Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[LaFlorecita]

Dropped by the Dawg like a bad habit.

Slightly worrying.

 

[Red Rick]

Valverde was the first to attack and eventually lost the most time. Froome paced himself the best, while Contador blew himself a bit dropping Valverde. It's all a combination of tactics and form of the day.

On a climb as steep as this, pacing yourself is the most important thing, while you can really **** yourself up with trying big attacks. This says very little about tomorrow.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

in hindsight his attack that dropped Valverde was perhaps not his smartest move, but then again he did end up with quite a nice ***** of time on him

 

[Dutchsmurf]

in hindsight his attack that dropped Valverde was perhaps not his smartest move, but then again he did end up with quite a nice ***** of time on him

Someone had to drop Valverde tho, so that attack had to be done. It got him 22 extra seconds to the number 2 in the GC, so good day for Contador.

 

[Donkey]

Valverde was the first to attack and eventually lost the most time. Froome paced himself the best, while Contador blew himself a bit dropping Valverde. It's all a combination of tactics and form of the day.

On a climb as steep as this, pacing yourself is the most important thing, while you can really **** yourself up with trying big attacks. This says very little about tomorrow.

+1
Monday is a very different stage

 

[Afrank]

Contador did do more work covering moves of other riders and making his own moves before Froome went away from them. And Froome also went away in a flat/short descent part of the climb, if Contador had got on his wheel right then he probably would have been closer to him at the finish.

Nothing too worrying IMO, he looked pretty in control the whole climb. And he too some time on the guy closest too him, so that's good.

 

[SeriousSam]

Someone had to drop Valverde tho, so that attack had to be done.

Froome dropped Valverde as well. The biggest time gain unsurprisingly results from doing the quickest ascent, which Froome did.

 

[roundabout]

Contador did do more work covering moves of other riders and making his own moves before Froome went away from them. And Froome also went away in a flat/short descent part of the climb, if Contador had got on his wheel right then he probably would have been closer to him at the finish.

Nothing too worrying IMO, he looked pretty in control the whole climb. And he too some time on the guy closest too him, so that's good.

Uh, Contador was right on Froome's wheel when he let the gap open up.

 

[Dr. Juice]

Valverde the first to attack and the first who cracked. Contador attacked to drop Valverde, did 300 m pretty hard. Froome and to a lesser extent Rodriguez paced themselves and ended up first.

Insane percentage, I guess it won't tell us that much. Everyone bar Contador has had a bad day so far. Let's hope Alberto continues like that. Today he took time on Valverde, tomorrow I'd like he beats the **** out of Froome.
While I don't believe Froome reaches top form, nobody knows how the form will be in the next week.
AC won't reach top form either, but I think on longer consistent climbs he has the measure of everybody, slightly but nevertheless.

If he sees Froome in difficulty, time to attack. All he needs is a decent cushion for 1 bad stage which can happen to everybody.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Happy with Alberto's time gain on Valverde. Tomorrow will tell us more about how big of a threat Froome will be.

 

[Jack_89]

I'm surprised to Froome. But maybe that's what he ran better, going with his step without responding to the shots. What he did not do Alberto attacking too early and wasting energies

As I said yesterday, I expected Valverde lost ground. Well Purito but have not seen him in a position to make postings in the next few days and the current advantage is already substantial.

 

[mrhender]

Contador, a little to eager today in my opinion..
He will need to ride really clever to win this one..
Time for Riis to do some magic-tactics...

 

[richwagmn]

Uh, Contador was right on Froome's wheel when he let the gap open up.

That's one way of putting it isn't it?

 

[Merckx index]

If he sees Froome in difficulty, time to attack. All he needs is a decent cushion for 1 bad stage which can happen to everybody.

Some people (including me) were thinking that Contador and Valverde should have attacked when Froome was struggling on the back in Wednesday’s stage. But today they in effect did that, and it didn’t matter. I guess the advantage of racing vs. your power meter is that you don’t need anyone to pace you up climbs, you don’t have to respond to any attacks, and you can maintain a steady pace.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, I don’t think attacking Froome is going to help, except that it might help Berto limit any losses when Froome turns it on later. He can't just mark Froome, because then has to worry about Valverde and Purito attacking, and riding at Froome's pace might not be optimal for him, anyway.

