Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[auscyclefan94]

Contador looked to cover the attacks from Froome quite easily. I think his climbing is back to his best.

 

[murali]

Very classy from Contador he always is in interviews, now if you could respect Froome on the other hand...

@TANK91: Froome lost my respect when he attacked Wiggo, and clinic related concerns. Having said tht, if you are inclined to defend Froome's honor, try doing that in Froome thread. as far as frawg is concerned, u can see my comments froome thread/clinic. This thread is about AC.


Coming to Beltran, i think it is too early to write him off. RiderH was also dropped just abt the time Beltran was dropped. It may be a team tactic to rest the riders as well.
I think the real decision on who will be selected might be taken on stage 7 & 8.

 

[TANK91]

clinic issues lol so ironic.

 

[murali]

who is the moderator for this thread?

we have a user trying to bait here.

 

[LaFlorecita]

At least Contador comes out and says he couldn't win today as Froome was stronger. Good on him for hanging in there though, you could see his suffering near the end but yesterday should give him a lot of confidence.

Not sure what his heart rate is normally on a climb like that but he sounded surprised it was over 200, another testament that Froome is pushing him harder than he's ever been before.

Nah, at Algarve his max heart rate was 199, at Pais Vasco 201. So it's not extraordinary.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Wow you're too funny you're all saying he won the mid games or sitting on someone's wheel and still losing. Haha. I suppose AC only tires for the TDF stages then.

Publicus was replying to your statement Contador said before the race he wanted to win. Because that's not true.

 

[LaFlorecita]

who is the moderator for this thread?

we have a user trying to bait here.

This is ***. Unbelievable that the mods don't do anything about it.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Note reads: "Guy too strong for us. Should ride for second."

Funny how Froome is disrespected as a freak here, notwithstandig the fact that some of the most freakish performances in the last few years (Verbier, ITT win against Cancellara, sprints against Rasmussen) have been delivered by AC...

I guess the only freakish aspect of these performances for most of you guys is that Froome is stronger than AC like several riders have been in the last few years (occasionally): Rodriguez, Quintana, Schleck, hell, even Valverde...

SiAp, perhaps it's better to discuss this subject in the clinic?

 

[Jack_89]

In last 200m berto seems in very difficult to.keep Froome's wheel. I think if there were other 500m at 8.5% , froome drops him

 

[Red Rick]

In last 200m berto seems in very difficult to.keep Froome's wheel. I think if there were other 500m at 8.5% , froome drops him

If there's another 500m, Froome starts his sprint 500m later

 

[Red Rick]

Isn't 201 a really high max heart rate for a 31 year old, even though you're one of the top athletes in the world?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Isn't 201 a really high max heart rate for a 31 year old, even though you're one of the top athletes in the world?

Froome's max is 170 Contador's max is at least 203, which is quite high and as he said when he posted his Algarve max heart rate, "I have the heart of a junior and with no competition"

But there are athletes with a max heart rate of 220-240. Insane. Not sure how common that is though.

 

[TANK91]

Publicus was replying to your statement Contador said before the race he wanted to win. Because that's not true.

I did not say Contador said he wanted to win i said we as in us no for a fact Contador tried to win today.

 

[murali]

Froome's max is 170 Contador's max is at least 203, which is quite high and as he said when he posted his Algarve max heart rate, "I have the heart of a junior and with no competition"

But there are athletes with a max heart rate of 220-240. Insane. Not sure how common that is though.

I have heard of warriors(traditional martial sports) hitting 230-240 bpm. oc, they practice a lot before they can sustain very high bpms. i dont find it out of ordinary. esp, since AC is already supposed to hav touched 190-200, 203 is not such a big deal.
he did look a bit uncomfortable when he crossed the line.

I dont think Froome dropped him with 500m to go. i though i saw AC's hand fidgeting with something abt tht time. calling it a gap is not really nice imho.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I did not say Contador said he wanted to win i said we as in us no for a fact Contador tried to win today.

He wanted to win trust me he said same before the race, no way he lost on purpose.

Okay then

 

[murali]

in his i/w, AC said tht he didnt know that all escapees had been caught.
I though i saw his earpiece dangling.

Maybe he didnt know tht he could have won the stage.

 

[TANK91]

Okay then

Yes it looks like that but can you remember he said before the Dauphine he did not want to win? Well the person linked a Velonews saying the same hence i said he wanted to win. It should have read like this he wanted to win today, and he said that before the race(about the same velo news article we read on cyclingnews a few days ago. I forgot to add the,.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Yes it looks like that but can you remember he said before the Dauphine he did not want to win? Well the person linked a Velonews saying the same hence i said he wanted to win. It should have read like this he wanted to win today, and he said that before the race(about the same velo news article we read on cyclingnews a few days ago. I forgot to add the,.

