Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[sir fly]

He was solid today.
Following Aru so early on Madeleine was a mistake, but at the moment it looked like the move to participate.in. And it certainly is when Aru and Rodriguez are involved. Coming behind some non Tour contenders at the finish isn't such a big deal considering the overall showing.

 

[RattaKuningas]

I think Contador looked good in the end. Lost seconds to Dan Martin, not a big problem. After going on attack twice earlier today, in the end still managed to beat Porte who beat him yesterday. Contador is definitely improving.
Hopefully will beat Froome tomorrow and reclaim leaders jersey.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

He looked Bad for the final 5km. I thought he'd drop like a stone as soon as Froome hit the front, but Froome was tired also.....

It certainly could have been worse!

I actually switched off the TV twice during the final 5km because I was sure Berto would drop soon turned it on again after a few minutes, to see Berto still there. In the end, he performed much better than I had expected.

I thought about turning it off so as not to see the carnage, but I hung in!

Hopefully by gutting it out he will get some super compensation

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I want him to retire this year... he looks so bad when henao was in front of the peloton

Yet better than 99% of the peloton.

People this days...

But not better than 100% of the peloton

And?

BigMac, you should know that Contador cannot be judged by the same standards as most other riders. Yes, he's better than most riders, but he is a winner, so if he can't win, that's bad.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I think Contador looked good in the end. Lost seconds to Dan Martin, not a big problem. After going on attack twice earlier today, in the end still managed to beat Porte who beat him yesterday. Contador is definitely improving.
Hopefully will beat Froome tomorrow and reclaim leaders jersey.

That seems a bit far-fetched, but he can still take the podium tomorrow. I am unsure if I want him to attack on the penultimate climb or if I want to see him wait it out so we get to see his real level.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

I want him to retire this year... he looks so bad when henao was in front of the peloton

Yet better than 99% of the peloton.

People this days...

But not better than 100% of the peloton

And?

99% is simply not good enough by Contador standards!

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

I want him to retire this year... he looks so bad when henao was in front of the peloton

Yet better than 99% of the peloton.

People this days...

BigMac, you should know that Contador cannot be judged by the same standards as most other riders. Yes, he's better than most riders, but he is a winner, so if he can't win, that's bad.

I understand that Flo, but I cannot agree with the suggestion that he should retire simply because he is not in the very top anymore. There's a difference between being Nº1 and being total rubbish, Contador fans seemed to live under the impression that their idol would endure forever as the best - I think it's very disrespectful to Alberto himself to claim he should be cast aside for such reasons. Like a toy once ahead of its time which, while still in near-perfect condition, does not amuse people anymore. He should stay a pro for as long as he enjoys riding a bike, his body can handle and for as long as teams are willing to invest in him.

I want him to retire this year... he looks so bad when henao was in front of the peloton

Yet better than 99% of the peloton.

People this days...

But not better than 100% of the peloton

And?

99% is simply not good enough by Contador standards!

Oh, come on, Carols. Come back to the real world.

 

[Carols]

Re:

I think Contador looked good in the end. Lost seconds to Dan Martin, not a big problem. After going on attack twice earlier today, in the end still managed to beat Porte who beat him yesterday. Contador is definitely improving.
Hopefully will beat Froome tomorrow and reclaim leaders jersey.

Nah, all his 'tells' were showing for an agonizing 5km. He gutted it out on pure class.

 

[BlurryVII]

I think tomorrow's stage is gonna be fun to watch, Froome seems like he's really got recovering problems, he's never on the same level stage after stage.

Regardless of all of that, AC needs drastically improve and somehow find his Tour 14' shape for next month.

 

[SevenTimeTdfChamp]

Re: Re:

I want him to retire this year... he looks so bad when henao was in front of the peloton

Yet better than 99% of the peloton.

People this days...

But not better than 100% of the peloton

And?

99% is simply not good enough by Contador standards!

Thats also a pretty high standard to hold him to. By contador standards your season is a failure if you dont win every GT your race that season. Contador is an exiting rider to watch and just beacuse he doesnt win as much as he used to doesnt mean he should retire. Just enjoy watching him race beacuse he is a legend and there isnt many seasons left to enjoying his bike rideing

 

[portugal11]

Re:

I think tomorrow's stage is gonna be fun to watch, Froome seems like he's really got recovering problems, he's never on the same level stage after stage.

Regardless of all of that, AC needs drastically improve and somehow find his Tour 14' shape for next month.