I'm guessing there will be a lot of discussion about tactics tonight.

 

[indianfanboy]

Contador looked strong and he had to make the attack to drop Valverde otherwise Valverde would have wheel sucked to the finish
Froome went at his own tempo and paced himself perfectly
We saw Froome looked strong in the short steep climb in La Zubia too but he seems to be suffering when there is more distance of climbing and he cannot afford to drop back and do the same tactic in Covadonga or Farrapona

 

[Miburo]

I don't necessarily think Froome was better than Contador this stage, but he definitely rode smarter than him. Froome deserves a lot of credit for that.

People give him too much crap for silly stuff, good day for Contador though.

 

[SeriousSam]

and riding at Froome's pace might not be optimal for him, anyway.

Surely everyone can do his personal best ascent up a mountain at a roughly even pace with an anaerobic finish?

Frequent changes of pace lead to slower ascents, though if your opponents are less able to cope with it and follow every time, they might lead to larger time gains.

 

[MoreGravityPerKilo]

Contador looked strong and he had to make the attack to drop Valverde otherwise Valverde would have wheel sucked to the finish

I don't see how anybody can wheelsuck at such gradients & speeds. (Besides, wheelsucking is probably the most unnecessary word in cycling...)

 

[BlurryVII]

Valverde isn't a threat anymore, I think he'll keep losing time in the next couple of stages.

Another positive point is that AC didn't lose much time.
But it's still worrying though, as I believe we were all wrong from the beginning, we all thought AC would be flying by the 2nd-3rd week but he isn't getting better day by day, he is as good as he was on Zubia. The worst case scenario would be that his form is actually decreasing because he looked much better on stage 9.
Let's wait and see, I thought it would be a domination but he doesn't have the form which is normal. It's gonna come down to tactics...

 

[indianfanboy]

I don't see how anybody can wheelsuck at such gradients & speeds. (Besides, wheelsucking is probably the most unnecessary word in cycling...)

Its always easier to follow wheels even in mountains mentally its easier to follow a wheel than getting dropped by an acceleration and having to ride on your own

 

[Jack_89]

This explains the underestimation and the small tactical error to attack too early

Fran Contador: "Alberto has not recognized the climb"

 

[jens_attacks]

still a good day overall and i wish that he will win this race but if froome reaches top form next days, it might be impossible. farrapona will probably be the most dangerous day

 

[MoreGravityPerKilo]

Its always easier to follow wheels even in mountains mentally its easier to follow a wheel than getting dropped by an acceleration and having to ride on your own

Not really. Froome has just shown that getting dropped and going your own pace might be smarter for some. I myself had that feeling too in past climbs.
In any case, Valverde was the first to attack and lead for quite some time. Add to that the toughness of the climb with the slow speed, and I fail to see why "wheelsucking" can be even remotely used as a description for what Valverde would have done. Especially since Contador himself wasn't pulling all the time either, which is perfectly legit and fine, but why use the term than for Valverde? It's racing after all.

Contador looked strong and he had to make the attack to drop Valverde otherwise Valverde would have wheel sucked to the finish

 

[indianfanboy]

Not really. Froome has just shown that getting dropped and going your own pace might be smarter for some. I myself had that feeling too in past climbs.
In any case, Valverde was the first to attack and lead for quite some time. Add to that the toughness of the climb with the slow speed, and I fail to see why "wheelsucking" can be even remotely used as a description for what Valverde would have done. Especially since Contador himself wasn't pulling all the time either, which is perfectly legit and fine, but why use the term than for Valverde? It's racing after all.

Ok i agree wheelsucking is a too harsh after all he attacked first today...but again Contador had to make the attack to drop Valverde because Valverde went into the red too early or else he would have given an oppurtunity for Valverde to recover...froome is a very different rider his high cadence style is perfect for keeping a high steady pace

 

[roundabout]

Froome has a low cadence style?