• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

Page 1059 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Re:

cellardoor said:
The situation wasn't helped by blatantly incorrect time gaps being given that suggested Contador was only just about maintaining at about 40secs back. Then all of a sudden they were in sight. Prior to that I thought he was going to run out of steam Dauphine style and be in grave danger of losing the Giro. All in all, got to be happy with how things turned out. However, Landa looks on another level to take such a huge chunk of time out of Contador in about 2k of false flat is ridiculous whatever ifs and buts there may be about Contador having worked earlier. I'm not convinced at all that Contador will be able to follow Landa so it could be damage limitation time over the next few days.


Are you in Colorado? I'll have what you're smokin! :D jk Can't say much other than Astana is Kazakh word for clinic.
 
Jul 19, 2010
5,361
0
0
Visit site
Re:

Miburo said:
Crashed twice, dislocated his shoulder twice, punctured at a terrible timing.

Has to race against an insanely strong team.

4 minutes ahead in GC.

And some say Landa is stronger.

I would have to argue with that though. It's hard to say because Contador was in mechanical, then astana driving fast, they even shed their own domestique already earlier in Mortirolo. With a head start of 1+ minutes, and Landa is in good form, the fact that Contador is still strong to hold that, that shows contador wasn't weak either. So I can't imagine what might happen if Landa didn't start 1+ minute ahead. But we never know how it is going to be, doesn't it? Contador won ITT with his leg. Landa lost to contador due to his leg. Stage 15, we might say Landa won w/ his leg. But contador got Aru to watch for. Today, Landa won due to Contador mechanical. And Contador won from aru due his leg too. None of the last 2 days suggesting that Contador lost to Landa due to his leg. (except briefly on stage 15). But today's no one can deny, if Contador's form was so bad, no way he could ride like that to trim the 1+ minute deficit at the bottom of the climb. Mortirilo isn't a cake walk climb either. Even all astana's team mate already gone. (yeah, yeah.. people will say Landa is waiting for Aru. But, there's no saying either that he could continue by himself and contador won't be closing the gap. Still he is 4 minutes back). I'm waiting for Landa to get a mechanical, and see if he can catch up with Contador on Seistre stage.

All in all, in my opinion, Contador still comes out as the winner for today's stage. Sure Landa won the stage with what? cutting 30 seconds of his 4+ minutes buffer to Contador? But what he did resulting in dropping his team leader from 2nd spot to off podium. Don't know if I can call that winning day for Astana though. They might win the battle today, but certainly Contador still win the war.
 
Jul 19, 2010
5,361
0
0
Visit site
Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
sunnyIce said:
“To Mikel Landa, I can only say: chapeau. These are the stages that people remember,” Contador said.
Sheesh, I just wish Contador would not be diplomatic for once in his life.

he is a great champs Flo. That's what a great champs does. Classy. Today Landa won. Is he really strong or is he getting the 1+ head start? Don't know. But today Contador was strong too (anyone who says otherwise, might watch a different race :D). Other wise, he will loose 2+ already. Instead he puts 2 minutes to the closest rider on the podium, Aru. That what matters.
 
Aug 31, 2012
7,550
3
0
Visit site
Re:

cellardoor said:
I'm not convinced at all that Contador will be able to follow Landa so it could be damage limitation time over the next few days.
Relax, Miburo has already declared it absurd to think Landa might be stronger. :p
 
Jul 19, 2010
5,361
0
0
Visit site
btw.. fromey wasn't happy either..

Chris Froome @chrisfroome
IMHO attacking the leaders jersey when he has a technical is not good sportsmanship... #Giro
 
Feb 21, 2014
2,133
0
0
Visit site
Re: Re:

SeriousSam said:
cellardoor said:
I'm not convinced at all that Contador will be able to follow Landa so it could be damage limitation time over the next few days.
Relax, Miburo has already declared it absurd to think Landa might be stronger. :p

Yeah, after all he only wheelsucked his way for half the mortirolo, descent, and aprica behind Contador and Kruis taking pulls. All of that after starting mortirolo with a 1 minute lead.

Won on sunday, with a sprint while Contador wasn't particularly willing to dig deep for him, probably still affected by his crashes. Let's see if he's gonna do any harm with Contador focusing on him the whole time and countering him.

You know what's the funniest? It's that you were already complaining it'd be cheap that Contador wins the stage attacking Kruijwijk who was pulling (and he was helping him), but apparently for Landa, it's not cheap, he is just the strongest. And no mention of his effort on the mortirolo. Such *** hater, go hide yourself.
 
Time to start thinking big picture and following wheels and saving his legs as much as possible for July. The ending profile today was absurd for his style of racing from the standpoint of winning today's stage, and that was BEFORE his issues on the road. Stay alert, out of trouble and follow wheels.
 
May 24, 2013
35
0
8,580
Visit site
What a ride from Contador!! Too bad his team isn't that strong as I thought in the beginning of the Giro. Astana has a bad captain and a very strong team, while Tinkoff has a bad team and an amazing strong captain!
But that said, it seems that Contador isn't in the favor of lady luck the last years in GT's... Crashed out of the tour and this Giro, no need to tell that all again. Today the ride up the Mortirolo will be remembered fo a long time.
 
Jan 25, 2010
264
0
0
Visit site
I looked in several pages of this thread, but, I have not seen anyone say what I think Contador did at the end. So please chime in or correct me if I'm wrong.

