Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Electress]

look at his leg

Nice as ever
But more importantly…look at his socks! NO GREY HORRORS!

 

[No_Balls]

Dont show too much skin. Rhubromas X-Ray vision might spot some unexpected fat and we get more pessimistic rants.

 

[Mozart92]

Re: Re:

I also think its reasonable to say that Contador isn't as good as he was at the beginning of last year's Tour .

This is not a given in my view. We didn't see Contador in a TT and when you think about it the situation was very similar in a way. Nibali, even more underestimated at the time than now, took time on Contador and Froome in Sheffield and then went on to take very significant time on Contador on the cobbles. Perhaps the reality is simply that Nibali is better than people have been giving him credit for.

Nibali's reached his potential at Astana, we already whitnessed that when he dominated the Giro the year he won. Last year was confirmation of this. Unfortunately the two strongest guys on paper crashed out, but the stats alone tell us how strong Nibali was at the Tour last year.

If he hits those numbers again in this year's Tour, it will be most intruiging to see how he fairs against Froome, Contador and Quintana (in the order they arrived today).

Nibali going to be dropped like a hot potato.

I'll keep this post in my favourites, you'll face judgement in a few days if you said something dumb

Ps: yesterday I read comments with people saying that Froome was going to beat Martin and take 1 minute on Nibali and Quintana and 30 seconds on Contador.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

I also think its reasonable to say that Contador isn't as good as he was at the beginning of last year's Tour .

This is not a given in my view. We didn't see Contador in a TT and when you think about it the situation was very similar in a way. Nibali, even more underestimated at the time than now, took time on Contador and Froome in Sheffield and then went on to take very significant time on Contador on the cobbles. Perhaps the reality is simply that Nibali is better than people have been giving him credit for.

Nibali's reached his potential at Astana, we already whitnessed that when he dominated the Giro the year he won. Last year was confirmation of this. Unfortunately the two strongest guys on paper crashed out, but the stats alone tell us how strong Nibali was at the Tour last year.

If he hits those numbers again in this year's Tour, it will be most intruiging to see how he fairs against Froome, Contador and Quintana (in the order they arrived today).

Nibali going to be dropped like a hot potato.

I'll keep this post in my favourites, you'll face judgement in a few days if you said something dumb

Ps: yesterday I read comments with people saying that Froome was going to beat Martin and take 1 minute on Nibali and Quintana and 30 seconds on Contador.

Must have been idiots who said that, or just trolls

 

[rhubroma]

Dont show too much skin. Rhubromas X-Ray vision might spot some unexpected fat and we get more pessimistic rants.

Hah, hah, hah. But it's his face and his torso, not his legs!

At any rate, when, if, I see last year's look at some point in this race with my x-ray vision I'll let you know.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Dont show too much skin. Rhubromas X-Ray vision might spot some unexpected fat and we get more pessimistic rants.

Hah, hah, hah. But it's his face and his torso, not his legs!

At any rate, when, if, I see last year's look at some point in this race with my x-ray vision I'll let you know.

I'm sure those 2 grams of fat on his face will make a difference.

 

[Jagartrott]

Re:

Very reasonable, he hasn't been in top shape this season. There are excuses for it but it's fair to not believe it. On the mur we'll know more

Nah - that's a 1 km climb.
If the wind blows strongly today, then today's stage could be more meaningful. Hiding in crosswinds is difficult.

 

[rhubroma]

Dont show too much skin. Rhubromas X-Ray vision might spot some unexpected fat and we get more pessimistic rants.

Hah, hah, hah. But it's his face and his torso, not his legs!

At any rate, when, if, I see last year's look at some point in this race with my x-ray vision I'll let you know.

I'm sure those 2 grams of fat on his face will make a difference.

This photo seems more to my case:

Or rather this:

That's all folks!

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

Very reasonable, he hasn't been in top shape this season. There are excuses for it but it's fair to not believe it. On the mur we'll know more

Nah - that's a 1 km climb.
If the wind blows strongly today, then today's stage could be more meaningful. Hiding in crosswinds is difficult.

I don't agree, shitty contador in 2013 did the crosswinds perfectly. The mur doesn't show everything but if he's good he's gonna do really good on the mur.

 

[buchanan]

It's worrying that Contador said after yesterday's TT that he didn't feel good at all and that his heart rate was 'very, very high'. I think he's going to really struggle to hang in there with the other favourites over the 3 weeks. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[R0BL4MBT0N]

Some of you are insane! It's very easy to have a bad moment in such a short effort no matter how in form you are. I wouldn't read much into this at all. I can see why you might be worried though as it does seem reminiscent of 2013 but arguably Contador hasn't done anything so far that Contador in 2013 form couldn't do and you've all been pretty positive so far. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[ILovecycling]

Dont show too much skin. Rhubromas X-Ray vision might spot some unexpected fat and we get more pessimistic rants.

Hah, hah, hah. But it's his face and his torso, not his legs!

At any rate, when, if, I see last year's look at some point in this race with my x-ray vision I'll let you know.

I'm sure those 2 grams of fat on his face will make a difference.

This photo seems more to my case:

Or rather this:

That's all folks!

