Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Matteo.]

All the team do a great work , Sagan first but also Tosatto , Bennati. ...maybe i saw Kreuziger at the end , i'm not sure

 

[hrotha]

Meh, nobody was even dropped (except for Pinot, but that was more of a self-fulfilling prophecy). I can't draw conclusions from this one way or the other.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

AC will no doubt be giving some very big thanks to his team. They saved his day on multiple occasions. He wasn't very impressive...his team was good.

Contador was pretty good, it's just that his positioning is dogshit. It always has been, he just can't do that.

Sagan saved Contador a minute of time, maybe even more.

Indeed, but on the other hand his team should learn to look around for him more often. Anyway, he didn't lose any time to it's a good stage for him

 

[Dutchsmurf]

Re: Re:

AC will no doubt be giving some very big thanks to his team. They saved his day on multiple occasions. He wasn't very impressive...his team was good.

Contador was pretty good, it's just that his positioning is dogshit. It always has been, he just can't do that.

Sagan saved Contador a minute of time, maybe even more.

His positioning was perfectly fine today. It is just that he and a teammate completely missed the last corner before the last cobbles, so he started them very far behind there. On all other cobble parts he was positioned where he should be.

 

[Jspear]

Juan Antonio Flecha just said AC rode the last 25 K with a broken rear wheel.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Juan Antonio Flecha just said AC rode the last 25 K with a broken rear wheel.

Yeah I saw him and his teammates looking at it during the race, thank god it didn't affect his time

 

[Ryaguas]

Thanks god everything went good today, Sagz is such a monster man... major props to him.

Contador looked good and hope he continue getting better racing legs.

Venga!

 

[arvc40]

Solid Ride by Contador and Team. No doubt that wheel was not helping.

 

[Red Rick]

At one point he looked better on the stones than Froome, but seeing how Froome almost took himself out of contention, hopefully there will be lots of rains in the descents

 

[Miburo]

Re:

At one point he looked better on the stones than Froome, but seeing how Froome almost took himself out of contention, hopefully there will be lots of rains in the descents

And apperently his wheel broke. The fact that he closed that last gap himself was a good sign too

 

[The_Cheech]

Re:

At one point he looked better on the stones than Froome, but seeing how Froome almost took himself out of contention, hopefully there will be lots of rains in the descents

He came extremely close to kissing the pavement at one point.

One of the Katushas almost pushed him off the road. He was lucky the side of the road wasn't raised kerbs, otherwise he would be in a hospital right now.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

At one point he looked better on the stones than Froome, but seeing how Froome almost took himself out of contention, hopefully there will be lots of rains in the descents

Yeah I think it was the longest section? He looked really good.

 

[The_Cheech]

I hate to say it but... FOR ONCE! Alberto has a monster team and he's not taking advantage of it.

I suspect he doesn't know how to.

He could've dome some real frigging damage with Sagan today. Peter is on monster mode.

 

[Electress]

Taxus,

You are right that, at times, other riders have looked stronger - even at times significantly stronger - than AC. 2011 Tour, Froome in 2013, Landa and Aru in a couple of the climbing stages in the Giro. You are also right that, so far, Froome appears to be the stronger rider.

