LaFlorecita said:
In 2011:
- he won by 6 minutes so he wasted energy
- he only knew he could race the Tour a few weeks before the start so he never really trained for it
- he crashed hard a few times during the Tour and injured his knee and his back
- he lost 1'20" on the very first day because of a crash
- he constantly had to make up the time he'd lost on stage one so he wasted a lot of energy with pointless attacks
- he had a massive bonk on stage 18
Some of those arguments do explain partly why he only finished 5th that Tour. But back in 2011, his rivals where Evans and Frank Schleck, who are two levels below Froome as a climber and GT contender, and Andy Schleck in 2011 form, who was, despite his fantastic win on Galibier, way worse then in the Tour of 2010 (and even 2009).
I don't get why Contador with a Giro in his legs would win against a Froome who will focus himself 100% on the Tour. Even now in Ruta, Contador loses against Froome, in a race both men are not targeting (and for both men their first race of the season).
Riding a Giro for the win, against someone like Aru (if he's progressed comparing last year), will not be that really easy for Contador. Of course he will win, but i think he will lose that amount of energy that we will not be able to beat Froome and Quintana in the Tour. Nairo is slightly less then Froome and Contador, but not that much.
I love Alberto as a rider, but the way this forum expecting things from him at times, isn't healthy anymore.