Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Netserk]

0: 5
1: 55
2: 35
3: 5

Ask me again in a week and it'll be different.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

0: 5
1: 55
2: 35
3: 5

Ask me again in a week and it'll be different.

Because of Catalunya or because you change your mind constantly?
I agree with your percentages by the way

Edit: maybe 5-60-30-5

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

Guys, Contador is old. Accept the fact. He will have issues with recovery. That is why I think he still can win Giro, but no way in hell he could win Tour after Giro unless he quits or crashed out of Giro in early stages.

Recovery never was an issue for him. let's disregard that last year was one of his best years in his career.

He'll decline eventually sure. No one disputed that. But as history has proven riders can prolong their careers and still have a very respectable if not the same level as when they were younger.

Canc, piti, purito, evans (one of the oldest tour winners iirc), peraud,...

Suddenly being terrible after last year is a ridiculous mindset and based on nothing unless you still have nightmares from 2013.

He's btw not even that bad in this TA. For a double he's in fine shape

It's pointless comparing Contador to other riders. He won the Tour at 24 or 25. He has said himself that two more years will probably see him off. Riders like Contador that win from a young age never keep it going as long as people like Evans who had a later start in the sport and was a much different rider. Contador's best chance to win the double was 2011. Take out the knee problems and the crashes he might have have really pushed Evans but it was obvious in the final week that the fatigue was also getting to him even though he kept attacking and Evans was having the best year of his career. I give Contador no chance of doing the double this year. In 2011 he came off an easy Giro win and gifted stages but even then Contador said it was a much harder Giro than it looked and then to back up and do the Tour and win is incredibly difficult. If he was not up against Froome and Quintana I would give him a much better chance. And there has to be question marks about Nibali and whether he will be in the sort of form he was in last July. If he is then he will be another rider for Contador to worry about.

What about piti? He won at 22 already, he's still up there and 2 years older than contador?

There we go, i agree though contador doesn't have that many great years left but saying that he's declining right now is silly and based nothing but a race in TA(not what you said but something else)

Nibali being up there might be in Contador's favor. That means there's another guy froome and quintana have to worry about too.

In the giro 2011 contador also didn't save himself, and that giro was a very hard one. I'm sure that contador learned a lot from it and will do better job now and we don't know btw how the crashes in the tour affected contador's form.

And being almost 2 min behind after 2 days puts you in such a terrible spot.

But yea this year it'll be way way harder

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

0: 5
1: 55
2: 35
3: 5

Ask me again in a week and it'll be different.

Because of Catalunya or because you change your mind constantly?
I agree with your percentages by the way

Edit: maybe 5-60-30-5

Because I change my mind.

I doubt Catalunya will change much, if any.

 

[Singer01]

0- 20% as you never know what could happen with crashes etc
1- 60 %
2- 20%
3- not a hope in hell

however, if he doesn't crash or have bad luck i'd say he has 80% of the giro and 20% chance of the double.

 

[Jack_89]

0- 0%
1- 60%
2- 40%
3- 0%

 

[LaFlorecita]

There can never be 0 chance he wins 0 GTs or 3GTs. There's always a slight chance. For example he could crash in the Giro and break his femur and be out for the season. 0 GTs won. He could also win Giro-Tour then go to the Vuelta where all his rivals either crash out or lose time because of crashes etc. He is the only contender left --> 3 GTs

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

Guys, Contador is old. Accept the fact. He will have issues with recovery. That is why I think he still can win Giro, but no way in hell he could win Tour after Giro unless he quits or crashed out of Giro in early stages.

Recovery never was an issue for him. let's disregard that last year was one of his best years in his career.

He'll decline eventually sure. No one disputed that. But as history has proven riders can prolong their careers and still have a very respectable if not the same level as when they were younger.

Canc, piti, purito, evans (one of the oldest tour winners iirc), peraud,...

Suddenly being terrible after last year is a ridiculous mindset and based on nothing unless you still have nightmares from 2013.

He's btw not even that bad in this TA. For a double he's in fine shape

It's pointless comparing Contador to other riders. He won the Tour at 24 or 25. He has said himself that two more years will probably see him off. Riders like Contador that win from a young age never keep it going as long as people like Evans who had a later start in the sport and was a much different rider. Contador's best chance to win the double was 2011. Take out the knee problems and the crashes he might have have really pushed Evans but it was obvious in the final week that the fatigue was also getting to him even though he kept attacking and Evans was having the best year of his career. I give Contador no chance of doing the double this year. In 2011 he came off an easy Giro win and gifted stages but even then Contador said it was a much harder Giro than it looked and then to back up and do the Tour and win is incredibly difficult. If he was not up against Froome and Quintana I would give him a much better chance. And there has to be question marks about Nibali and whether he will be in the sort of form he was in last July. If he is then he will be another rider for Contador to worry about.

Comparing 2011 with this year's double effort doesn't really fly. This year is a season geared around being competitive in both events. Those are the only targets for the season. The circumstances 2011 were not the same as 2014.

