Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[rm7]

Re: Re:

That was bad. But I think it's time to accept the fact that he's 33 now, and probably need some time to get into race rhythm.
I guess a lot of the riders ahead of him already started their season in january? And how was the climb today, a fast one?

That's just ******. Keep telling yourself he just needs racing rhythm, will get better etc. but we know that's not true.

I know that he always talk about the race rhythm stuff, but it was the Tour. This is his second stage after the off season FFS. Big difference.

 

[BlurryVII]

Nah Contador doesn't need race rhythm, he can be on form straight away. He was really good in Andalucia last year despite looking quite chubby. He has obviously done more training this year, and looks physically incredible so I litteraly have no idea on how to explain this.

 

[Scarponi]

I wonder why Contador is the type of rider who has to start really strong for the year while so many others who have won GTs lately have been horrible bar Froome.

Evans, Aru, Rodriguez, Nibali do not even show anything until Tirreno time

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I wonder why Contador is the type of rider who has to start really strong for the year while so many others who have won GTs lately have been horrible bar Froome.

Evans, Aru, Rodriguez, Nibali do not even show anything until Tirreno time

Because he's always been that type of rider.

 

[sir fly]

There is still post stage interview and two stages to make conclusions.

 

[BlurryVII]

Another recent statement from him that turns out to be untrue is his numbers being much better at this point in time compared to last seasons :|

But let's wait for Malhao and the ITT, you never know.

 

[Carols]

Well let's just see what the man has to say but it appears he just ran out of steam. Flo is correct Berto has always been good early when he is good later. But he is 33 and this was only his 2nd race day of the year. Still 20th @24 isn't a good showing

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Another recent statement from him that turns out to be untrue is his numbers being much better at this point in time compared to last seasons :|

when I read this news I was hoping it was a joke . And now this bad performance. I seem to relive 2013

 

[Arredondo]

Re:

I wonder why Contador is the type of rider who has to start really strong for the year while so many others who have won GTs lately have been horrible bar Froome.

Evans, Aru, Rodriguez, Nibali do not even show anything until Tirreno time

Some guys just choose to ride relax till the bigger races. I think guys like Purito and Nibali could easily be good in races like Algarve/Ruta/Oman... But they don't really care about that kind of races. From Tirreno on, it gets interesting.

But when these kind of riders have good form, they can mantain it till the end of the season.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Another recent statement from him that turns out to be untrue is his numbers being much better at this point in time compared to last seasons :|

when I read this news I was hoping it was a joke . And now this bad performance. I seem to relive 2013

I believe he speaks the truth about 2015, but defo not 2014. Thats literally impossible 2 years after at 33 imo.

 

[arvc40]

Result of today means nothing !.

 

[BlurryVII]

TT's are most relevant to know in what kind of form someone is. So we'll know more tomorrow.

 

[buchanan]

I agree that whenever Alberto has a had a great year and gone on to win grand tours (I'm thinking specifically TDF), he has been in teriffic form right from the get go. I take it as a bad sign that he's almost 1/2 a minute off the pace on a not so tough hill. Brings flashbacks of 2013. Hopefully it was just an off day. Guess we'll know soon enough.

 

[ad9898]

I'm not going to make excuses for today, it's not great but.... I don't think it's realistic to expect him to be good all season at 33, he's not 24 anymore. Training may have been good but it's not racing, let's see how the rest of the race goes. However if he doesn't beat Aru in a TT it's curtains

 

[Red Rick]

***

Not the result I was hoping for when returning home.

Anyway, I'll wait for the rest of this race at least. In 2013 I kept on dreaming all through to the first mountain stage in the Tour, but I'll wait for Malhao for the first real judgment at least. Too much respect for the guy to write him off after 2 *** days

 

[LaFlorecita]

Still no comments from Alberto available?

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Still no comments from Alberto available?

This is the Contador thread, where you're the one to be giving explanation to everything, including Contador comments being late or not there at all

 

[Matteo.]

Yeah Red Rick , i was thinking the same.
We all wait you laflo

 

[LaFlorecita]

Still nothing, normally we would have heard an excuse by now, shocking

There's this

 

[Cannibal72]

Given how much illness has been flying around, I'm surprised no one's suggested he's a victim of the Spanish flu

 

[Tonton]

Let's not hit the panic button, overreact, because Bertie hasn't bludgeoned the field to death. It's still early in the ballgame. All that matters is that he's at his best in July, right?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Let's not hit the panic button, overreact, because Bertie hasn't bludgeoned the field to death. It's still early in the ballgame. All that matters is that he's at his best in July, right?

But the thing is that he was bludgeoned to death by the field He's never managed to drastically improve his shape during a season. I would be surprised if he managed it this year.

 

[Matteo.]

He looks lean anyway , but his face...uhm.
Maybe it was only a bad day , i don't expect great things tomorrow but Malhao wil be crucial

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Still nothing, normally we would have heard an excuse by now, shocking

There's this

I can see the disappointment.
I'm waiting to hear what caused it.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Given how much illness has been flying around, I'm surprised no one's suggested he's a victim of the Spanish flu

Would he not have told a reporter "Yeah, bad result but not unexpected, I've been a bit under the weather since last week" in that case?