Contador looked very well on the climb and he is now out of the saddle going to the front, so he is ok.
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Re:
And he is the usual liar: he is better than what said. Anyway he looked a bit in trouble on the final sector of first steep climbTaxus4a said:
I really hope he doesn't crash on this final descent - it looks a tricky one and he's rather crash prone.
Contador is going to lose chunks of time in the Pyrenees. It's clear Kreuziger is now their GC rider for this Tour.
Alberto i almost ok as expected, and he shoulb be perfect this weekend... but if your team doesnt support you is useless.
Re:
It looks like Kreuziger now has permission to ride his own race for GC.
LaFlorecita said:
It looks like Kreuziger now has permission to ride his own race for GC.
He must retire. Maybe he could survive on Aspin but saturday or sunday he will lose minutes.
Podium is very unlikely now
Podium is very unlikely now
Re: Re:
Tinkoff is looking like a French pro-conti team. Whoever feels good on a given day is going for it. Maybe they're all just angling for contracts.
buchanan said:
Tinkoff is looking like a French pro-conti team. Whoever feels good on a given day is going for it. Maybe they're all just angling for contracts.
He's being interviewed now. It went better than he expected today, but he's still really disappointed that all of his hard work preparing for the Tour seems in vain. Also, his spirits are still high, but the body just doesn't respond well. May set other goals than GC, but he'll wait and see.
Post-race interview he said that he was content not losing that much (he expected a bigger time loss). He talked about feeling all the months of preparation being for nothing. "It's possible that I will change my focus in this Tour". 
Re:
Even in top form this would be REALLY hard to overcome.
What do you all think he should do? I'd be happy if he took things easy, went for a couple stage wins later in the Tour, and then went to the Vuelta. He'd get more out of his season then if he tries to continue going for GC in the Tour. He'd end up at best somewhere in the top 10 with no stage win, and then he'd be too tired to do well in the Vuelta.
lenric said:
Even in top form this would be REALLY hard to overcome.
What do you all think he should do? I'd be happy if he took things easy, went for a couple stage wins later in the Tour, and then went to the Vuelta. He'd get more out of his season then if he tries to continue going for GC in the Tour. He'd end up at best somewhere in the top 10 with no stage win, and then he'd be too tired to do well in the Vuelta.
If he stil believes himself in contention, then it's his team's obligation to help. I understand Kreuziger may have a free role, but why, then, if he's going for GC, did he stroll to the line after being dropped in the final gradients instead of giving it all to lose the least amount of time possible? I understand Majka may be going for Polka and breakaway wins, but why, then, did he not drop to the main group after it was obvious GVA had it in the bag and only a couple of points towards the mountain classification were still up for grabs? This ''team'' nevers ceases to amaze. Makes you wish Jesús and Sérgio were here, and that's saying a lot.
People expected he'd lose minutes today and it turns out to be seconds. If Majka actually gave a damn he mightn't have leaked anything more than a handful of seconds. Considering it's a punchy climb and his injuries, he did very well today. 1:20 is nothing this early in a Tour. Relax...
Re:
so disappointing and frustrating, it's already hard for me to see him struggle because I can imagine how hard he worked for this, it must be so much worse for him
fantomas said:
so disappointing and frustrating, it's already hard for me to see him struggle because I can imagine how hard he worked for this, it must be so much worse for him
Re:
This isn't true. It is something. Tours have been won and lost on much less time then this. Everyone here is in great shape. This makes it very hard to take this sort of time back. Speaking for myself, I'm relaxed. I'm just trying to look at it objectively. I'd love to see him win a big race this year...now I'm hoping he gets a stage win here and wins the Vuelta.
Pantani Attacks said:
This isn't true. It is something. Tours have been won and lost on much less time then this. Everyone here is in great shape. This makes it very hard to take this sort of time back. Speaking for myself, I'm relaxed. I'm just trying to look at it objectively. I'd love to see him win a big race this year...now I'm hoping he gets a stage win here and wins the Vuelta.
Re:
Loyalty to the team leader -> Majka should be called back (no chance to win the stage or whatever ffs... ), Kreuziger should stay with Contador even if Contador loses 10 minutes in 2 kms, end of story.
If Tinkoff protect Kreuziger for the GC (who lost seconds in the last ramp btw), then Contador should pack his things and go. Target the Vuelta, ride it even all alone, say bye to Tinkoff and head to his new team next year.
He is clearly not alright atm, even if Bardet didn't attack, he would lose 10-15'' in the last ramp.
He might want to wait untin Friday and see how things are going. Two cases:
Case 1: He is still feeling bad, no need to continue imo, trying a stage win and a Top10 (doesn't matter to him or to anyone else).
Case 2: He is feeling better and is the last Tinkoff man standing -> Kreuziger and Majka should get kicked in the a$$.
Disgusted and disappointed at the same time.
LaFlorecita said:
Loyalty to the team leader -> Majka should be called back (no chance to win the stage or whatever ffs...
), Kreuziger should stay with Contador even if Contador loses 10 minutes in 2 kms, end of story.If Tinkoff protect Kreuziger for the GC (who lost seconds in the last ramp btw), then Contador should pack his things and go. Target the Vuelta, ride it even all alone, say bye to Tinkoff and head to his new team next year.
He is clearly not alright atm, even if Bardet didn't attack, he would lose 10-15'' in the last ramp.
He might want to wait untin Friday and see how things are going. Two cases:
Case 1: He is still feeling bad, no need to continue imo, trying a stage win and a Top10 (doesn't matter to him or to anyone else).
Case 2: He is feeling better and is the last Tinkoff man standing -> Kreuziger and Majka should get kicked in the a$$.
Disgusted and disappointed at the same time.
Re:
And if he doesn't care about GC, he could have dropped anyway to help Alberto.
This so much.BigMac said:
And if he doesn't care about GC, he could have dropped anyway to help Alberto.
People need to chill. Contador has 3 Tours already and is a top five DOA, you'd swear he'd underachieved or something. At this stage a couple of stage wins would probably mean more to him, he's peerless with regards to GTs in this era.
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