Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

Leaving a few fun stats here, make of it whatever you want but Contador has always won the Tour when it starts off with a prologue. Since the Tour 2010, only in 2012 it started with a prologue but Contador couldn't participate.

Also the Tour 2015 goes in netherlands, belgium and France just like the last time AC won the Tour

Shame for Contador it's not a prologue then.

The one in monaco in 2009 was 15 kms long.

If you don't wanna call that a prologue then let's just say all the Tours AC won didn't start with a normal stage but with a ITT / prologue. It's just a stat .

It has nonsense but curiosity this link of wining Contador with prologue, but:

That Tour 2009, 21 stages
2015 Tour, 21 stages

2012 Tour, prologue + 20 stages.

You have to say, start with a short ITT, becouse prologue is not the word.

Prologue is below 8 km, and the difference is that there is not limit of time, you can lose whatever than you will start in the forst stage, and if you dont finish or you crash or something, you can as well start in the forst stage next day.

For the rest is exactly the same prologue than stage.

 

[BlurryVII]

Cool pic of AC in Livigno yesterday...

Weight watch: The more I see pics of him in Livigno, the more I believe he is gaining weight instead of losing some.

Chubby, chubby face on this one, not good.

 

[Jspear]

Cool pic of AC in Livigno yesterday...

Weight watch: The more I see pics of him in Livigno, the more I believe he is gaining weight instead of losing some.

Chubby, chubby face on this one, not good.

Some of you are funny with the whole weight watch thing. I look at that and my first thought is; how can you even tell. He's wearing normal clothes. His face looks fine imo. Oh well....I'll leave that for the experts (BlurryVII, Flo, ect) to decide.

 

[BlurryVII]

Cool pic of AC in Livigno yesterday...

Weight watch: The more I see pics of him in Livigno, the more I believe he is gaining weight instead of losing some.

Chubby, chubby face on this one, not good.

Some of you are funny with the whole weight watch thing. I look at that and my first thought is; how can you even tell. He's wearing normal clothes. His face looks fine imo. Oh well....I'll leave that for the experts (BlurryVII, Flo, ect) to decide.

That's because you have no idea, on this particular pic his face looks as chubby as during winter

I'm serious, perhaps it's just the room lighting or whatever and maybe he hasn't gained any weight but you can be sure he hasn't lost any either since the Giro.

 

[dusty red roads]

What I've noticed most about him in every pic I've seen since the Giro (and even on the final podium) is that he has a noticeable lean to his right, with his left shoulder higher, which I've not noticed in previous pics. Maybe body a bit out of alignment since he popped his shoulder? Hopefully it doesn't effect his riding, but if body is out of alignment it might not be as efficient in energy use.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Cool pic of AC in Livigno yesterday...

Weight watch: The more I see pics of him in Livigno, the more I believe he is gaining weight instead of losing some.

Chubby, chubby face on this one, not good.

Some of you are funny with the whole weight watch thing. I look at that and my first thought is; how can you even tell. He's wearing normal clothes. His face looks fine imo. Oh well....I'll leave that for the experts (BlurryVII, Flo, ect) to decide.

I cannot judge either, need to see his arm and legs muscles and veins.

 

[cellardoor]

I dunno about everyone else but I'm getting worried about Saxo's climbing doms vs Sky's. Kreuziger, Rogers and Basso looked rubbish at the Giro (but hopefully they were all scheduled to be 80% at the Giro and improve for the Tour), Kiselovski had a moment in the sun at the Dauphine, but ultimately was unimpressive and Majka is looking very average at Suisse. Compare that to Wout Poels who looks like he's going to be a beast. Hopefully Majka is saving himself and will show some form over the coming days.

 

[buchanan]

Cool pic of AC in Livigno yesterday...

Weight watch: The more I see pics of him in Livigno, the more I believe he is gaining weight instead of losing some.

Chubby, chubby face on this one, not good.

Why are you so obsessed with Contador's weight? His weight looks fine and his face is fine too. You sound like an obsessive compulsive, anorexic teenage girl.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Don't be such an arse. He needs to be very skinny for the Tour to win hence why we are evaluating his shape from recent pictures. I agree with BlurryVII that his face looks a bit chubby but we cannot judge his shape from pics in which he is not wearing a cycling kit IMO.

 

[Miburo]

How does his face look chubby? It looks like he hasn't ate anything for weeks.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

How does his face look chubby? It looks like he hasn't ate anything for weeks.

Don't you see his cheeks? Lol

 

[offtherecord]

I´ve promised myself I´ll never register as it seems that this forum already eats way too much of my time. But...

Just a small observation for the start. Even though I haven´t heard TV commentators mentioning him even once, I can not be the only person who has noticed number 123 in Dauphine, Kiserlovski, being up there on all the mountain stages. No decent result to his name this year and yet he seemed to be working strong. Maybe TS team will not be as weak as everyone predicts.

 

[cellardoor]

I´ve promised myself I´ll never register as it seems that this forum already eats way too much of my time. But...

Just a small observation for the start. Even though I haven´t heard TV commentators mentioning him even once, I can not be the only person who has noticed number 123 in Dauphine, Kiserlovski, being up there on all the mountain stages. No decent result to his name this year and yet he seemed to be working strong. Maybe TS team will not be as weak as everyone predicts.

Just taking the last stage as a for instance:

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 3:59:27
2 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:00:18
3 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida
4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:28
6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:31
8 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:44
9 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
10 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team
11 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:52
12 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Lampre-Merida
13 David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx - Quick-Step
14 Paul Voss (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:01:35
15 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing
16 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
17 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
18 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:46

Yeah, it's ok, but it's nothing to write home about either. He's a minute behind Wout Poels who turned himself inside out for Froome and then soft-pedaled home.

