Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[rhubroma]

Re: Re:

Its hard not to get a little personal when the person acts like Red Rick does towards me and uses Movistar as an comparison, pretty remarkable. Movistar still mainly supported Quintana while we all know Sagan was all on his own, often helping Contador out on stages he otherwise would've won.

What do you do when you have a multiple GT winner going for the win, support a circus act?

I'd still devote at least 1 to the best rider in the world, especially after Contador rode a super hard Giro. I mean, I know this is easy to say in hindsight, but once he was 5th in 2011, wasn't it obvious it wouldn't be able to win last year unless numerous persons crashed out? At least it was after Huy, on stage 3. They could definitely have done something different at that point IMO.

If his 5th in 2011 was any indication, then there was not 2014 (alas).

 

[Big Doopie]

Re:

Contador has been absent the last 2 years.

actually since 2009.

no stage victories.

no day in yellow.

not even on the final podium.

 

[Arredondo]

For the best GT rider of his generation, it's pretty painfull to see his last Tour win was in 2010.

Hope he can recover. But for winning the Tour, a miracle has to happen.

 

[Jelantik]

Look at the bright side. Last year, Quintana lost 2 minutes on the first couple stages, but he almost ended up winning TDF by kick Froome's ass in the third week. Froome could be sick or Quintana could be in mechanical at wrong time. You never know. Yes it's bad now for Contador, but the Tour is far from over. Even though I hate this bad luck that keeps happening to Contador, so instead of being depressed, maybe we should collectively send him a good vibe. It ain't over until the fat Frenchie lady sings.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re:

Look at the bright side. Last year, Quintana lost 2 minutes on the first couple stages, but he almost ended up winning TDF by kick Froome's *** in the third week. Froome could be sick or Quintana could be in mechanical at wrong time. You never know. Yes it's bad now for Contador, but the Tour is far from over. Even though I hate this bad luck that keeps happening to Contador, so instead of being depressed, maybe we should collectively send him a good vibe. It ain't over until the fat Frenchie lady sings.

Exactly. No reason to give up on Contador yet. I am sure that he will be back at his best for stage 7.

 

[rhubroma]

Re:

For the best GT rider of his generation, it's pretty painfull to see his last Tour win was in 2010.

Hope he can recover. But for winning the Tour, a miracle has to happen.

This cycling isn't even recognizable. And I don't mean that it's gotten cleaner.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

For the best GT rider of his generation, it's pretty painfull to see his last Tour win was in 2010.

Hope he can recover. But for winning the Tour, a miracle has to happen.

if it meant to be it will happen. Think Nibali on last Giro. 4 minutes? who da thought? yes, Kreusjwick isn't Froome or Quintana, but things can happen over the next 3 weeks.

 

[peloton]

I think people are a bit overreacting with this "leave the tour" stuff. Of course the situation is extremely bad and I'm also sad right now but I still see it very differently than many others here.
Yeah, Contador lost 47 seconds today, thats bad and you definitely shouldn't loose so much time in a tour when the mountains haven't even started yet. But 47 seconds sound more than it is. In the last 25 tdf editions (probably even more but I didn't look any further back) there was one single race which was decided by less than 47 seconds, and even races which today are seen as very close like 2011 or 2006 were decided by more. If he doesn't win the tdf, it's very unlikely it is because of the time loss of today. The reason why we should be worried is because he dropped on such an easy climb, but we have an excuse. He crashed, it's not like his shape is generally horrible (might also be the case but we don't know) but you guys are already talking about giving up. In the giro last year he also had a crash and a small injury and there was exactly the same discussion and the same people said he should abandon because he won't win the giro anyway. Now we should at least wait for stage 5 and if he loses minutes, we can assume the tour is lost he should maybe focus on the Vuelta instead. But maybe he can recover from his injury, since we still don't know what exactly is the problem, and I find it rather unlikely it still affects him as badly as today if there are no fractures, because if I understood everything correctly it was the pain which was the problem, and not that he couldn't strain his body.

Great post, agree 100%

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Its hard not to get a little personal when the person acts like Red Rick does towards me and uses Movistar as an comparison, pretty remarkable. Movistar still mainly supported Quintana while we all know Sagan was all on his own, often helping Contador out on stages he otherwise would've won.

What do you do when you have a multiple GT winner going for the win, support a circus act?

I'd still devote at least 1 to the best rider in the world, especially after Contador rode a super hard Giro. I mean, I know this is easy to say in hindsight, but once he was 5th in 2011, wasn't it obvious it wouldn't be able to win last year unless numerous persons crashed out? At least it was after Huy, on stage 3. They could definitely have done something different at that point IMO.

If his 5th in 2011 was any indication, then there was not 2014 (alas).

Im am talking about Contador riding Giro + Tour in both years, 2014 doesn't really matter. He was much stronger psychically in 2011, I mean, look at him. Scary, and still didn't really have that much left.

 

[rhubroma]

Re: Re:

Its hard not to get a little personal when the person acts like Red Rick does towards me and uses Movistar as an comparison, pretty remarkable. Movistar still mainly supported Quintana while we all know Sagan was all on his own, often helping Contador out on stages he otherwise would've won.

