Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[deValtos]

I've yet to see Nibali be able to follow good Contador uphill when he goes for it.

This is true. Though I've also never seen Nibali drop Sagan & Canc on the cobbles before. I think this is down more to Nibs form.

New nibali vs old contador ?

 

[TANK91]

Rode like a right coward today. I admit his team is shocking but not once did he help TJVG, TJVG actually was on front for a long time helping. Alberto done nothing nothing on cobbles is understandable but on flat?

 

[RobbieCanuck]

AC will be just fine. At the first sign of trouble everyone panics. AC won't panic he will just attack. It is going to be a really great race now.

 

[sir fly]

Contador shouldn't be disappointed by today's loss. Entering the first couple of cobbled sectors he looked like he was fighting for dear life. Two and a half minutes isn't irrecoverable having in mind the form he's shown during the Dauphine.
Handful of seconds here, a dozen there, some mishap and he's within the striking distance before the tt.
Nothing over yet. Just the fifth stage.

 

[Red Rick]

I have to admit that I wouldn't mind seein Nibali beating Contador that much

 

[LaFlorecita]

Rode like a right coward today. I admit his team is shocking but not once did he help TJVG, TJVG actually was on front for a long time helping. Alberto done nothing nothing on cobbles is understandable but on flat?

I agree, pathetic ride. If he loses because of the time loss today it would be entirely deserved.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Contador shouldn't be disappointed by today's loss. Entering the first couple of cobbled sectors he looked like he was fighting for dear life. Two and a half minutes isn't irrecoverable having in mind the form he's shown during the Dauphine.
Handful of seconds here, a dozen there, some mishap and he's within the striking distance before the tt.
Nothing over yet. Just the fifth stage.

He needs to take back at least 3 minutes. Nibali will beat him in the TT.

 

[infeXio]

He needs to take back at least 3 minutes. Nibali will beat him in the TT.

You were just waiting for a chance to become pessimistic again, weren't you?

Nibali won't beat him in the TT.

 

[trevim]

Contador shouldn't be disappointed by today's loss. Entering the first couple of cobbled sectors he looked like he was fighting for dear life. Two and a half minutes isn't irrecoverable having in mind the form he's shown during the Dauphine.
Handful of seconds here, a dozen there, some mishap and he's within the striking distance before the tt.
Nothing over yet. Just the fifth stage.

What I found weird is that he was OK in the first sector, well positioned and did good in it. Then when the 2nd sector started he was in the 2nd half of the pack and never got to the front again. I didn't see Tosatto or Morkov today, there were supposed to be closer I guess. Anyway, he looks healthy and I hope he come good in his natural habitat later in the week

 

[LaFlorecita]

You were just waiting for a chance to become pessimistic again, weren't you?

Nibali won't beat him in the TT.

Nibali rode a great TT at last year's Giro. Contador hasn't ridden a good long flat TT since, well, uhm, 2011 TDF?

 

[sir fly]

I have to admit that I wouldn't mind seein Nibali beating Contador that much

Agreed. Nibali has confirmed today he's made of champion's material.
But, for the sake of the race and entertainment of the audience, I hope Contador will go all out as soon as possible.

 

[infeXio]

And the TT's in last years Giro were so flat... deary me

The likes of Scarponi and Henao didnt even lose much time in last years time trial in the Giro.

I think he'll be just fine.

 

[murali]

When the camera panned to Contador getting stuck, he was behind a sort of crash. I think Niki(or some other OPQS) was seen with wheel stuck.

My only disappointment is in the team not really pushing hard outside the cobbles and cutting down the gap.

Also, i dont know why he was not able to follow porte and thomas.


I guess he just had a bad day. it is better to have the bad day in the tour in the first week itself. he has just lost 157 sec with 15 stages to go. We havent started with the mountains yet.

we should wait till stage 16.

 

[sir fly]

He needs to take back at least 3 minutes. Nibali will beat him in the TT.

