Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[LaFlorecita]

Sounds like the boys are super confident, remember yesterday Valgren said to Rasmus Staghoj that if everything goes to plan they can win, and today he replied to a discussion on a Danish news site facebook page, people said BMC or Sky will win, Valgren said "no, we will take it"

 

[Ramon Koran]

Re:

I'm starting to think that Froome has peaked too early and since he won the Dauphine it seems reasonable that he can't hold this form till Alpe d'Huez. Having said that, people will I think need to strap their seatbelts on next week in the Pyrenees, where he will go balistic.

But if Riis is right that Contador will be coming into peak form in say the last ten days and if his team can keep him in the game today and if he can defend himself well enough in this weeks mountain stages, then he still has a chance to topple the freak.

I realize that's a lot of ifs, however, I really can't see Froome being able to carry his winning Dauphine form and his ridiculous state right now all the way through to Paris. If he does then he's untouchable though and I'll be left wondering that Sky must have some really super beet juice.

In 2013 Froome was on peak form from oman through to week 3 of the Tour. No reason to think he can't hold peak form for a month.

 

[ILovecycling]

Sounds like the boys are super confident, remember yesterday Valgren said to Rasmus Staghoj that if everything goes to plan they can win, and today he replied to a discussion on a Danish news site facebook page, people said BMC or Sky will win, Valgren said "no, we will take it"

I think he will give his 100%, so motivated - cmon Michael
I cant wait

 

[Carols]

The good news is Alberto looked good...I think he pulled for almost the last 2km.

 

[Matteo.]

The good news is Alberto looked good...I think he pulled for almost the last 2km.

I agree. It's the only good news.
But i expected more by the team.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Bad TTT, he's now 1'03" down.. but Alberto looked strong

 

[Miburo]

Not good but not that terrible. There are enough chances to attack now and i would have signed for this GC after 1 week

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Not good but not that terrible. There are enough chances to attack now and i would have signed for this GC after 1 week

One minute from Froome before Pyrenees.. It's really.big time.

I hope for Col du Beal bis on tuesday. But it will be difficult

 

[Pantani Attacks]

They climbed faster than Sky which bodes well for the mountains.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

Not good but not that terrible. There are enough chances to attack now and i would have signed for this GC after 1 week

One minute from Froome before Pyrenees.. It's really.big time.

I hope for Col du Beal bis on tuesday. But it will be difficult

There are many chances for Contador to gain time and not only uphill. I'm convinced that froome will lose at least a minute on descent of the col d'allos for example, on the likes of contador and more on the likes of nibali.

But if he drops them tuesday tour over

 

[The Hitch]

Tinkov Saxo dropped the ball. Pure and simple. If you are going to have a guy go for the double and face post 2011 Chris Froome for at the Tour de France, you better squeeze every second out of every opportunity. Losing 30 seconds in the ttt when your leader is already at a disadvantage.

Pfff.

Contador now doesn't just have to stay with Froome on most mountain stages. He is going to have to pull a minute out of him.

Its impossible not to think back to 2013 when he basically just gave up after the first mountain stage and tried to settle for 3rd, though couldn't even achieve that. Thus far it feels like I'm watching a very similar story.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Tinkov Saxo dropped the ball. Pure and simple. If you are going to have a guy go for the double and face post 2011 Chris Froome for at the Tour de France, you better squeeze every second out of every opportunity. Losing 30 seconds in the ttt when your leader is already at a disadvantage.

Pfff.

Contador now doesn't just have to stay with Froome on most mountain stages. He is going to have to pull a minute out of him.

Its impossible not to think back to 2013 when he basically just gave up after the first mountain stage and tried to settle for 3rd, though couldn't even achieve that. Thus far it feels like I'm watching a very similar story.

Oh poor lad.

 

[Jelantik]

The good news is Alberto looked good...I think he pulled for almost the last 2km.

agreed with Carols. In hindsight, Alberto looked good today. To me, he looked more lively in the climb. But his team performance is okay. 24 seconds? I was hoping for less than 10 seconds. Now he is in the back foot from Froome with 1+ minutes (give or take?). That's a tall order to overcome if we look at how Froome is riding now. Nibali again bleeding more time. Looks like his team is less superior than Aru's giro team. But, we'll see on Tuesday.

 

[BlurryVII]

1:03 behind the Froomey, but Contador looked strong and that's what matters, pulled a lot on the flat, on that speedometer on screen he was going at 27 - 28 km/h on the hill which was the fastest I've seen, slightly better than Valverde / Quintana.

Sky on the other hand, went just as slow as Lampre among others on the hill.

