Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Netserk]

you should try reading posts and see what i was replying too . . .

florecita wanted next years to be contador's 7th win which would be winning every tour since 2007 so it means contador would have become a tour centric rider.

Was he tour centric in 09 and 10? Honest question.

 

[Panda Claws]

All of the best GC riders have always been more or less Tour-centric. Hence why the record of Vuelta wins is still only 3.

 

[Miburo]

Was he tour centric in 09 and 10? Honest question.

He won Algarve, paris-nice, castilia y leon, basque country. Some he won both times in that period. Podiumed the Dauphine and FW. Won many stages in those races too. Spanish ITT '09.

That was a rhetorical question, right? Well **** lol

Anyone who thinks Contador is only GT minded doesn't know anything of him. He always wants to win, whatever is it. The eneco tour is the best proof.

If the question is about the TDF only, yeah true. But Contador has the balls to do also Giro. '09 and '10 were just very difficult situations. Obviously in '11 he didn't have a choice (steak)

 

[Forunculo]

you should try reading posts and see what i was replying too . . .

florecita wanted next years to be contador's 7th win which would be winning every tour since 2007 so it means contador would have become a tour centric rider.

Florecita was crying in the past because she believed AC could have won 8-9 TdF without Clembuterol saga and was afraid he won't be recognized in the Merckx, Hinault, Indurain etc elite group but at the same time she noticed Armstrong wasn't in that group despite his 7 Tours (few less right now) So she started to appreciate a good number of wins of Giro and Vuelta in his palmares.

The classics add more depth yes, but he isn't dominant in that area, can do a top 10 easily but being 3rd, 7th or 9th didn't mean anything to him at this point so focus his peaks and forces on stage races/Grand Tours is the better option.


However if he has a chance to ride a classic like this year perfect but he was 9th

About one week stage races... He lacks T-A so it's his next goal

 

[airstream]

Independent circumstances made Contador do Giro both times. Let's not forget. It obviously was not a voluntary willingness to ride different GT's. He is not Tour centric by his great titles, but he is by his intellection, there's no doubt.

 

[LaFlorecita]

tour centric riders are pathetic and boring, i would certainly be hating on contador if he became armstrong 2.0.

winning all 3 GT's is imo a much greater achievement. imo he should try and win TA, the dauphine, romandie and swiss before he retires as it would make his stage racing palmares absolutely perfect.

I hate to break it to you but Alberto is pretty tour centric, he only rode other Gts when he was forced to. So you better start hating on him and btw I am ****ed off Alberto missed so many Tours, he could have had the record already and that would have given him a real chance to be one of the greatest ever at the end of his career.

And I think winning 7 Tours is much, much better than winning 3 gts simply because it's 3 vs 7

 

[Miburo]

I hate to break it to you but Alberto is pretty tour centric, he only rode other Gts when he was forced to. So you better start hating on him and btw I am ****ed off Alberto missed so many Tours, he could have had the record already and that would have given him a real chance to be one of the greatest ever at the end of his career.

And I think winning 7 Tours is much, much better than winning 3 gts simply because it's 3 vs 7

Winning 3 Gt's in the same year will make him more of a legend than winning 4 more tours. That's my take on it.

Although Contador is already a legend.

 

[Miburo]

We've already seen people winning 5 tours in a row.

I'm not saying it gets old but a real champion should look further and see what remains.

And winning 3 GT's in the same year has never been done before. Just imagine what a great year that would be. The struggle. ****ing awesome.

And if Contador falls, so what? a real champion rises up and becomes even greater.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I wasn't talking about all three gts in one year obviously that would be great but it's impossible, even Alberto says this

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto can become a legend imo if he does the triple or if he wins 7-8 tours, both seem pretty impossible and of course he has to become world champion preferably on the road which is also almost impossible. TT world champion is possible but it's not as great as world champ on the road

 

[The Hitch]

tour centric riders are pathetic and boring, i would certainly be hating on contador if he became armstrong 2.0.

winning all 3 GT's is imo a much greater achievement. imo he should try and win TA, the dauphine, romandie and swiss before he retires as it would make his stage racing palmares absolutely perfect.

The rest of the world sees things differently than we do,

They don't understand This Thing of Ours.

they have very basic and incredibly innacurate ideas of what cycling is, how it works, what is important, who watches it, even who participates.
And e they are spectacularly uninformed when it comes to doping.

They of course only care about 1 race.

But they are the ones who control the press, the media and hence the perception of the masses.

For me Contador always was the weapon with which we fight that other world view. The ambassador of our sport. The one who can achieve things by winning multiple Tours.

Thats why I call him "The Great One". Its a special relationship

The Tour de France its itself a underwhelming race that only takes up 3 weeks of the season, but we need someone to carry the flag, get their name out there and represent our sport. And contador, polite, talented, from a big cycling country that isnt France, is good representative.