However, your extreme bias, which is clear to everyone, appears to cloud your vision. A few things:
1. Despite looking shaky at times in the Giro, he won. He absolutely destroyed Landa in the ITT, which, like it or not, is a component of every GT, and often a decisive component.
2. Froome and Contador put up some strong numbers during the Vuelta 2014. They were not exactly handicapped. Contador won and was clearly the stronger.
3. Contador did give credit to Landa. Consider this quote after the Motirolo stage, during which, as you will recall, Astana pushed hard after Contador's mechanical. "“To Mikel Landa, I can only say: chapeau. These are the stages that people remember,” Contador said.
Read more at http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/05/race-report/landa-steals-the-show-contador-extends-lead-in-giro-stage-16_371741#BOIbjtfMccYoV8Hp.99
Or this one: "Landa was incredible, too, so it wasn't easy." "Landa was stronger than Aru, I think we saw that today," Contador said, though he was cautious about declaring that his fellow countryman – now fourth at 4:46 – might prove the greater threat from the Astana camp over the final six stages. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-ditalia-contador-says-landa-was-stronger-than-aru
Or here again:
“The team was good today, and I kept and eye on my closest rival, Mikel Landa,” said Contador. http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/05/aru-fights-back-to-take-stage-19-of-giro-ditalia-contador-keeps-his-powder-dry-in-advance-of-final-mountain-stage/
4. You seem to hold it against him that he didn't prostrate himself before Landa, declaring him much stronger than he himself, Contador. As I already said, Contador destroyed him in the ITT, so that wouldn't be totally accurate. Secondly, you seem to have a weak grasp of tactics. If you recall, Landa said he didn't attack sooner on the Colle delle Finestre because Contador appeared to be strong. He was closing down attacks well, he'd performed well on previous climbs, only losing time to Landa after working hard to catch up, only losing time to Aru after choosing to mark Landa instead, etc. If he had been telling everyone that Landa was a much stronger climber than him, don't you think Landa might have gone earlier? What does he gain from letting a stronger climber know that he is feeling weaker and might not be able to follow a strong attack? Tactically, that makes no sense. His goal was to win the Giro d'Italia, not run a science experiment to determine who has the best engine.
5. Contador has never ducked opponents. He took on Rasmussen toe to toe when Rasmussen was a monster, he was the only person in the peloton with the cojones to face down Lance mano a mano, both on and off the bike, he took on all comers in 2011 after already having raced the Giro, he continued attacking after it being clear he would not win, he continued fighting in 2013 after Froome had basically humiliating him (a lesser rider would have been broken), he continued fighting Purito and Piti in the Vuelta 2013 despite losing time stage after stage, he took on Froome and Quintana in the 2014 Vuelta after crashing out of the Tour, he's doing the double this year...
6. You compare Contador to Lance. No one has ever made any allegations to support this, nor do riders seem to view him in that light. Do you have any support for this at all? As far as I can tell, even former teammates (Tiralongo, Sammy Sanchez) have been willing to work for him after loyalty to him as a person.

In conclusion, it is one thing to make reasonable statements like, "Froome appears very strong right now. Contador appears weaker. It is likely that Froome will beat Contador in this."

But your insistence on spouting extremely biased, often historically inaccurate opinions (which you state as fact) about him is frustrating. You clearly have some insider info on cyclists, or you like people to think you do, and you seem to know something about cycling, and at times it seems like you should be a great poster, despite your poor English (I know it's not your first language), but your blind hatred of Contador emasculates any legitimate point you might make.

Thank you for this. It needed to be said.

And to add to the 'loyalty' question. I read a direct quote from Navarro which went along the lines of 'if Alberto called, I'd drop everything and go and be a domestique again. Working for Alberto were some of the best times in my career.'

I couldn't watch today, but I couldn't be happier with the outcome, all in all. Tony Martin had some justice and who could possibly not be happy for anyone so happy as he was? And Alberto it seems rode with a broken wheel for an age, and courtesy of Sagan, who many predicted might turn out to be an unwilling lieutenant, held up perfectly well.

I think he and the team will settle down a great deal after this, and that will bring it's own benefits.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Taxus,
<snip>

Great post! You must have a lot of patience to write it all out like that

 

[casati]

Re:

I hate to say it but... FOR ONCE! Alberto has a monster team and he's not taking advantage of it.

I suspect he doesn't know how to.

He could've dome some real frigging damage with Sagan today. Peter is on monster mode.

