Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Pricey_sky]

hey guys, see the starting list for up coming catalunya (so far):

Quintana, Contador, Froome, Betancur, Rodriguez, Porte, van Garderen, Louis Leon Sanchez, Sammy Sanchez, Uran, Hesjedal, Horner, Basso *just miss valverde and nibali*

No ITT, no TTT. Climbing only. this is better than 3 GT combined

I want it to start now!!!

 

[Red Rick]

http://www.telegraaf.nl/premium/telesport/wielersport/22393632/__De_Jongh_trainer_Contador__.html

According to this article, Steven de Jongh has had a huge influence on Contador, who now trains more like Sky

- They went to Tenerife in januari
- De Jongh praises Contador's willpower and mental strength
- Last year Contador never reached his ideal racing weight

 

[Arnout]

http://www.telegraaf.nl/premium/telesport/wielersport/22393632/__De_Jongh_trainer_Contador__.html

According to this article, Steven de Jongh has had a huge influence on Contador, who now trains more like Sky

- They went to Tenerife in januari
- De Jongh praises Contador's willpower and mental strength
- Last year Contador never reached his ideal racing weight

Ah that's good. De Jongh coming from Sky and Contador is of old again. Yep, it all adds up.

Disclaimer: this post is tongue in cheek. Well, partly.

 

[jens_attacks]

dowsett and de jongh, traitors!!!!!ahahhaha

catalunya will be such a festival

 

[Cimber]

About the prep for 2014:

"Bjarne Riis had told journalists at the finish in Guardiagrele that Contador had suffered in 2013 when he struggled in the Tour de France.

The Danish team manager revealed that he had convinced Contador to train with more structure and scientifically.

Contador suggested that he'd worked better and harder because he'd managed to isolate himself from lots of distractions.

"I'm a kind of rider that sets winning as my goal and so when you don't have the legs or there are riders who are stronger than you, it means you have a fight with what's on your mind," he said giving a glimpse of his inner thoughts.

"This winter my preparation was better. I isolated myself from lots of compromises that took time from my training. I spent a lot of time training with just a few teammates and in one camp we did a lot of climbing.”

"I also kept my mouth closed to keep my weight under control, which is harder to do as you get older. I think we can see the results of all that work today."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-full-of-confidence-after-taking-charge-at-tirreno-adriatico

This Danish article suggest that former Sky coach, now Tinkoff Saxo coach, De Jongh has now become Berties personal trainer and a key to his success:

http://veloropa.dk/el-pistolero-er-tilbage/

 

[gregrowlerson]

YaY!

 

[ILovecycling]

hey guys, see the starting list for up coming catalunya (so far):

Quintana, Contador, Froome, Betancur, Rodriguez, Porte, van Garderen, Louis Leon Sanchez, Sammy Sanchez, Uran, Hesjedal, Horner, Basso *just miss valverde and nibali*

No ITT, no TTT. Climbing only. this is better than 3 GT combined

WOW,bring it on!
It will be a tough battle between Contador,Don Nairo,Froome,Richie and Murito I think.I wonder how La Ronca will go with his overweight in comparison with real climbers

 

[gunara]

Finally PN is over so there will only be one race on tv. I missed the last two stages because I trusted Eurosport programme listing too much, and it's way off. Luckily, I chose to avoid any news before I watched the rerun in the morning, and it felt as good as live! For post-2011 AC fan like me, Fuente De was great, but this was even better, because of all that happenned and how he was between Fuente De and now.

 

[RownhamHill]

It's on SS4 atm (if that helps) just had a quick look I can't find any videos that show you all of it from where TV coverage started which ideally you would want to watch.

You can find highlights on Steephill.tv

Thanks for the help - I caught a video of the last climb last night, and he looked very smooth (and wow, what a climb, the tacking from side to side made them look like me when I'm climbing!).

I love watching Contador in full flow, one of my favourite things in sport.

 

[Cimber]

Riis indirectly lashes out against the robot type of racing:

Contador trains with a power metre but Riis was happy that he raced on instinct, not by looking at his data.

"Alberto has a lot of experience, he doesn't look at his numbers all the time. He knows where he is. In races, if you want to beat the rest then you need to beat them, not sitting looking at your power."

"I think it's important for him to be able to win with a long attack. It's a demonstration. He kind of needed that. He wanted to show that he's there and strong."

Also

Riis loves a battle as much as Dave Brailsford and knows that Team Sky will be watching and analyzing Contador's impressive performances at Tirreno-Adriatico.

"I bet they are sitting home and watching, no doubt about that," Riis said.