Read the article again, he says several times he isn't here to win.

 

[LaFlorecita]

in his i/w, AC said tht he didnt know that all escapees had been caught.
I though i saw his earpiece dangling.

Maybe he didnt know tht he could have won the stage.

I call BS on that one. He clearly tried to come past Froome before the finish but couldn't.

 

[murali]

I call BS on that one. He clearly tried to come past Froome before the finish but couldn't.

he did try to go past. but he got stuck after tht incident. thts why i think he actually did hav some mechanical issue.


CORRECTION: you are right.

looked as if he tried and couldn't do it.

 

[Cimber]

Look, fans of both sides, there is no need to make up a lot of stuff.

Froome was the strongest guy out there, but he wasnt able to drop AC eventhough he gave it his all (he himself says he gave it all). If he could AC would have taken the stage win but he was clearly at his limit following Froome (who in turn was also at his limit given it all). AC did seem to stuggle in the last 500 meter, and he also said the last km was the hardest, but that he also had some small mechanical problem during that km (dunno if thats spin or not).

So to conclude I reckon Froome is happy to win, but he would have liked to drop AC. In turn AC should be happy to be able to follow Froome given it all, but ofcourse he would have liked to win (though personally I think it wouldnt be a AC-worthy win to wheelsuck all the way up and then take it)

That means that the gap between AC and Froome is smaller than ever, which should make an interesting Tour. What AC tactics should be imho, is ofcourse hoping to gain some time on the cobbles (though personally I dont think that will happen given there are no accidents, punctures etc - as excited I am about the cobbles I hope they wont ruin the race), side wind etc. But apart from that is to hope he will be able to follow Froome in the 2 first weeks, betting he will burn himself out a bit like he did last year and then strike in the 3rd week.

Regarding Nibali and other contenders they might very well benifit from the fact that AC and Froome might play the mouse and cat game to much. Would be huge to see a guy like Nibali taking advantage of the AC/CF duel.

 

[JimPanzen]

Contador being able to shut down all of Froome's attacks yesterday was a good sign. But, given that Froome showed no tactical ability at all, chased down every attack, pulled on the front the whole time and was still able to hold Contador of for the stage win means there's still some work to do. We'll see how it plays out during the upcoming stages.

Anyway...if Froome rides like that during a 3 week GT and still wins...puh.

 

[arvc40]

Superb stage. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Butterhead]

You replied to my comment being all funny dude, what part of my comment was bad i said AC was great he showed true grit today, what more do you want. You say i need to be bought back to reality which is kinda funny when you're talking about someone who lost when wheelsucking.

You hate Froome fans that is a fact i see you respond to all posts against Froome all the time. I came in hear and gave AC his props but Froome was obviously stronger. The frog done all the work and still won im pretty sure he did not struggle as much, man you are dumb it is not hard to understand isit someone got towed and came 2nd hence he struggled more(BINGO!!!).

Dude, Im not even going to reply to all your baiting and trolling, so listen now, and I truly mean this, you got something lose in the penthouse, you still havent figured out the most obvious thing in cycling today, your wonder boy belongs in only one place ----> the clinic. And btw I dont hate dawg fans, that would be too easy. You guys just need guidance, thats all, eventually you will wake up, just like most of the lance fan boys did. In the mean time we can only hope for the mods to wake up and do what is so obvious.

"He struggled more"?...its hilarious.

 

[murali]

Look, fans of both sides, there is no need to make up a lot of stuff.

Froome was the strongest guy out there, but he wasnt able to drop AC eventhough he gave it his all (he himself says he gave it all). If he could AC would have taken the stage win but he was clearly at his limit following Froome (who in turn was also at his limit given it all). AC did seem to stuggle in the klast 500 meter, and he also sayd the last km was the hardest, but that he also had some small mechanical problem during that km (dunno if thats spin or not).

So to conclude I erckon Froome is happy to win, but he would have liked to drop AC. In turn AC should be happy to be able to follow Froome given it all, but ofcourse he would have liked to win (though personally I think it wouldnt be a AC-worthy win to wheelsuck all the way up and then take it)

That means that the gap between AC and Froome is smaller than ever, which should make an interesting Tour. What AC tactics should be imho, is ofcourse hoping to gain some time on the cobbles (though personally I dont think that will happen given there are no accidents, punctures etc - as excited I am about the cobbles I hope they wont ruin the race), side wind etc. But apart from that is to hope he will be able to follow Froome in the 2 first weeks, betting he will burn himself out a bit like he did last year and then strike in the 3rd week.

Regarding Nibali and other contenders they might very well benifit from the fact that AC and Froome might play the mouse and cat game to much. Would be huge to see a guy like Nibali taking advantage of the AC/CF duel.

well summarized.
the only point where we differ is that I consider this a tactical victory in favor of AC.