Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Some real observations

The pace on the final climbs was too low. Majka wasn't pulling very hard and their of going for one all out anaerobic burst almost worked, were it not for Henao. Contador is the best at attacking when everyone's at the limit. After that, Majka was gone, they could all recover somewhat and his attacks on a 4/5% gradient were just a waste of energy.

If Contador crests the Col d'Eze alone tomorrow there's nothing to worry about

Bolded: very good observation. That was clearly the strategy, have Majka accelerate and then Contador attacks when the climb gets steeper. But, after that, he just lacked the power to keep it going on the flatter part and Thomas was lucky that Henao was there.

I can't see him getting the time he needs over Thomas tomorrow, unless Thomas overshoots a corner on the descent (it's not that unlikely ).

Well its exactly what you want as Contador against those type of riders, no? I think Tinkoff played it as good as they could have, Thomas was just as strong as Contador on a climb like this. I don't give much for Henao, I'm 99% certain that Contador couldn't sustain it after that big attack even if Henao wasn't there. Thomas is too good on such a climb mano a mano against Contador. As a matter of fact, Henao being there and setting the tempo might have been to the benefit of Contador since there really wasn't an opportunity to drop Thomas after that 9% section with 5 to go.

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

I would really say that he's not in his 2014 form. Sad, but it is like that, he is somewhere between 2014 and 2015. The question is: can he improve it by July?

I'm not really sure about the comparison with his 2014 form. Even in his 2014 form he would not have dropped G. Thomas or Porte on this climb.

I think people should see the 9 % section where Contador attacked. G. Thomas got dropped, and Porte and Zakarin was at least 10 seconds behind.

Henao helped Thomas up to Contador on the lesser gradients, and then the tempo dropped. If it was a steeper climb Thomas, Porte and Zakarin would never have recovered.[/quote

Come on now, noone got dropped by the attack (from the group that arrived on top together).
That's what Contador does. If he is in shape, he accelerates, and there is a couple of minutes before he starts fading. If he is not in shape, he accelerates, and fades within 30s. Acceleration is still there, but someone staying 20-30m behind and catching up in 30s is hardly getting dropped.

But he failed to drop Henao. I rewatched TdF2014 stage 8 yesterday and actually the difference is in power, in 2014 he had more power and was able to use it whenever he needed. I think he would have dropped Henao with his 2014 shape and later on flatter parts he could have been able to use more power.

As a fan...I hope I'm totally wrong though

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

I would really say that he's not in his 2014 form. Sad, but it is like that, he is somewhere between 2014 and 2015. The question is: can he improve it by July?

I'm not really sure about the comparison with his 2014 form. Even in his 2014 form he would not have dropped G. Thomas or Porte on this climb.

I think people should see the 9 % section where Contador attacked. G. Thomas got dropped, and Porte and Zakarin was at least 10 seconds behind.

Henao helped Thomas up to Contador on the lesser gradients, and then the tempo dropped. If it was a steeper climb Thomas, Porte and Zakarin would never have recovered.[/quote

Come on now, noone got dropped by the attack (from the group that arrived on top together).
That's what Contador does. If he is in shape, he accelerates, and there is a couple of minutes before he starts fading. If he is not in shape, he accelerates, and fades within 30s. Acceleration is still there, but someone staying 20-30m behind and catching up in 30s is hardly getting dropped.

But he failed to drop Henao. I rewatched TdF2014 stage 8 yesterday and actually the difference is in power, in 2014 he had more power and was able to use it whenever he needed. I think he would have dropped Henao with his 2014 shape and later on flatter parts he could have been able to use more power.

As a fan...I hope I'm totally wrong though

It is a great to compare a climb with %10+ gradient with this, this climb is a false flat, no need to panic.

 

[Jakub]

Also his performance reminds me of 2012 Vuelta.
But
last year he managed to come to Giro in a significantly better form than to previous races. If he manages to do that with Tour this year, there#s a hope.

 

[TheYouyou7]

Apparently, he was stuck on the small ring during the climb.

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

I would really say that he's not in his 2014 form. Sad, but it is like that, he is somewhere between 2014 and 2015. The question is: can he improve it by July?

I'm not really sure about the comparison with his 2014 form. Even in his 2014 form he would not have dropped G. Thomas or Porte on this climb.

I think people should see the 9 % section where Contador attacked. G. Thomas got dropped, and Porte and Zakarin was at least 10 seconds behind.

Henao helped Thomas up to Contador on the lesser gradients, and then the tempo dropped. If it was a steeper climb Thomas, Porte and Zakarin would never have recovered.[/quote

Come on now, noone got dropped by the attack (from the group that arrived on top together).
That's what Contador does. If he is in shape, he accelerates, and there is a couple of minutes before he starts fading. If he is not in shape, he accelerates, and fades within 30s. Acceleration is still there, but someone staying 20-30m behind and catching up in 30s is hardly getting dropped.