I think it's 2013 all over again in 2009, he doen't give a ***. He was very relaxed, today he was bad

 

[boasson]

Re:

I think tomorrow's stage is gonna be fun to watch, Froome seems like he's really got recovering problems, he's never on the same level stage after stage.

Regardless of all of that, AC needs drastically improve and somehow find his Tour 14' shape for next month.

Lol. Froome was the best from all the favourites today, put Time in A.C and Porte only outsprinted by Dan Martin. What about Porte? How are his recovery skills

Recovering Problems based on todays stage.... have you seen the last 2 stages of last years dauphine?

 

[Ataraxus]

Re: Re:

I think Contador looked good in the end. Lost seconds to Dan Martin, not a big problem. After going on attack twice earlier today, in the end still managed to beat Porte who beat him yesterday. Contador is definitely improving.
Hopefully will beat Froome tomorrow and reclaim leaders jersey.

That seems a bit far-fetched, but he can still take the podium tomorrow. I am unsure if I want him to attack on the penultimate climb or if I want to see him wait it out so we get to see his real level.

Podium ceremony with Froome higher in the placings is a bigger psychological blow than not being in the podium.
I want him to attack as soon as the gradients of Noyer get painted in black.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

I think tomorrow's stage is gonna be fun to watch, Froome seems like he's really got recovering problems, he's never on the same level stage after stage.

Regardless of all of that, AC needs drastically improve and somehow find his Tour 14' shape for next month.

Lol. Froome was the best from all the favourites today, put Time in A.C and Porte only outsprinted by Dan Martin. What about Porte? How are his recovery skills

Recovering Problems based on todays stage.... have you seen the last 2 stages of last years dauphine?

Ok we get it,you are from UK,you are a fan of Froome and Sky because of nationalism and you hate Contador.
Also about the last 2 stages of last years Dauphine,he was against TVG ffs

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

I think tomorrow's stage is gonna be fun to watch, Froome seems like he's really got recovering problems, he's never on the same level stage after stage.

Regardless of all of that, AC needs drastically improve and somehow find his Tour 14' shape for next month.

I think it's 2013 all over again in 2009, he doen't give a ****. He was very relaxed, today he was bad

The difference with 2013, is that he was much better in the spring this year, had a great winter base and smashed everyone in the prologue . I find it completely abnormal that he's so bad right now, there's actually a good chance his form shoots up for the Tour.

Reminds me of Nibali in the Dauphiné 2014', he set the fastest time on that hill at the intermediate of the prologue equal with Contador and 3 seconds better than Froome, he finished 3rd at the end. And then he was crap all week.
Perhaps we saw a glimpse of the form he was going to have in July, same way with Contador here. Just a theory.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

I think Contador looked good in the end. Lost seconds to Dan Martin, not a big problem. After going on attack twice earlier today, in the end still managed to beat Porte who beat him yesterday. Contador is definitely improving.
Hopefully will beat Froome tomorrow and reclaim leaders jersey.

That seems a bit far-fetched, but he can still take the podium tomorrow. I am unsure if I want him to attack on the penultimate climb or if I want to see him wait it out so we get to see his real level.

Tomorrow's stage is pretty much designed to fireworks on the penultimate climb, Superdevoluy is shallow, short and easy. He can't really distance people like Martin there, at all, so they need to go a few kilometres from the top IMO.

 

[Carols]

5 quote limit reached.

>99% is simply not good enough by Contador standards![/quote]

>Thats also a pretty high standard to hold him to. By contador standards your season is a failure if you dont win every GT your race that season. >Contador is an exiting rider to watch and just beacuse he doesnt win as much as he used to doesnt mean he should retire. Just enjoy watching him >race beacuse he is a legend and there isnt many seasons left to enjoying his bike rideing[/quote]

By Contador standard I mean it is His Standard for himself. My standard is meaningless to him and lower. Read my signature, the standard set is His not mine.

As far as I can see only 1 person has said he should retire and it wasn't me.

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

I think tomorrow's stage is gonna be fun to watch, Froome seems like he's really got recovering problems, he's never on the same level stage after stage.

Regardless of all of that, AC needs drastically improve and somehow find his Tour 14' shape for next month.

Lol. Froome was the best from all the favourites today, put Time in A.C and Porte only outsprinted by Dan Martin. What about Porte? How are his recovery skills

Recovering Problems based on todays stage.... have you seen the last 2 stages of last years dauphine?

Regardless of if he put time into AC and Porte, Froome was much better yesterday . And AC's form is off right now plus he attacked on Madeleine.

