Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Rollthedice]

I hope so, and he certainly seems very motivated, but I'm not sure he has another Tour win in him. Giro/Vuelta, definitely, but a Tour vs Froome and Quintana.... meh

I have a feeling Froome will be out of the picture by next year's Tour and they will probably throw in some TT for good measure and to temper Quintana's aplomb. That's the good news. The bad news is that maybe Nibali will ride the tour again

 

[ILovecycling]

Nibali last year were barely training from the end of giro until mid/late July though. with Astana sending him around to sponsors for months. Don't know what Quintana has been up to, but doubt he's had a worse buildup than Nibali last year

Last news was,recon of vuelta stages,and smashing colombians mountains from late june.He knows Froome is a climbing monster,so he has to be too.

Dont forget he wasnt 100% at Giro,cuz of his illnesses,but question is if he can peak 2 times.If so,monster battle with Dawg coming up.

I hope so, and he certainly seems very motivated, but I'm not sure he has another Tour win in him. Giro/Vuelta, definitely, but a Tour vs Froome and Quintana.... meh

As for me,I dont want AC to do Tour again,Aso is shiit,roads are shiit,parcours are shiit etc
otoh I want him to go against the best (hard at giro and vuelta).As for your prediction...
climbing: froome-quintana-contador / tough to say depends on form
timetrialing: froome -- contador -----quintana

But dont forget,this is Alberto,if he is anywhere near to jaune,Fuente de,Telegraph,Lanciano.Best warrior ever,instinct,tactics,will.imo Froome is the most crazy,quintana most talentated,ac the most 'champion'

 

[indianfanboy]

I have a feeling Froome will be out of the picture by next year's Tour and they will probably throw in some TT for good measure and to temper Quintana's aplomb. That's the good news. The bad news is that maybe Nibali will ride the tour again

Nibali will never be able to beat an onform Contador...Froome and Quintana will be the biggest challengers

 

[maxmartin]

I have a feeling Froome will be out of the picture by next year's Tour and they will probably throw in some TT for good measure and to temper Quintana's aplomb. That's the good news. The bad news is that maybe Nibali will ride the tour again

he will fight for the Giro , might come to Tour for the stage hunting and mountain jersey

 

[ILovecycling]

he will fight for the Giro , might come to Tour for the stage hunting and mountain jersey

Yeaah,and we all know why,dont want to start nibali discussion here tho..

 

[ILovecycling]

Nibali will never be able to beat an onform Contador...Froome and Quintana will be the biggest challengers

Maybe if there would be less than 3 MTF he could be,otherwise you are true. (considering riders topform)

 

[LaFlorecita]

As for me,I dont want AC to do Tour again,Aso is shiit,roads are shiit,parcours are shiit etc

Me neither, Tour sucks, he loves il Giro. He should do Giro-Vuelta from now on, he could even win Dauphiné that way

 

[indianfanboy]

Me neither, Tour sucks, he loves il Giro. He should do Giro-Vuelta from now on, he could even win Dauphiné that way

No he still has unfinished business in the tour..the tour has always bought sad moments to him but now he has a good team a team that believes in him...he needs to win it one last time

His main motivation to improve comes from the challenges he faces in beating the likes of Froome and Quintana..i am sure he enjoys these competition thats what cycling is all about

 

[LaFlorecita]

No he still has unfinished business in the tour..the tour has always bought sad moments to him but now he has a good team a team that believes in him...he needs to win it one last time

His main motivation to improve comes from the challenges he faces in beating the likes of Froome and Quintana..i am sure he enjoys these competition thats what cycling is all about

But what if he loses again? Will he keep trying or just give up? I don't want him to waste another year. He can at least win 1 more Giro and 1 more Vuelta.. but not if he keeps aiming for the Tour. Don't forget, if he wins the Giro he'll be join Hinault as a double winner of the GC triple

 

[maxmartin]

Yeaah,and we all know why,dont want to start nibali discussion here tho..

why? afraid of Q, give me a break! Plus his schedule is not finalized yet, it is very possible he will target Tour again. Same with AC, it is also quite possible for him to target Giro and Vuelta again. But nothing is decided for both of these guys.

 

[indianfanboy]

But what if he loses again? Will he keep trying or just give up? I don't want him to waste another year. He can at least win 1 more Giro and 1 more Vuelta.. but not if he keeps aiming for the Tour. Don't forget, if he wins the Giro he'll be join Hinault as a double winner of the GC triple

Even if he loses he will know that he gave his best and entertained the fans...think about Ullrich he kept on losing and still he came back all the time,even Cadel Evans

 

[Jspear]

But what if he loses again? Will he keep trying or just give up? I don't want him to waste another year. He can at least win 1 more Giro and 1 more Vuelta.. but not if he keeps aiming for the Tour. Don't forget, if he wins the Giro he'll be join Hinault as a double winner of the GC triple

Go for the Tour next year then go for the Giro-Vuelta in 2016. He should give the Tour at least one more try, and it's better to do the Tour when he is younger....competition is tougher there - he'll need that extra strength and better recovery. He can get away with doing a double a little latter in life.

