident Berto cracked completely and lost 29s in 1km

But the Alien is not here Berto will be fine

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto confirms he was the one who crashed in the corner, he doesn't think it's bad but he says you never know how it will affect you.

Also he says it's always bad to lose seconds but everything depends on tomorrow and the ITT.

Edit: here's the CN article

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-confident-before-tirreno-adriatico-showdown-on-terminillo

Riis as much of a mystery as always

And

Contador refuted a suggestion that in footballing terms, Froome is current leading 1-0 after he won the Ruta del Sol stage race after dropping Contador on the toughest mountain finish.

“Ha!” he said with a laugh at the football paradigm. “You can look at that in two ways: Froome 1, Contador 0, or you can see it as Contador 2, Froome 1. I say that because I won the first time trial and the first mountain top finish!”

 

[Red Rick]

Contatroll at it again!!

 

[sacrifice&hardwork]

I want to see the right knee! I read he decided to go immediatly to the team hotel to see the state of his injuries. Lets hope it really isn't anything serious and he can sleep through the night.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I want to see the right knee! I read he decided to go immediatly to the team hotel to see the state of his injuries. Lets hope it really isn't anything serious and he can sleep through the night.

Oooof I hope it isn't too bad

 

[maxmartin]

It is actually good for AC to scale his form back a little in order to peak for the Giro, otherwise he has no chance to win the Giro.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Contatroll at it again!!

What do you mean?

 

[rm7]

Re:

It is actually good for AC to scale his form back a little in order to peak for the Giro, otherwise he has no chance to win the Giro.

Scale his form back? How much % do you think he is at right now?

He just needs to have arround 90 % when the Giro starts, and use the first 7-8 stages to ride himself into 100 %, and have a 2 week peak, where he needs to drop Porte and Uran, and follow Aru's wheel. Maybe

There's no Chris Froome, and Aru/Uran/Porte isn't close to his level at the biggest mountain stages.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Contatroll at it again!!

What do you mean?

Tiny little bit of smack talk. That and being vague about his shape or plans for tomorrow

 

[LaFlorecita]

“It was a pretty demanding and tough stage and a hard climb in the finale. Alberto was hit a little bit from the crash he had and felt he wasn’t there to attack. I think we did okay today and Peter was almost there in the end. I consider this to be very positive and I feel he has made good progression. It was a difficult stage for a rider like him. He almost managed to stay there in the climbs and this is a good sign for the upcoming Classics”, said Bjarne Riis.

With about 50km to the finish line, Alberto Contador suffered a crash on the descent of the intermediate mountain pass of the stage, losing control of his rear wheel due to a stream of water on the asphalt.

“Yes, it was unfortunate. I was braking a little and I lost the wheel on the water. Luckily it is nothing, only a superficial wound on the right hip and knee. I hope to recover quickly from this tomorrow and do well on the Terminillo stage, which suits me much better than the climb we had today”, comments Alberto Contador before adding about the stage result:

“The seconds that Poels gained are always very important in a race like Tirreno-Adriatico, but it all depends on what happens on tomorrow’s stage. I think some of my rivals such as Nibali lost some seconds, but the final result will depend on what happens in both the Terminillo stage and in the final time trial. We’ll see tomorrow how I feel”.

http://www.tinkoffsaxo.com/news/kreuziger-contador-finish-first-chasing-group-tirreno-adriatico/

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Contatroll at it again!!

What do you mean?

Tiny little bit of smack talk. That and being vague about his shape or plans for tomorrow

OK got it

 

[Miburo]

My bad fleur, i was sure he didn't crash.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

My bad fleur, i was sure he didn't crash.

it's no big deal I think we were all confused

 

[sir fly]

Contador looks less sharp than in Andalucia, but still in very fine shape.
It won't be pleasant to lose a race to a Sky's domestique, though.
I'm expecting a statement on Terminillo.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

The double is a very hard task either way. Better to go into the Giro with some race wins in the bank already. He risks coming out of the season with absolutely nothing.

As for me,the risk is better than everything he has ever done (achieved)
Because of this attempt he is immortal for me.I will never forget this.