Have you seen the last week of the Tour 13' and 15'?

 

[red zone]

Re: Re:

I think tomorrow's stage is gonna be fun to watch, Froome seems like he's really got recovering problems, he's never on the same level stage after stage.

Regardless of all of that, AC needs drastically improve and somehow find his Tour 14' shape for next month.

Lol. Froome was the best from all the favourites today, put Time in A.C and Porte only outsprinted by Dan Martin. What about Porte? How are his recovery skills

Recovering Problems based on todays stage.... have you seen the last 2 stages of last years dauphine?

if i were a Froome fan i'd be very worried for the tour when my guy could only put 8 seconds on AC aFTER the latter expended so much energy attacking from so far out

 

[SevenTimeTdfChamp]

He looks fine. Dauphine is a prep race not a race were you peak. Today he was testing how his legs responded to attacks far out. It is just a good sign that he is able to be there at the end after attacking. Cant really tell anything before the first mountains of the tour

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

I think tomorrow's stage is gonna be fun to watch, Froome seems like he's really got recovering problems, he's never on the same level stage after stage.

Regardless of all of that, AC needs drastically improve and somehow find his Tour 14' shape for next month.

I think it's 2013 all over again in 2009, he doen't give a ****. He was very relaxed, today he was bad

The difference with 2013, is that he was much better in the spring this year, has a great winter base and smashed everyone in the prologue . I find it completely abnormal that he's so bad right now, there's actually a good chance his form shoots up for the Tour.

Reminds me of Nibali in the Dauphiné 2014', he set the fastest time on that hill at the intermediate of the prologue equal with Contador and 3 seconds better than Froome, he finished 3rd at the end. And then he was crap all week.
Perhaps a glimpse of the form he was going to have in July, same way with Contador here. Just a theory.

Contador doesn't work like that, when he is bad, he will be bad in the future. He was very good in spring season but he has been awful in this dauphine. For me, the prologue doesn't mean anything, in tour 2013 he almost won the hilly TT

 

[Miburo]

Tomorrow he's gonna win it! Easy

He was actually today very unlucky, if he was able to get with Aru at the end there he would have prob won the stage. Sometimes it doesn't work out.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

Tomorrow he's gonna win it! Easy

He was actually today very unlucky, if he was able to get with Aru at the end there he would have prob won the stage. Sometimes it doesn't work out.

Miburo, stop with that. I'm getting more depressed with those posts

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I understand that Flo, but I cannot agree with the suggestion that he should retire simply because he is not in the very top anymore. There's a difference between being Nº1 and being total rubbish, Contador fans seemed to live under the impression that their idol would endure forever as the best - I think it's very disrespectful to Alberto himself to claim he should be cast aside for such reasons. Like a toy once ahead of its time which, while still in near-perfect condition, does not amuse people anymore. He should stay a pro for as long as he enjoys riding a bike, his body can handle and for as long as teams are willing to invest in him.

You know, I think you're right. I hadn't thought of it that way, but now you state it like that, I agree. Perhaps it's really not fair to expect Alberto to always be the best, and regard anything less as a failure. That analogy about the toy that is cast aside fits perfectly and it makes me a little sad. Do we really only care about him when he's winning? He is still one of the very best and hell, the Tour hasn't started yet and this race hasn't even finished. Anything can still happen and either way, Alberto is, after all those years, still at a very high level. Perhaps we should just appreciate him as he is now, he can still win stages and races and even this season he's entertained us many times even though his attempts may not have been successful in the end. It might just be that our expectations are too high. As you say, we can't just abandon him and shout that he should retire, simply because he doesn't win as much as we expect him to, he deserves much more respect than that. For example, today, it hurt to watch him, he was clearly struggling, yet he fought to the very end and still achieved quite an acceptable result. He may not have crushed everyone, he may not have dropped everyone with 10km to go but I was still very happy and proud of his performance.
Anyway, thanks for opening my eyes, BigMac. I hope others read your post and think about it for a while as well

 

[BlurryVII]

Re: Re:

Contador doesn't work like that, when he is bad, he will be bad in the future. He was very good in spring season but he has been awful in this dauphine. For me, the prologue doesn't mean anything, in tour 2013 he almost won the hilly TT

That was the case in 2007', 2009 and 2010.

Look, I know it's not necessarily looking good but I have hope. If he's showing signs of weakeness in stage 2 at the Tour on that steep finish, I'll be the first one to bury any enthusiasm.