The Tour is business. Its for that other world.

The rest of the year is for us We few, we happy few, we cycling fans.

 

[The Hitch]

And I think winning 7 Tours is much, much better than winning 3 gts simply because it's 3 vs 7

Without all 3 the case for Contador being a great would always stink.

You look now, at who has won 3 gts and its a pretty exclusive club, only 5 riders and Contador 2nd youngest.

And people will remember that Contador did it in a harder era.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Do you know how many people won more than 5 tours? Zero.

I already said it before to become one of the greats he needs to win at least 3 more tours a giro-tour double, at least 1 more giro and vuelta and a couple of big one day races like lombardia and lbl, and he needs to become wc, so pretty much impossible

 

[The Hitch]

Do you know how many people won more than 5 tours? Zero.

I already said it before to become one of the greats he needs to win at least 3 more tours a giro-tour double, at least 1 more giro and vuelta and a couple of big one day races like lombardia and lbl, and he needs to become wc, so pretty much impossible

What does he need all that for? Hell never surpass the cannibal or badger. I suppose with a few more years at the top he can maybe challenge Big Mig but theres no exact menu he needs to get through.

 

[ElChingon]

It would be cool if Contador raced and hopefully won a couple hilly classics before he retires (not that that his happening soon), GT's are cool and all that but without a Classic win it does fall short of the greats.

 

[pdluz7]

The rest of the world sees things differently than we do.....The ambassador of our sport.....

I think, if great riders do Giro and Vuelta. going to have changes. A small example, " our ambassador" raced at the Tour de San Luis in 2012. It will have 15 teams WTs in 2013.

 

[BillytheKid]

...For me Contador always was the weapon with which we fight that other world view. The ambassador of our sport. The one who can achieve things by winning multiple Tours.

Thats why I call him "The Great One". Its a special relationship

The Tour de France its itself a underwhelming race that only takes up 3 weeks of the season, but we need someone to carry the flag, get their name out there and represent our sport...

Be glad the Giro is the Giro and the Vuelta is the Vuelta. I say that in the sense that maybe it's better they remain localized. I see some contradiction in your dream of the "real cycling" embraced by the world with a great icon to lead it. To me, that's not such a good outcome. They would then turn into the Tour or just replace it as the oddity of a sport that "they" think cycling is. Money will always talk. People are easily fooled. You might as well stand on some shore and throw sand back into the sea thinking all the while your reclaiming the land washed away.

What sport is not a business? Small or large, cash is king in any endeavor. You think if you establish this thing… this understanding of the sport, that the tide won't come in, and bit by bit, the heart of things change. Self-interests will be protected and collide with others. Erosion is hard to stop once it begins. Cycling is like new money hated by old money right now. It might do well to be humble and have champions as Parrulo suggests that add TA, Dauphine, etc… to their palmares rather than the greatest GT rider by the numbers.

Still, we dream of great things.

 

[Dedelou]

What does he need all that for? Hell never surpass the cannibal or badger. I suppose with a few more years at the top he can maybe challenge Big Mig but theres no exact menu he needs to get through.

He can surpass the cannibal in one aspect quite easily: winning the 3 gt more than once. I believe only Hinault has done that so far. Yet, Contador, like a few greats of the past, will have less wins that he could have acheived if he had a chance to compete. Barred from one tour because of his team (astana) and penalized for two other GT he still is among the top cyclists ever.

 

[Miburo]

He can surpass the cannibal in one aspect quite easily: winning the 3 gt more than once. I believe only Hinault has done that so far. Yet, Contador, like a few greats of the past, will have less wins that he could have acheived if he had a chance to compete. Barred from one tour because of his team (astana) and penalized for two other GT he still is among the top cyclists ever.

He already did that well you know

 

[calinmarian]

He already did that well you know

He is the greatest stage racer today,when he races he is in to win that race.

 

[Cimber]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEHEs3rt8uo

 

[calinmarian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEHEs3rt8uo

Oleg Tinkov is a very cool and sympatethic man as it seems from this youtube video and from his funny tweets.I wonder he will be in the team car during the 2013 Tour along Bjarne Riis?

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

He can surpass the cannibal in one aspect quite easily: winning the 3 gt more than once. I believe only Hinault has done that so far.

Didn't the Vuelta used to be much closer to the Giro to the point where you could not compete in both (At least to win?). If so, could Eddie have realistically won the 3 GTs in one year?

 

[ILovecycling]

Like somebody said,Alberto is already a legend.He displays this period of our sport.
But...I wish he won Triple and then,he could be named best cyclist all time.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Like somebody said,Alberto is already a legend.He displays this period of our sport.
But...I wish he won Triple and then,he could be named best cyclist all time.

How would that make him better than Merckx or Hinaut?