I believe he was in, or close to, top form the year he made the podium at Fleche Wallone.
At all of those, primarily Hitch, that have a problem with his focus being on the Tour, all I can say is: why is that a surprise? He's a stage racer and more specifically a grand tour gc contender. As one of the best in his discipline why wouldn't he focus on the sport's marque event? I think also that many here are creating drama where there is none. Contador said it's all about the Tour which is the same as Boonen saying it's all about PR and RVV. It's not to say that he/they won't be competitive in other races, which in Contador's case he has always been and continues to be just to a lesser degree of success lately.
It appears that some are arranging scenarios and circumstances to support their perspective which is to continue to tear down a rider who is going through a down period in their productivity, this after years of great success. Still whining about being "lied to" and that a rider "bluffed" about his form to hang on to the team's leadership, making his team work for goals that were, in the eyes of those (Hitch/Miburo) that strangely feel cheated in some way, knowingly/selfishly unattainable. These same folks have taken all leave of anylogic and in its place is some personal crusade of whining and crying of having their expectations driven off of a cliff by the evil deception that originated in the diabolical mind of Alberto Contador.
Once again certain people are injecting their own personal preferences of what a rider should do to further their place in the sport's history and place themselves among the greats. They bring up certain grand tour riders that have done fairly well in classics to support their argument that Contador should (or should have) give(n) the classics a real try to cement his place among the established greats. Is it possible that his stellar grand tour record is a result of his own personal strategy of focusing on stage races because that is where he believed he would find the most success? Should he be raked across the coals because his idea of success and how to go about reaching it is different?
Seems many are confusing real life with video games. Things were going along well when the rider was winning while they were on board. It made them feel and look great when their predictions were supported by the riders success. The moment the rider stumbles and doesn't live up to the "over-the-top" support that was given, the rider is tossed in the trashbin for having the audacity of dreaming that they could maintain their level of success. All the power figures and pre-race training numbers (comparable to the values given for the various categories that measure a riders success in these same games) don't change the fact that the race still has to take place and sometimes the best preparation in the world doesn't result in the ideal conclusion to the race.
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