Fvck some shi.ty tirreno,catalunya or sh...these races are only for our fun.Nobody gives a monkey's about this races in the future.Legendary things counts - monuments,gts or some epic wins,not a desgin trident trophy .

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

Contador looks less sharp than in Andalucia, but still in very fine shape.
It won't be pleasant to lose a race to a Sky's domestique, though.
I'm expecting a statement on Terminillo.

Poels is at his peak,is like saying Quintana is weak because diaz beat him

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

As for me,the risk is better than everything he has ever done (achieved)
Because of this attempt he is immortal for me.I will never forget this.

Fvck some shi.ty tirreno,catalunya or sh...these races are only for our fun.Nobody gives a monkey's about this races in the future.Legendary things counts - monuments,gts or some epic wins,not a desgin trident trophy .

With only two seasons left, these races matter too.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

As for me,the risk is better than everything he has ever done (achieved)
Because of this attempt he is immortal for me.I will never forget this.

Fvck some shi.ty tirreno,catalunya or sh...these races are only for our fun.Nobody gives a monkey's about this races in the future.Legendary things counts - monuments,gts or some epic wins,not a desgin trident trophy .

With only two seasons left, these races matter too.

For history,they do not.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

As for me,the risk is better than everything he has ever done (achieved)
Because of this attempt he is immortal for me.I will never forget this.

Fvck some shi.ty tirreno,catalunya or sh...these races are only for our fun.Nobody gives a monkey's about this races in the future.Legendary things counts - monuments,gts or some epic wins,not a desgin trident trophy .

With only two seasons left, these races matter too.

For history,they do not.

For his fans, they do.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

As for me,the risk is better than everything he has ever done (achieved)
Because of this attempt he is immortal for me.I will never forget this.

Fvck some shi.ty tirreno,catalunya or sh...these races are only for our fun.Nobody gives a monkey's about this races in the future.Legendary things counts - monuments,gts or some epic wins,not a desgin trident trophy .

With only two seasons left, these races matter too.

For history,they do not.

For his fans, they do.[/quote]


If you say so

btw what is this quote sh... thing?

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Contador looks less sharp than in Andalucia, but still in very fine shape.
It won't be pleasant to lose a race to a Sky's domestique, though.
I'm expecting a statement on Terminillo.

Poels is at his peak,is like saying Quintana is weak because diaz beat him

True. True. Tomorrow is a telling which one is correct. If Poels win, that's the second "ouch" this season for contador (one is Froomey). This is a WT race, so it's nice to win it. Also if Poels wins, this another race where someone steals it from the favorite (remember Talansky with Dauphene?). Even Gallopin did quiet amazing ride today. If he can hold porte,... another upset in the making.

I have no opinion about Contador since none of the stage shows his exact form. Not like in Andalucia. Maybe he actually eases back a bit or he just lost his appetite since Froomey isn't there, or he is just biting his time. I really would like to see some fireworks tomorrow and some results from TS. I hope he surprises us tomorrow. Paris Nice so far is a bust. Sagan has been brides-mate up until now. It's nice to see yellow fluo flying high at top Terminillo for once. *a little tired to see blue and black winning almost everything*. Btw, Kreuziger looks good today. Too bad he got that CAS saga.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

Contaador fans are the biggest panickers in cycling, not only fleur. Besides we're still 2 months away from giro lol He shouldn't be the same as last year.

yeeeah.. maybe you are right. Maybe because we are trauma with 2013. Waiting for Contador to show up. Chris Froome started his season from going postal in 2013 to going mortal in 2014. So yes, we panic when Contador got beaten by sky domestique Poels for 30 seconds or by a lack of form Nibali in ITT. Even after his stellar performance in stage 3 in Andalucia, next day he nose dived and got beaten by Froome. He is a bit inconsistent IMHO. For someone who is very detailed oriented, he appears as if he lost a bit concentration something. Dauphene he lost the jersey from Talansky. Not that because these races are that important, but it's just how he lost it. That's why some of us panic .

 

[Justin]

Re: Re:

Contaador fans are the biggest panickers in cycling, not only fleur. Besides we're still 2 months away from giro lol He shouldn't be the same as last year.

Bertie has a great chance this year at the Giro