"Are they worried? I don't know. But this is competition

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/riis-ready-to-take-on-team-sky-after-contador-impresses-at-tirreno

 

[LaFlorecita]

Sagan took the points jersey from Contador today. Sagan now has 26 points and Contador 24. To win the points jersey Contador needs to finish at least 3 spots higher than Sagan tomorrow; and at least top 8.

This is important because he looks great in red what am I saying, he looks great in every color

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

let us hope for a top 3 in the tt tomorrow. Doens't matter if he can follow Froomey uphill if he loose 3 min in a tt

 

[LaFlorecita]

let us hope for a top 3 in the tt tomorrow. Doens't matter if he can follow Froomey uphill if he loose 3 min in a tt

Cancellara, Martin, Dowsett, Malori, Kwiatkowski, Hepburn, Wiggins, Bennati, Amador, Durbridge are all present. Top 3 seems highly unlikely.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Cancellara, Martin, Dowsett, Malori, Kwiatkowski, Hepburn, Wiggins, Bennati, Amador, Durbridge are all present. Top 3 seems highly unlikely.

Only Martin and Kwiat I would put money on beating him tomorrow, but oh well

 

[LaFlorecita]

Only Martin and Kwiat I would put money on beating him tomorrow, but oh well

We will see, I hope he can get top 5, that would be awesome

 

[Jelantik]

About the prep for 2014:

http://veloropa.dk/el-pistolero-er-tilbage/

LOL.. the article says that Nibali will win the tour. Huh?

 

[sacrifice&hardwork]

Sagan took the points jersey from Contador today. Sagan now has 26 points and Contador 24. To win the points jersey Contador needs to finish at least 3 spots higher than Sagan tomorrow; and at least top 8.

This is important because he looks great in red what am I saying, he looks great in every color

Alberto said that he wants to challenge himself in tomorrow's ITT and hopes that he recovers enough to obtain a good result.

Hopefully he does recover enough and is able to put in a strong result.

And yes LaFlorecita, he does look good in every color

 

[Jelantik]

Cancellara, Martin, Dowsett, Malori, Kwiatkowski, Hepburn, Wiggins, Bennati, Amador, Durbridge are all present. Top 3 seems highly unlikely.

I remember reading this from Alberto:
when there's a will, there's a way

 

[LaFlorecita]

I remember reading this from Alberto:
when there's a will, there's a way

"If you have a goal, focus on it, fight for it, and it will be yours"

 

[Publicus]

let us hope for a top 3 in the tt tomorrow. Doens't matter if he can follow Froomey uphill if he loose 3 min in a tt

tomorrow's ITT is the same course as last year right? Obviously there is more fatigue this year, but we can use his and Froome's last year's times as markers no? Forget the red jersey, I want to see how he performs vis-a-vis himself and Froome in 2013. In theory he should definitely beat his own time.

 

[Parrulo]

Considering the stage before last year's itt was the mythical wall stage Sagan won and where Nibali decided the race, i would say Contador will be fresher this year than last year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

tomorrow's ITT is the same course as last year right? Obviously there is more fatigue this year, but we can use his and Froome's last year's times as markers no? Forget the red jersey, I want to see how he performs vis-a-vis himself and Froome in 2013. In theory he should definitely beat his own time.

The stage is 100m shorter this year. Last year Contador's time was 10'55", average 50.565kph. Froome's time was 10'40", 51.750kph average. With Contador's speed he'd have ridden 100m in about 7 seconds. So his time after 9.1km would have been 10'48". But as Parrulo said we can't compare how fresh he is. Though we could compare for example Martin's and Malori's times and draw some conclusions from that, see how Contador compares to them.

 

[Publicus]

Considering the stage before last year's itt was the mythical wall stage Sagan won and where Nibali decided the race, i would say Contador will be fresher this year than last year.

Perhaps you're right given the impact of the horrendous weather they had on that stage (I seem to recall Contador got sick and pulled out of a race (Catalunya?)) and the overall route is shorter (I was focused too much on the length of the queen stage compared to last year's). It seems to be on much better form compared to last year (he didn't falter in the mountains like he did last year on Prati di Tivo).

Anywho, it's the only measuring stick we have, so while not perfect, I think we will have a better sense of how he is going by comparing his performances on the substantially similar course.

 

[Jelantik]

"If you have a goal, focus on it, fight for it, and it will be yours"

hehehe.. this one is his new one. mine was last year. I guess newer one will be relevant.

 

[Jelantik]

I think contador will give it a go tomorrow, even though blue jersey seems to be safer. He doesn't have any more ITT stage for the next of his two races (Catalunya and Paisco) to test his ITT position. He has been working in wind tunnel with Specialized early this year, and the TA ITT got a great field to test where he actually stands with his ITT. (Cancelara, Wiggins, Martin, Malori etc.).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSSZWiJYdEk
(contador's part is sandwiched in the middle)