 

[Dedelou]

I´ve promised myself I´ll never register as it seems that this forum already eats way too much of my time. But...

Just a small observation for the start. Even though I haven´t heard TV commentators mentioning him even once, I can not be the only person who has noticed number 123 in Dauphine, Kiserlovski, being up there on all the mountain stages. No decent result to his name this year and yet he seemed to be working strong. Maybe TS team will not be as weak as everyone predicts.

Just taking the last stage as a for instance:

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 3:59:27
2 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge 0:00:18
3 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida
4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:28
6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:31
8 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:44
9 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
10 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team
11 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:52
12 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Lampre-Merida
13 David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx - Quick-Step
14 Paul Voss (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:01:35
15 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing
16 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
17 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
18 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:46

Yeah, it's ok, but it's nothing to write home about either. He's a minute behind Wout Poels who turned himself inside out for Froome and then soft-pedaled home.

That's just it.. A minute behind Poels is not bad at all for somebody whose program in this race does NOT requires he turn himself inside out but keep getting in shape for the big prize. Who's to say that what Poels did for Froome at DL he may not be able to duplicate in the Tour? or that on the other hand K will be able to turn himself inside out for Alberto come July.. The thing is time will tell

 

[Miburo]

I´ve promised myself I´ll never register as it seems that this forum already eats way too much of my time. But...

Just a small observation for the start. Even though I haven´t heard TV commentators mentioning him even once, I can not be the only person who has noticed number 123 in Dauphine, Kiserlovski, being up there on all the mountain stages. No decent result to his name this year and yet he seemed to be working strong. Maybe TS team will not be as weak as everyone predicts.

Who said saxo will be weak? Except for the co called cycling experts the mainstream media has on board.

Kreuziger was sick during last week of the giro, he should be at least with the last 20 guys, at least that.
Majka should be with the last 10.
Roger and kiser are very valuable assest in the mountains.
Bennati and sagan are monsters on the flat/cobbles.

If all these guys are on shape contador has the best team in the tour.

 

[BYOP88]

Re: Re:

How does his face look chubby? It looks like he hasn't ate anything for weeks.

Don't you see his cheeks? Lol

Fat Bertie.

 

[No_Balls]

Cool pic of AC in Livigno yesterday...

Weight watch: The more I see pics of him in Livigno, the more I believe he is gaining weight instead of losing some.

Chubby, chubby face on this one, not good.

I will not comment on the weight but it sure looks like this is not the photo he wanted to go viral with not much to go. In a restaurant, Spains qualifier running in the background and surrounded by chefs.

Or maybe it is? Albertos psychological warfare 2.0. Skip the coffee.

 

[Angliru]

Cool pic of AC in Livigno yesterday...

Weight watch: The more I see pics of him in Livigno, the more I believe he is gaining weight instead of losing some.

Chubby, chubby face on this one, not good.

Some of you are funny with the whole weight watch thing. I look at that and my first thought is; how can you even tell. He's wearing normal clothes. His face looks fine imo. Oh well....I'll leave that for the experts (BlurryVII, Flo, ect) to decide.

My sentiments exactly. I think you folks just like to worry!

 

[Angliru]

Re:

I dunno about everyone else but I'm getting worried about Saxo's climbing doms vs Sky's. Kreuziger, Rogers and Basso looked rubbish at the Giro (but hopefully they were all scheduled to be 80% at the Giro and improve for the Tour), Kiselovski had a moment in the sun at the Dauphine, but ultimately was unimpressive and Majka is looking very average at Suisse. Compare that to Wout Poels who looks like he's going to be a beast. Hopefully Majka is saving himself and will show some form over the coming days.

For virtually all of this season Majka has been a shadow of the rider that we saw last year. Lofty expectations have been met with little signs that he has taken the progress he displayed in 2014 and built on it. He seems to have regressed. It appears his season's goals are geared towards the mid and latter points of the season, which might explain it. I hope that is the case.

 

[Netserk]

Majka has had a better spring than he had last year (before the Giro).

 

[Fernandez]

I´ve promised myself I´ll never register as it seems that this forum already eats way too much of my time. But...

Just a small observation for the start. Even though I haven´t heard TV commentators mentioning him even once, I can not be the only person who has noticed number 123 in Dauphine, Kiserlovski, being up there on all the mountain stages. No decent result to his name this year and yet he seemed to be working strong. Maybe TS team will not be as weak as everyone predicts.

Who said saxo will be weak? Except for the co called cycling experts the mainstream media has on board.

Kreuziger was sick during last week of the giro, he should be at least with the last 20 guys, at least that.
Majka should be with the last 10.
Roger and kiser are very valuable assest in the mountains.
Bennati and sagan are monsters on the flat/cobbles.

If all these guys are on shape contador has the best team in the tour.

Alberto will be isolated at TdF like hes been all his career in GTs. This little man has fought all his GTs always by his own.

 

[Angliru]

Re:

Majka has had a better spring than he had last year (before the Giro).

After his 2014 string of results, I guess I expected a podium in a major week long stage race or a stage win.

 

[Miburo]

Majka "When i pull in the tour, not many will be left"

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Majka "When i pull in the tour, not many will be left"

Mythical Majka _O_
Of course Contador, Kreuziger and RoboBasso will be left + Froome, Nibali, Quintana I think

Edit: and sounds like he's ready to ride for Alberto and bring the hurt

 

[TheYouyou7]

Logical he's a super climber if he goes flat out during 2k it will cause some serious pain.