Lol have you ever ridden an ITT? Do you know how much *** 100% you must give? Everybody went 100% yesterday and their body language only confirms it.



btw My feelings after that itt were like Electress said, not bad but not good. (I've already made my point about Nibali in the other thread) Today might be more important stage

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Re:

It's worrying that Contador said after yesterday's TT that he didn't feel good at all and that his heart rate was 'very, very high'. I think he's going to really struggle to hang in there with the other favourites over the 3 weeks. Hope I'm wrong.

IT would be my guess that the intensity of his training since the end of the giro has been far lower than for most riders planning on doing the tour, so when you then suddenly have to go 100% in a short tt it doesn't sound unreasonable to me if he has a less than optimal puls rate.

 

[rhubroma]

Dont show too much skin. Rhubromas X-Ray vision might spot some unexpected fat and we get more pessimistic rants.

Hah, hah, hah. But it's his face and his torso, not his legs!

At any rate, when, if, I see last year's look at some point in this race with my x-ray vision I'll let you know.

I'm sure those 2 grams of fat on his face will make a difference.

This photo seems more to my case:

Or rather this:

That's all folks!

Lol have you ever ridden an ITT? Do you know how much **** 100% you must give? Everybody went 100% yesterday and their body language only confirms it.



btw My feelings after that itt were like Electress said, not bad but not good. (I've already made my point about Nibali in the other thread) Today might be more important stage

Certainly have and I'm thus well aware of the required effort. I still don't see what this has to do though with what was being discussed, while I added those images in an only moderately devious spirit in defiance of Flo saying he only needs to shed a few ounces. Looks to me like he's got 1.5 to 2 kilos to go.

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

It's worrying that Contador said after yesterday's TT that he didn't feel good at all and that his heart rate was 'very, very high'. I think he's going to really struggle to hang in there with the other favourites over the 3 weeks. Hope I'm wrong.

IT would be my guess that the intensity of his training since the end of the giro has been far lower than for most riders planning on doing the tour, so when you then suddenly have to go 100% in a short tt it doesn't sound unreasonable to me if he has a less than optimal puls rate.

This, exactly this. The way he managed the period between Giro and Tour with the light training and intense recovery will make him really, really strong in 2nd and 3 rd week. I'm convinced of that.

If he had trained harder, he would've been the best of the four yesterday by at least 10 seconds on Nibali but then the Giro would have a negative impact on him, and he would crumble in the 3rd week.

Froome has also opted for this kind of build up, he said on the GCN interview, he really wants to do like he did at the Vuelta 2014, come under prepared and ride himself into form to be in his best shape in the 3rd week. And that's what we've seen yesterday, Froome did quite bad.

I think overall Nibali will look the strongest on this 1st week but in the mountains Froome and Contador and potentially Quintana will prove to be superior. But Nibali will have his show on this 1st week.

And yes, I believe AC and CF will struggle badly on Huy. It's a tough effort, too early in the Tour, Mur de Bretagne will be more interesting as it will be close to the first real MTF.

 

[BlurryVII]

Re:

but arguably Contador hasn't done anything so far that Contador in 2013 form couldn't do and you've all been pretty positive so far.

Are you joking? Have you seen Tour d'andalousie? Have you seen the Giro? His TT? Even in the mountains he was MUCH stronger than in 2013. I don't know what you're talking about.

 

[Matteo.]

If it's windy Tinkov'gang must try something like 2013

 

[No_Balls]

Dont show too much skin. Rhubromas X-Ray vision might spot some unexpected fat and we get more pessimistic rants.

Hah, hah, hah. But it's his face and his torso, not his legs!

At any rate, when, if, I see last year's look at some point in this race with my x-ray vision I'll let you know.

I'm sure those 2 grams of fat on his face will make a difference.

This photo seems more to my case:

Or rather this:

That's all folks!

Um, ok...so out of every avaible photo who supports your wishes you chooses those two TT-photos (big no-no) were the face is barely visible? And this when your presented theory is based on these 2 g in his face and torso? Thats cool! I could do the same with a couple of random photos from last year as well.

Dat massive frame

 

[Velolover2]

It's blowing a lot.

 

[Red Rick]

Lol

 

[Jelantik]

WOW.. what a stage today huh? who da' thought Nibali and Quintana lost almost 1'.25??? TJ is definitely the beneficiary of all the carnage today. TS boys looks good, always attentive, always alert. Sagan just missed a whisker to win the stage... aahh.. so close, but yet so far. Tomorrow another interesting stage. I hope Contador has exercised all his bad luck on the Giro.. the day likes today is good for his effort to win TDF..

 

[Matteo.]

Today was almost perfect.
Team looks really strong and that will be confortable for cobbles and TTT. I said almost because of 4s lost by Froome but i think tomorrow Alberto re-gain these seconds , maybe he can earns more

 

[ILovecycling]

Rhubroma quote:
Certainly have and I'm thus well aware of the required effort. I still don't see what this has to do though with what was being discussed, while I added those images in an only moderately devious spirit in defiance of Flo saying he only needs to shed a few ounces. Looks to me like he's got 1.5 to 2 kilos to go.[/quote]


I got a bit fed up while reading like 4 pages back with your ranting so I overreacted a bit, I missed your point sorry.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

Today was almost perfect.
Team looks really strong and that will be confortable for cobbles and TTT. I said almost because of 4s lost by Froome but i think tomorrow Alberto re-gain these seconds , maybe he can earns more

I doubt that, he lacks racing rhytm in his legs I think.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Great stage, great result