What do you do when you have a multiple GT winner going for the win, support a circus act?

I'd still devote at least 1 to the best rider in the world, especially after Contador rode a super hard Giro. I mean, I know this is easy to say in hindsight, but once he was 5th in 2011, wasn't it obvious it wouldn't be able to win last year unless numerous persons crashed out? At least it was after Huy, on stage 3. They could definitely have done something different at that point IMO.

If his 5th in 2011 was any indication, then there was not 2014 (alas).

Im am talking about Contador riding Giro + Tour in both years, 2014 doesn't really matter. He was much stronger psychically in 2011, I mean, look at him. Scary, and still didn't really have that much left.

Like I said, this cycling isn't even recognizable anymore. The double is impossible, etc. It's become like stadium sport, predictable, imperialistic.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I think people are a bit overreacting with this "leave the tour" stuff. Of course the situation is extremely bad and I'm also sad right now but I still see it very differently than many others here.
Yeah, Contador lost 47 seconds today, thats bad and you definitely shouldn't loose so much time in a tour when the mountains haven't even started yet. But 47 seconds sound more than it is. In the last 25 tdf editions (probably even more but I didn't look any further back) there was one single race which was decided by less than 47 seconds, and even races which today are seen as very close like 2011 or 2006 were decided by more. If he doesn't win the tdf, it's very unlikely it is because of the time loss of today.

He won 3 times, in 2007 he had a 23s advantage, in 2009 over 4 minutes and in 2010 39s. So these 47s could very well be decisive, and he might lose even more.
It's simple. To win, he had to be in his best shape and have luck on his side. The latter is clearly not happening. He's badly hurt, yesterday he hurt his right shoulder, hip and knee, today it was his left shoulder and knee. No matter how many times Miburo shouts that it's nothing, those injuries not only hurt and cost him time directly, but they also make it harder to sleep which means less recovery, and the body uses energy to heal the injuries, energy he won't be able to spend in the following stages.

 

[arvc40]

Re:

Look at the bright side. Last year, Quintana lost 2 minutes on the first couple stages, but he almost ended up winning TDF by kick Froome's *** in the third week. Froome could be sick or Quintana could be in mechanical at wrong time. You never know. Yes it's bad now for Contador, but the Tour is far from over. Even though I hate this bad luck that keeps happening to Contador, so instead of being depressed, maybe we should collectively send him a good vibe. It ain't over until the fat Frenchie lady sings.

This.......

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

For the best (LOL!) GT rider of his generation, it's pretty painfull to see his last Tour win was in 2010.

more painful to see that it was actually 2009?

oh, right i forgot Pollentier won the TDF in 1978, Rasmussen in 2007 and Landis in 2006.

the alternate universe of the contador chamois-sniffers.

I think it is pretty clear who won in 2006 and 2007. And Purito or whoever won the 2012 Giro according to your logic.

 

[Jelantik]

If you really want to have a chance against this sky-team, Froome and Quintana than it's clear that all 8 men in the team have to do one thing: Give their a**** for Contador.

Majka is saving himself for stage wins in the 3rd week to get a nice new contract for next season. Sagan wants stage wins and the green jersey. Kreuziger, the number one helper for the mountains must emptying himself for Sagan at flat and hilly stages. And Gatto is in the team because of one reason: Sagan.

If you know, that your leader is on a bad day, you can't ride fullgas at the last hill to win the stage. And you can't grab the yellow jersey. Now you have to work the next days in the wind for nothing. This team is not strong enough to ride for two leaders. Everyone knows this. Only Oleg means that.

Maybe because this year everyone is for themselves. Contador isn't bringing Kreuziger with him. So screw contador as far as Kreuziger's concern. Maybe he auditions for Sagan to bring him to a new team. Majka? Majka is always rides for himself. He definitely will try to win a stage so he could get a nice big fat contract to whoever team he will sign. Maybe auditioning for Nibali to accept him on the Bahrain team. Paulinho is the only loyal peeps of Contador, and he wasn't on the line up. Kiserlovski seems to be the on that's being designated for Contador. We'll see how their team work works to support both rider in the next coming weeks. If Sagan is really what their saying as their weapon to help Contador wins TDF, then I'd like to see how it unfolds on the road. Sagan has more chances to win Green than Contador wins yellow. At this point, yes we are all in agreement that it's hard to see Contador win this year TDF. Especially with Contador's TDF campaign has been hampered by back to back bad luck and lost 47 seconds already. Not a good position, but mountain stage isn't here yet.

 

[MacBAir]

Re: Re:

You are maaaaad.
You can't really compare those two situations. Movistar definitely still supported Valverde over Quintana last year, while the situation at Tinkoff was way different.

You are pretty lol once again.

You're such a WUM.

Because I think its totally deserved Sagan finally gets the support he deserves - what had it mattered to Contador? Had he lost 10, 15 seconds less? Nothing in the grand scheme of things, nothing.

Now, they have a stage and the yellow jersey. Contador crashed 2 times, he wasn't favoured in the first place, his chances was very slim.