 

[ILovecycling]

why? afraid of Q, give me a break! Plus his schedule is not finalized yet, it is very possible he will target Tour again. Same with AC, it is also quite possible for him to target Giro and Vuelta again. But nothing is decided for both of these guys.

If Nibali ever drops Quintana in GT I will eat my hat

 

[LaFlorecita]

Even if he loses he will know that he gave his best and entertained the fans...think about Ullrich he kept on losing and still he came back all the time,even Cadel Evans

Which is stupid. Much better to end your career with 3 Giro wins than 7 podiums at the Tour.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Go for the Tour next year then go for the Giro-Vuelta in 2016. He should give the Tour at least one more try, and it's better to do the Tour when he is younger....competition is tougher there - he'll need that extra strength and better recovery. He can get away with doing a double a little latter in life.

Sure, but imagine this scenario: He doesn't win the Tour next year. In 2016 he's 33, and the new generation has stepped up, he can't win the Giro or Vuelta either. If he goes for Giro-Vuelta next year I could almost guarantee you he'd win at least one of them if he recovers well.

 

[indianfanboy]

Nibali in the interview talking about how he won every race he participated last year and how he beat Froome and Contador....and now he has lost every race he participated this year gets clobbered by Froome and Contador in the mountains before the tour and then he is being bullish that it would have been he and Froome who would be fighting for the win lol

 

[indianfanboy]

Sure, but imagine this scenario: He doesn't win the Tour next year. In 2016 he's 33, and the new generation has stepped up, he can't win the Giro or Vuelta either. If he goes for Giro-Vuelta next year I could almost guarantee you he'd win at least one of them if he recovers well.

He can still maintain or improve his current level for atleast two years...and even if he looses his top end level a bit it would still be enough for hin to win the giro or vuelta in the next 4 years

 

[Sciocco]

Sure, but imagine this scenario: He doesn't win the Tour next year. In 2016 he's 33, and the new generation has stepped up, he can't win the Giro or Vuelta either. If he goes for Giro-Vuelta next year I could almost guarantee you he'd win at least one of them if he recovers well.

Yea, I want Contador to go for the Giro more than anything else. All this talk of what Contador/Froome/Quintana/Nibali will aim for next year has me wondering about the 2015 GT parcours. If Froome doesn't fall off the earth like some are predicting and the 2015 TdF has a lot of ITT, I hope Contador skips it.

 

[LaFlorecita]

He can still maintain or improve his current level for atleast two years...and even if he looses his top end level a bit it would still be enough for hin to win the giro or vuelta in the next 4 years

I wouldn't be so sure about that. He got very good, very young, it's going to stop at some point and might stop very suddenly. I would not be surprised if he starts a rapid decline already in 2016. Don't forget he was asked in 2010 where he thinks he'll be in 10 years: he answered he expects to be retired for a while by then. So it's not like he has many years left.

 

[indianfanboy]

I wouldn't be so sure about that. He got very good, very young, it's going to stop at some point and might stop very suddenly. I would not be surprised if he starts a rapid decline already in 2016. Don't forget he was asked in 2010 where he thinks he'll be in 10 years: he answered he expects to be retired for a while by then. So it's not like he has many years left.

yeah thats also true but i hope to see AC dance for as long as possible

 

[No_Balls]

Yea, I want Contador to go for the Giro more than anything else. All this talk of what Contador/Froome/Quintana/Nibali will aim for next year has me wondering about the 2015 GT parcours. If Froome doesn't fall off the earth like some are predicting and the 2015 TdF has a lot of ITT, I hope Contador skips it.

Dont think he will base his season around which parcours are more suited to his rivals. Besides, i'm pretty sure his sponsors would like him to give it a serious challenge one more time. He can do the double (and it will be less stressful) in 2016.

Besides, i am not at all sure Froome will be in the picture next year. Of various reasons.

 

[Jspear]

Sure, imagine this scenario: He wins the Tour next year. In 2016 he's 33, and the new generation has stepped up, he can still win the Giro and Vuelta.

Fixed it for you.

 

[thehook]

With seeing the from he had at the Tour this season. AC should skip the Giro. And follow a very similar prep he did this season. Maijka for the Giro.

 

[Energy Starr]

But what if he loses again? Will he keep trying or just give up? I don't want him to waste another year. He can at least win 1 more Giro and 1 more Vuelta.. but not if he keeps aiming for the Tour. Don't forget, if he wins the Giro he'll be join Hinault as a double winner of the GC triple

I call that a triple double!

 

[Afrank]

Contador needs to win the Tour one more time. He may have been able to do that this year, but bad luck made that impossible. He should take the same approach next year that he did this year and try to enter the Tour in as good form. If he can, then he can win it (I'll be cheering for him at the Tour next year).

After that it would be smart to start targeting Giro-Vuelta IMO.