 

[HelloDolly]

I think Contador will not win the double ....because of the competition at the Tour...A fully fit Froome, Quintana & Nibali with their teams are a very daunting prospect...But is there a chance he will ...of course ...There is a saying "There is many a slip between cup and lip" and who knows how teams will be by the Tour...Imagine if last year someone said neither Froome nor Contador would win the Tour ...and the first 10 days of the 2015 Tour are very shaky to say the least ..anything can and will happen

However none of that matters now...To get to t summit you must get to the base in good health & good form...What is important now is that he wins The Giro in the best possible condition and can rest for the Tour and at least be in a good place to make that win a possibility

So after he has won the Giro lets turn to the Tour win

 

[rm7]

BTW. Whats up with all these crashes? Heard somewhere that Contador crashed in training after Andalucia, is it true? And then also in T-A again.

Also in 2011 in the Tour, he was effected by his 2-3 crashes. Dont forget about that. Look at Froome what it does to him - when he crash he turns completely average.

 

[Red Rick]

0-10
1-80
2-10
3<0.001

 

[LaFlorecita]

@albertocontador: Dia intenso hoy en el tunel del viento,seguimos trabajando!Intensive day with session in the wind tunnel. @sportful

Gonna rock that Giro ITT

 

[SeriousSam]

Is this the first time Contador is training with a wind tunnel? I remember Froome saying that a few years ago and then his time trial suddenly became almost as strong as Tony's. Good signs.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Is this the first time Contador is training with a wind tunnel? I remember Froome saying that a few years ago and then his time trial suddenly became almost as strong as Tony's. Good signs.

Lol no. He tests in the wind tunnel every off season and also during the season.

 

[Electress]

@albertocontador: Dia intenso hoy en el tunel del viento,seguimos trabajando!Intensive day with session in the wind tunnel. @sportful

Gonna rock that Giro ITT

Gees, is it actually obligatory to wear a transparent skin suit? One way to establish he's not carrying excess weight, I suppose.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Gees, is it actually obligatory to wear a transparent skin suit? One way to establish he's not carrying excess weight, I suppose.

I think it's just super aerodynamic. This one is actually fully transparent though while the one he wears during races only has a see-through upper half.

 

[Electress]

Gees, is it actually obligatory to wear a transparent skin suit? One way to establish he's not carrying excess weight, I suppose.

I think it's just super aerodynamic. This one is actually fully transparent though while the one he wears during races only has a see-through upper half.

We must be thankful for small mercies, I suppose.

 

[greenedge]

Re: Re:

Guys, Contador is old. Accept the fact. He will have issues with recovery. That is why I think he still can win Giro, but no way in hell he could win Tour after Giro unless he quits or crashed out of Giro in early stages.

Riders like Contador that win from a young age never keep it going as long as people like Evans who had a later start in the sport and was a much different rider.

Let's not discount the fact that Evans was doing MTB, from a young age and was a successful pro.

 

[HelloDolly]

So Porte has beaten Chris Froomes record up the 13.6km Col de la Madone !! Maybe the Giro won't be a foregone conclusion afterall

 

[HelloDolly]

And Tinkov not happy with team performance

http://www.nu.nl/sport/4014448/eigenaar ... -druk.html

 

[SeriousSam]

Understandable. Are there any cyclists being paid more than Contador and Sagan? Tinkov can rightly expect more than coming second in every sprint or being pulverised by Froome and Quintana

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

So Porte has beaten Chris Froomes record up the 13.6km Col de la Madone !! Maybe the Giro won't be a foregone conclusion afterall

Source?

Well it's only good that Porte or someone else will challenge Contador else the Giro will be dull, while it has a great route.
Allthough somehow I do wish Contador wins easily so he has enoigh energy left for the TdF.

Oh and porte will probably have a bad day during the Giro.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

So Porte has beaten Chris Froomes record up the 13.6km Col de la Madone !! Maybe the Giro won't be a foregone conclusion afterall

He allegedly beat the record just before last year's TDF. We all know how brilliant he was.... Channeling his 2011 climbing form.

 

[Miburo]

Understandable. Are there any cyclists being paid more than Contador and Sagan? Tinkov can rightly expect more than coming second in every sprint or being pulverised by Froome and Quintana

You make no sense, contador is going for the double. He beat Froome once this year and got beaten by quintana once.

Are they going for the double? Quintana got rekt last year (in TA) when he was going for the giro (and not giro tour) too. Think before you post.

 

[HelloDolly]

Tinkov will not get better results by putting people under pressure ...Surely he must know that Contador's double is priority over wining early season stage races...As for Sagan well Tinkov himself gave him a ludicrously high salary ...which means the team were limited in who else it could buy
TCS has 2 super stars and everyone working for them ...Is it not set up to win the big races like GTs and monuments ? And it doesn't have the breath of talent like EQS or SKY to win other races ...Maybe Tinkov should have thought of this when he bought Sagan (you cannopt guarantee success with any one rider in todays peloton) and insisted on a double (even treble) GT contest