 

[Ramira]

Re:

Contador now doesn't just have to stay with Froome on most mountain stages. He is going to have to pull a minute out of him.

Not sure I agree about that, I think Froome is definitely in control right now, but I think taking 1 minute in descents etc is a possibility. If Contador can equal Froome in the mountains he's still got a shot. However with the Giro in his legs I doubt he'll be able to do that.

Tuesday will tell us a lot. If Contador can stay with Froome, and not lose significant time on Quintana, he's still got a shot, if keeps bleeding seconds it's probably over.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

They climbed faster than Sky which bodes well for the mountains.

did you have any source on this? doesn't matter they climb faster than sky or not, they gave up 24 seconds to Froome at the end.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

lol at posters who said the mountains are yet to come....as it is contador will never gain time on froome..froome will beat contadors candy ass everytime when they are both healthy.

 

[LaFlorecita]

lol at posters who said the mountains are yet to come....as it is contador will never gain time on froome..froome will beat contadors candy ass everytime when they are both healthy.

Sure Zammy

 

[Miburo]

lol at posters who said the mountains are yet to come....as it is contador will never gain time on froome..froome will beat contadors candy ass everytime when they are both healthy.

I don't think anyone will deny that if froome drops contador tuesday, that it's over.

Wait 2 days ago, froome will most likely crush contador and then make your post. Couldn't wait heh?

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

They climbed faster than Sky which bodes well for the mountains.

did you have any source on this? doesn't matter they climb faster than sky or not, they gave up 24 seconds to Froome at the end.

They had the same time from the 21 check to the finish. Last climb started a few after that check, and Sky slowed on the climb, where Tinkoff picked up time after losing a chunk.

 

[Matteo.]

Re: Re:

Not good but not that terrible. There are enough chances to attack now and i would have signed for this GC after 1 week

One minute from Froome before Pyrenees.. It's really.big time.

I hope for Col du Beal bis on tuesday. But it will be difficult

There are many chances for Contador to gain time and not only uphill. I'm convinced that froome will lose at least a minute on descent of the col d'allos for example, on the likes of contador and more on the likes of nibali.

But if he drops them tuesday tour over

Exactly. Or the stage of Tourmalet, the first part of the descent is technical and if Alberto send a man in front, can earn something.
However, looking the elevation of Pierre, the last 7km are relatively adn sucking wheels he can follow Froome. So if he survives the hard part, Berto may follow him and get together at the finish line. As I said a repeat of the Cold Two Beal 2014.

the real problem could be Plateau de Beille but it is too far

 

[Punkan]

That Contador, Froome and Quintana looked strong on the last climb doesn't mean much. They are riding in a tempo to keep the 5th guy with them, which of course should be a piece of cake for them.

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

Not good but not that terrible. There are enough chances to attack now and i would have signed for this GC after 1 week

One minute from Froome before Pyrenees.. It's really.big time.

I hope for Col du Beal bis on tuesday. But it will be difficult

There are many chances for Contador to gain time and not only uphill. I'm convinced that froome will lose at least a minute on descent of the col d'allos for example, on the likes of contador and more on the likes of nibali.

But if he drops them tuesday tour over

All this ensures is that if Contador ends up holding hands with Froome down that descent, the usual trolls in the prr section are going to mock the forum for predicting that Froome was going to lose time there.

Just like they did after the cobbles stage. I don't know what idiots predicted Contador would gain time on the cobbles. And on stage 2. Saxo were about to attack, honest. And on stage 5 and 7 etc. Well he never did, he never even tried.

Anyone with any life experience should know not to count chickens before they hatch. Contador didn't get his minutes on all the other stages, but he's guaranteed one on this descent?

And I'm not saying Contador won't attack and take time on this stage, what I'm saying is that giving him this minute as if it already happened is silly.
When was the last time Contador took time on rivals on a descent? And that's taking into account that his 3 main gt rivals have been Rasmussen, Andy and Froome.

Besides even if he does get his minute, all that does is put him level going into the mountains. A very bad situation to be in? Contador's Giro Tour plan involved him defending a lead in the mountains, not having to retake one.

 

[Pantani Attacks]

Alberto and Nibali will have to work together you feel. Together they can pull it off but nobody likes to team with Alberto in the same way nobody likes to team with Sagan

 

[BlurryVII]

lol at posters who said the mountains are yet to come....as it is contador will never gain time on froome..froome will beat contadors candy ass everytime when they are both healthy.

Yep that's what we saw at the Vuelta 2014 .

Plus this year, Contador is at a disadvantage.