Maybe you're right. Nibali dropped Cancellara today.
But I can't neglect the fact Contador almost won a Tour tt in his worst GT ever. And that usually he has the edge over Nibali in the tts.

 

[LaFlorecita]

And the TT's in last years Giro were so flat... deary me

The likes of Scarponi and Henao didnt even lose much time in last years time trial in the Giro.

I think he'll be just fine.

The long TT was mostly flat.

 

[No_Balls]

Contador shouldn't be disappointed by today's loss. Entering the first couple of cobbled sectors he looked like he was fighting for dear life. Two and a half minutes isn't irrecoverable having in mind the form he's shown during the Dauphine.
Handful of seconds here, a dozen there, some mishap and he's within the striking distance before the tt.
Nothing over yet. Just the fifth stage.

Slightly disagree. At that point he looked fine and Saxo were "controlling" things (how much you can control with Nibali looking for his chance) but after he started to loose time, which not was dramatically over that distance, they might have calculated it to limit their losses over a furious chase. Still waiting for the confirmation of this though.

Corrected: "“Well, we lost about 2 and a half minutes to a very strong riding Nibali but we’re still confident. Alberto lost touch with the back wheel of Vincenzo and we simply couldn’t close the gap even with the help from other teams. Fortunately, he didn’t crash at any point and he didn’t have any punctures and not having any crashes is very important concerning the rest of the race. We’re five days into the race. Alberto is in peak shape and better than he was in Dauphine and we’re going to do some hard mountain stages. So, we’re still absolutely confident but aware that there’s some hard work to be done in order to make it back to the top of the rankings,” says DS, Steven De Jongh.

So it was just a monster ride from Nibali.

 

[murali]

this is not a flat TT. so no worries

 

[murali]

Riis is supposed to have said tht AC had a gear problem.

no source. so need to cross verify it in the stage report.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Agreed. Nibali has confirmed today he's made of champion's material.
But, for the sake of the race and entertainment of the audience, I hope Contador will go all out as soon as possible.

This makes me so angry. He's not a clown in a circus. He's not racing for your entertainment. He's racing to win. I've seen so many people state " well at least he'll entertain us". That makes me so mad. Ugh.

 

[Forunculo]

I agree with LaFlo 2:30 with Nibali it's a lot even if he is at top form Nibali seems ready and Astana stronger than Tinkoff by the moment.

Majka, Roche and Rogers have done the Giro.

The iberian pals Jesus and Paulinho not at decent level IMO.

And Morkov, plus the italian duo have been the best but they aren't a factor at the mountains.

So the giro trio and the iberian duo have to up their game. Whatever a SD says... "it's a strategy", "It was planned like that".

 

[infeXio]

Riis is supposed to have said tht AC had a gear problem.

no source. so need to cross verify it in the stage report.

It was an interview with Danish TV2 - that's the source.

 

[murali]

This makes me so angry. He's not a clown in a circus. He's not racing for your entertainment. He's racing to win. I've seen so many people state " well at least he'll entertain us". That makes me so mad. Ugh.

relax flo. he just had a bad day. trust me, he will be wearing yellow in 2 weeks.

 

[ggusta]

1 long tt at the very end, certainly can't wait until then and roll the dice! Note to self: get popcorn ready

 

[jyhjyh]

I agree, pathetic ride. If he loses because of the time loss today it would be entirely deserved.

No it wasn't pathetic.

He saw riders crashing everywhere and according to Bjarne Riis he had gearing problems and couldn't use some of the gears.

Better safe than sorry.
There is still 16 stages to go and Nibali will have his bad day in the office too.

 

[sir fly]

This makes me so angry. He's not a clown in a circus. He's not racing for your entertainment. He's racing to win. I've seen so many people state " well at least he'll entertain us". That makes me so mad. Ugh.

Well, the Tour wouldn't exist on the face of the Earth and no one would know for some Alberto Contador if they weren't entertaining to audience.
Try to understand it in that way.