No, because your sole intention entering this thread forever remains arguing for nothing but the sake of arguing.

He's not arguing for the sake of anything. He is making a great point. Alberto's issues at this Tour have nothing to do with his team.

And in fact, his team did the right thing today. Why risk not getting a stage, yellow, marketing points and great press for a rider that would've lost time anyway and most likely then not won't be a factor?

Alberto is my second (4th, after tom and fabian) favorite rider, but Sagan is the one that didn't had the support he deserved since joining tinkoff.

 

[cineteq]

Re:

You are the only fanboy here showing no faith. Tinkoff did what he needed to do, and won the stage. Even, a non fan of Contador like me, thinks it's not even close to being over for his TdF quest

It was clear even before the start that the team had no faith in Alberto whatsoever. This is just salt in the wounds.
I hope he drops out, wins the Vuelta, burns his Tinkoff jersey in front of Oleg and rides off on a Trek bike.

 

[Billopoulos]

Did Contador crash again today?
I thought there was a crash early on where he just got caught, but understood he didn't crash. Did he? Did he crash later?

 

[Gigs_98]

I think people are a bit overreacting with this "leave the tour" stuff. Of course the situation is extremely bad and I'm also sad right now but I still see it very differently than many others here.
Yeah, Contador lost 47 seconds today, thats bad and you definitely shouldn't loose so much time in a tour when the mountains haven't even started yet. But 47 seconds sound more than it is. In the last 25 tdf editions (probably even more but I didn't look any further back) there was one single race which was decided by less than 47 seconds, and even races which today are seen as very close like 2011 or 2006 were decided by more. If he doesn't win the tdf, it's very unlikely it is because of the time loss of today.

He won 3 times, in 2007 he had a 23s advantage, in 2009 over 4 minutes and in 2010 39s. So these 47s could very well be decisive, and he might lose even more.
It's simple. To win, he had to be in his best shape and have luck on his side. The latter is clearly not happening. He's badly hurt, yesterday he hurt his right shoulder, hip and knee, today it was his left shoulder and knee. No matter how many times Miburo shouts that it's nothing, those injuries not only hurt and cost him time directly, but they also make it harder to sleep which means less recovery, and the body uses energy to heal the injuries, energy he won't be able to spend in the following stages.

Oops I didnt even want to count out 2010, I just completely forgot about 2007
Nevertheless those two editions are the only 2 tours in the last 25 years and I don't think the small gaps have anything to do with Contador. It's just a coincidence that both times Contador was 1st.

About the rest, as I wrote we will see on stage 5. After that we will know if it's over or if there is still a chance.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Look at the bright side. Last year, Quintana lost 2 minutes on the first couple stages, but he almost ended up winning TDF by kick Froome's *** in the third week. Froome could be sick or Quintana could be in mechanical at wrong time. You never know. Yes it's bad now for Contador, but the Tour is far from over. Even though I hate this bad luck that keeps happening to Contador, so instead of being depressed, maybe we should collectively send him a good vibe. It ain't over until the fat Frenchie lady sings.

The fat Frenchie lady would probably say "jamais deux sans trois" meaning that when there's two, the third is soon to be. Not that I want to jinx Berto, but his mind can't be at peace right now, and bad luck has picked its victim, it seems. Add to that one (or) more bad night(s), when Froome sleeps well: by the time they hit the Pyrenees (if Berto doesn't lose more on Wednesday), Contador will be a wreck, when Froome and Quintana have spent little energy. Call me pessimistic.

Not looking good.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Did Contador crash again today?
I thought there was a crash early on where he just got caught, but understood he didn't crash. Did he? Did he crash later?

Yeah, he crashed, his rain jackeet was torn at the back

 

[peloton]

Doesn't bode too well, bummer

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) again crashed after 60 km in stage 2 and was dejected on the finish line.

"I lost more time than I had hoped to lose. I suffered another crash, I hit the handlebars and I was hurt on the other side from yesterday. I must stay calm, not lose morale, I'm still standing but I have been really touched. The Tour has really started on the wrong footing. I'm not happy at all. It's cycling. I must see if I can make up some time in the Pyrenees and the Alps, see what I can do."
"I'm physically hampered. I cannot pedal as I would last as the result of crashes. The important thing is to keep my morale, not fall part, which is sometimes complicated. Both legs are very touched."

 

[sir fly]

Difficult situation for Contador.
40 seconds with 19 stages to go isn't too much, but on a climb like today's means a gear below the rest. It can be addressed to the injuries, certainly, but until he reaches full operating mode again, he won't be as fresh as competition... the fatigue will be catching him faster.
It's stupid to watch a duel when there are 3 extraordinary GC contenders in the race.

 

[Red Rick]

It's not the time, it's the form. I doubt he's gonna recover in time for the pyrenees, after which the fight for the win is over.

 

[sir fly]

Even with the form, this first stages will reflect on the third week.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

It's not the time, it's the form. I doubt he's gonna recover in time for the pyrenees, after which the fight for the win is over.

He could lose time on Wednesday too, the final 40k's are up and down with some steep ramps. His rivals will surely push the pace hard to test him.