But he failed to drop Henao. I rewatched TdF2014 stage 8 yesterday and actually the difference is in power, in 2014 he had more power and was able to use it whenever he needed. I think he would have dropped Henao with his 2014 shape and later on flatter parts he could have been able to use more power.

As a fan...I hope I'm totally wrong though

It is a great to compare a climb with %10+ gradient with this, this climb is a false flat, no need to panic.

I wanted to compare his style, the way he was able to use his legs and his power. But as I said as a fan I'm with you

 

[LaFlorecita]

the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Listened again to Contador in English on Eurosport: "in all the climb I haven't the big ring, cannot change", stuck in small chainring

 

[Miburo]

On a climb not that hard, when there were 15 guys left, only the hard part of the climb he managed to drop them all but henao.

He's good, not sure if he's in 2014 shape (we'll see in catalunya) but he's definitely better than in 2015 or 2013.

And he was stuck on his small ring, yea xD
Makes it even more impressive.

 

[LaFlorecita]

As Caley Fretz says it doesn't make a huge difference, 39/11 is about the same as 53/15, but it may have mattered on the 3-4% sections. We know Berto climbs in the big ring even on 7-8% sections.

 

[Carols]

Re:

the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Listened again to Contador in English on Eurosport: "in all the climb I haven't the big ring, cannot change", stuck in small chainring

Well this means there is hope! That was mostly a big ring climb!

 

[TommyGun]

Re:

As Caley Fretz says it doesn't make a huge difference, 39/11 is about the same as 53/15, but it may have mattered on the 3-4% sections. We know Berto climbs in the big ring even on 7-8% sections.

Maybe but this can mess up the chain alignement, a lot of additional friction...

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Listened again to Contador in English on Eurosport: "in all the climb I haven't the big ring, cannot change", stuck in small chainring

Uhuhuhu my friend if it's true...panic !!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Maybe but this can mess up the chain alignement, a lot of additional friction...

Caley Fretz ‏@CaleyFretz 13 min13 minuten geleden
@inrng Given speed, can't really see that mattering. 39/11 not ideal, but plenty of gear. Roughly equivalent to a 53/15.

the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 11 min11 minuten geleden
@CaleyFretz true but he say it cost him on flat "in the kilometre that is almost flat, I take a lot of speed, I go with very hard cadence"

Caley Fretz ‏@CaleyFretz 7 min7 minuten geleden
@inrng Certainly not ideal. And if he was on a 36 (as he is frequently), even worse.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Listened again to Contador in English on Eurosport: "in all the climb I haven't the big ring, cannot change", stuck in small chainring

Shouldn't he have ridden at a F****e-like cadence, when he tried to attack on the flatter parts then? Unless of course he went very low on the cassette

 

[LaFlorecita]

Appetizer for tomorrow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbjcxiGbcX8

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Listened again to Contador in English on Eurosport: "in all the climb I haven't the big ring, cannot change", stuck in small chainring

Shouldn't he have ridden at a F****e-like cadence, when he tried to attack on the flatter parts then? Unless of course he went very low on the cassette

I bet he did exactly that, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to attack at all is my guess.

 

[burning]

Re:

Appetizer for tomorrow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbjcxiGbcX8

It is sad that grande Rebellin couldn't beat the Disco train

 

[McLovin]

Looking forward to the end of July when he will say that he was stuck on the small ring the whole Tour but his sensations were good.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Looking forward to the end of July when he will say that he was stuck on the small ring the whole Tour but his sensations were good.

Why would he make it up even to the point of looking down at his gears repeatedly with 10km to go? Is he a pathological liar?

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Looking forward to the end of July when he will say that he was stuck on the small ring the whole Tour but his sensations were good.

Why would he make it up even to the point of looking down at his gears repeatedly with 10km to go? Is he a pathological liar?

Maybe...but I don't think he has reason to lie about this.

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

Looking forward to the end of July when he will say that he was stuck on the small ring the whole Tour but his sensations were good.

Why would he make it up even to the point of looking down at his gears repeatedly with 10km to go? Is he a pathological liar?

Well, sort of tbh, he always has an excuse when things dont go well.

 

[Matteo.]

Yeah , he's a liar...but i don't think so much to say that
something wrong there was for sure

 

[Miburo]

Contador is one of the biggest liars in the peloton, fleur. In denial or are you lying about it?

But he was good today, that acceleration was pretty good.

We would have know more, way more if the hill wasn't cancelled on wednesday. Now we gotta wait for the big battle in catalunya

 

[ad9898]

Great stuff from Contador, it was going to be difficult to find all that time on a climb like that, if the stage the other day hadn't been cancelled he'd have won the overall, that's saying nothing of the mechanical today. Dropping Porte and Dumoulin on a climb like that is encouraging

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Great stuff from Contador, it was going to be difficult to find all that time on a climb like that, if the stage the other day hadn't been cancelled he'd have won the overall, that's saying nothing of the mechanical today. Dropping Porte and Dumoulin on a climb like that is encouraging

Yep. I don't understand how people can be upset with his performance today. He did fine with what he was given.