On the last 5 km, I saw Contador talk to Landa. Seconds later, Landa attacks, Contador fakes the he's gonna follow Landa, he does a half ass run for him. Contador sits down. I think Contador played Chess there, he calculated that letting Landa attack from there would give Landa just enough seconds to overtake the second GC spot over Aru. He is the PATRON of the Giro. He dictated who's gonna be second.

In one post race interview, in italian, they ask Landa: Contador talked to you? didn't he? Landa responded "no", but, I could tell by his gestures he was lying (an expert in facial gestures please clarify).

There's camarederie. Igor Anton Hernandez paced Contador for a good stretch. Maybe Contador payed it forward to Landa.

What you guys think?
 
Aug 31, 2012
7,550
3
0
Visit site
Unlikely.

At the summit, they led Aru by 1:52, an advantage that grew once more as they climbed again towards the finish at Aprica. After sitting in the wheels in accordance with team orders for more than an hour, Landa jumped clear with four kilometres remaining to win the stage, to the obvious irritation of Contador, who crossed the line with Kruijswijk 38 seconds later.

“As for Landa maybe he abandoned his leader a little bit but everyone does his own race,” Contador said pointedly in his press conference afterwards. “For me, Kruijswijk did great work and under normal circumstances, I would have given him the stage win but everybody has his own interests and I respect that.”
 
Feb 21, 2014
2,133
0
0
Visit site
Re:

Iker_Baqueiro said:
I looked in several pages of this thread, but, I have not seen anyone say what I think Contador did at the end. So please chime in or correct me if I'm wrong.

On the last 5 km, I saw Contador talk to Landa. Seconds later, Landa attacks, Contador fakes the he's gonna follow Landa, he does a half ass run for him. Contador sits down. I think Contador played Chess there, he calculated that letting Landa attack from there would give Landa just enough seconds to overtake the second GC spot over Aru. He is the PATRON of the Giro. He dictated who's gonna be second.

In one post race interview, in italian, they ask Landa: Contador talked to you? didn't he? Landa responded "no", but, I could tell by his gestures he was lying (an expert in facial gestures please clarify).

There's camarederie. Igor Anton Hernandez paced Contador for a good stretch. Maybe Contador payed it forward to Landa.

What you guys think?

That seems a bit too far fetched tbh, almost non sense. Why would Contador be so upset at Aru that he wants his teammate to get 2 nd in GC ? Do you really think Contador would intentionally lose 38 seconds ? Because even if Contador wanted Landa to gain time on Aru, he wouldn't just let him go...
 
Jul 19, 2010
5,361
0
0
Visit site
Re:

SeriousSam said:
Of course not. The Giro is won (barring yet more mishaps). What's unclear is who the strongest climber in the Giro is.

this is the best statement of all. We don't know who's the strongest. I hope Seistre stage will answer it for us.
 
Feb 21, 2014
2,133
0
0
Visit site
Re: Re:

Jelantik said:
SeriousSam said:
Of course not. The Giro is won (barring yet more mishaps). What's unclear is who the strongest climber in the Giro is.

this is the best statement of all. We don't know who's the strongest. I hope Seistre stage will answer it for us.

Nah, I don't think much is gonna happen on that stage. The Cervinia day is gonna be interesting, I think Alberto will have his stage win there.
 
Jul 19, 2010
5,361
0
0
Visit site
Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
I cannot see Alberto take a stage win tbh (and he said it's not his goal)
I think he'll be limiting his losses from now on. Landa will attack him whenever he can.

as long as astana plays fair and not riding full gas when Contador got mechanical, I don't mind. Contador has the shape to match Landa. We just didn't get a chance to show it today. very unfortunate. How do we know? well if contador is in the shape of Aru or in bad shape, he won't be able to chase them in the climb by himself. Also, I don't think Contador will be left on the dust by Landa if they are starting an equal footing.
 
Apr 9, 2014
466
0
0
Visit site
If he ended up winning today it would be the greatest stage win of all time hands down...still up there with the best performances ever. Simply incredible for a man "past it"
 
Jul 5, 2010
943
0
0
Visit site
Re: Re:

Jelantik said:
SeriousSam said:
Of course not. The Giro is won (barring yet more mishaps). What's unclear is who the strongest climber in the Giro is.

this is the best statement of all. We don't know who's the strongest. I hope Seistre stage will answer it for us.

Who is the overall strongest is clear by the standings. Who actually cares who the strongest climber is?
 
Re: Re:

Dutchsmurf said:
Jelantik said:
SeriousSam said:
Of course not. The Giro is won (barring yet more mishaps). What's unclear is who the strongest climber in the Giro is.

this is the best statement of all. We don't know who's the strongest. I hope Seistre stage will answer it for us.

Who is the overall strongest is clear by the standings. Who actually cares who the strongest climber is?

Well guys that like to bait on this thread regularly I guess :).
 
Aug 31, 2012
7,550
3
0
Visit site
In every single grand tour ever, one of the most intriguing and most discussed themes is who the best climber is. Given that Contador is a renowned climber regularly mentioned as one of the best ever, tending to win his Grand Tours with climbing, this question is hardly "bait" nor something people don't care about.

It's been quite some time now that this thread was renamed from "I love Alberto" to "Alberto Contador discussion thread". I figured that meant posts that aren't gushing praise for the man would be tolerated, if not appreciated :p
 
Apr 9, 2014
466
0
0
Visit site
People must remember Contador was in red mode for half the race tracking back Aru and Landa, blowing apart every single rider with nothing but rhythm...Landa of course pulled Aru but didn't exert not near half the energy and effort as Alberto. He was obviously going to win the stage due to having more energy and better legs. Landa is a great talent but is nothing more than that
 

TRENDING THREADS