They did exactly what they were supposed to do, keep Contador out of trouble which why they have these riders on the team and with an apparent broken wheel, brakes rubbing etc. for the last 25k, I think I would called this a successful day

 

[Guybrush]

Re:

At one point he looked better on the stones than Froome, but seeing how Froome almost took himself out of contention, hopefully there will be lots of rains in the descents

Wiggo is the one with problems on a wet descent, not Froome

 

[Carols]

I think it was a great day for him and TCS. His team was magnificent, he rode well and when we find out afterwards that he rode 25km on a broken wheel, well coming out even was a grand result. At times he looked very comfortable which is also encouraging!

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

At one point he looked better on the stones than Froome, but seeing how Froome almost took himself out of contention, hopefully there will be lots of rains in the descents

Wiggo is the one with problems on a wet descent, not Froome

Froome has problems with wet roundabouts, I'm pretty sure wet descents are a problem too. He doesn't like wet, attritional races. See basically the only 2 points in all 2013 he was struggling, Porto San Elpidio and the 2013 WRCC. Wet and attritional both times (climbing has to be involved, flat + attritional he's fine with). The Alpe d'Huez stage in 2013 saw AC attack Froome on a descent, gap him slightly, then get his team to drag him back. AC is much, much better than Froome on any wet descents.

 

[rm7]

He looked good today. He looked fine on the cobbles (except for the last pave - something about a broken wheel?), but he also closed the last 10-15 meter of the gap to the Froome group afterwards.

Remember he texted Valgren that he is stronger in the Tour than he was at the Giro, so he must have seen some good results in training. I still don't want to read too much into his performance yesterday, it only showed he was lacking punch due to no high intens training/racing.

Now with 3 days where he have to find his legs and stay out of trouble, and let Sagan do his thing.

 

[Guybrush]

Re: Re:

At one point he looked better on the stones than Froome, but seeing how Froome almost took himself out of contention, hopefully there will be lots of rains in the descents

Wiggo is the one with problems on a wet descent, not Froome

Froome has problems with wet roundabouts, I'm pretty sure wet descents are a problem too. He doesn't like wet, attritional races. See basically the only 2 points in all 2013 he was struggling, Porto San Elpidio and the 2013 WRCC. Wet and attritional both times (climbing has to be involved, flat + attritional he's fine with). The Alpe d'Huez stage in 2013 saw AC attack Froome on a descent, gap him slightly, then get his team to drag him back. AC is much, much better than Froome on any wet descents.

I remind you that he broke his leg on a wet descent

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

I remind you that he broke his leg on a wet descent

On a straight road. It had nothing to do with his descending skills. Nevertheless, skilled descenders and bikehandlers can still crash, due to bad luck or to the occasional human error on their part. Doesn't make them any less skilled.

 

[BlurryVII]

He said he had good legs today. And he said yesterday he had "muy buenas sencasiones" but he doesn't know why his legs didn't respond in the final

Lying as usual. Hopefully he'll improve with the next 3 flat stages, Mur de Bretagne will bring a lot of info as to what will happen on la pierre saint martin. If he does bad again, Ax 3 domaines scenario is waiting next monday.

 

[Guybrush]

Re: Re:

I remind you that he broke his leg on a wet descent

On a straight road. It had nothing to do with his descending skills. Nevertheless, skilled descenders and bikehandlers can still crash, due to bad luck or to the occasional human error on their part. Doesn't make them any less skilled.

i know that Hrotha, just don't get the double standards in bike handling between Alberto and Froome

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

He said he had good legs today. And he said yesterday he had "muy buenas sencasiones" but he doesn't know why his legs didn't respond in the final

Lying as usual. Hopefully he'll improve with the next 3 flat stages, Mur de Bretagne will bring a lot of info as to what will happen on la pierre saint martin. If he does bad again, Ax 3 domaines scenario is waiting next monday.

But Berto did look good yesterday, he even tried to go with Purito, past Froome, but just blew up. Sh** happens And today he looked good too, of course he suffered, it's not his terrain, but he looked strong and as comfortable as we can expect him to be.