Re: Re:
Valv.Piti said:
LaFlorecita said:
Metabolol said:
What are you talking about? An ahtlete can see a decline in his/her performances from one year to another, especially at 30+. There is no mystery there. For some athletes it's a more gradual decline for others it's more of a radical drop.
As for Contador, I don't know if he can reach the same level as in 2014. His peak was probably in 2009 so in that sense you could argue that he has already been past his prime for many years.
If 2009 was his peak he wouldn't be at such a high level right now. He was 26 ffs of course that wasn't his peak.
Well 2009 was obviously the year Contador was at his best, so surely that means it was his peak?
I think 2009 was the point in his career where he was met with his greatest challenge and thus had the largest incentive to be motivated to train most intensively for what lay ahead. Faced with a challenge to his delayed defense of his Tour win and to the Tour leadership on his own team by a the return of the 7 time Tour winner Armstrong, backed by Bruyneel was motivation enough to come into the season ready for war. Additionally he had been denied the chance to defend his 2007 win (Astana wasn't allowed to race the Tour in 2008). It could have been his highest level form-wise but to see his performance versus Froome in the 2014 Vuelta, one could argue for both years as being the pinnacle of his career.
Arguments will be presented that his loss of time on the cobbled stage of the 2014 Tour being evidence of his not being as fit as many (including himself) believe is IMO not valid. One's performance on a rainy, cobbled flat stage in the first week of the Tour shouldn't be a barometer of what that rider's performance would've been in the upcoming mountains, had that rider made it that far before crashing out.
Contador has stated that Froome is the toughest opponent that he's faced in his career. In 2014, it is my belief that he had reached form potentially equal to that of 2009, that being evidenced by his performance in the 2014 Vuelta (and to a lesser extent, the 2014 Dauphine), where, unlike anyone else in the recent past, he showed that he was able to respond to the blistering accelerations that are Froome's trademark.
I anticipate the arguments that Froome wasn't 100 % during the Vuelta (neither was Contador) and that Froome only raced it to get a grand tour in his legs for 2014 (not to win??!!) will be posted.