Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Billopoulos]

Re:

So sick of Tinkoff. Alberto has only 1 teammate - Kiserlovski.

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]

Re:

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.

This so much.
And if he doesn't care about GC, he could have dropped anyway to help Alberto.

 

[Pantani Attacks]

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.

 

[perico]

Delgado came back from a 9 minute deficit to finish on the podium against to riders as talented as Froome or Quintana. Hold the wheels then go off on Ventoux. He may not win, but can still podium if his health improves

 

[jilbiker]

Re:

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...

Yes, I thought folks on this forum were expecting minutes and hoping it would be seconds. Well it ends up being second so why they crying? Its all about limiting the losses. 2 tough days still to come. But his team is all over the place. No support. sad

 

[fantomas]

Majka and Grivko didn't want to do any work, says GVA. Majka, what an arse,

 

[LaFlorecita]

He shouldn't continue. The chance he recovers enough for the last week to have a decent chance to grab a stage is really, really small and anyway you could ask yourself if a chance to win a stage is worth the pain. He has 2 sore shoulders, a sore calf and a sore bum. Those bruises aren't going to go away in a few days.

 

[RattaKuningas]

I have to admit I'm becoming more doubtful now. I have no idea what happened with him in the end. Is it problem with descending or he just doesn't have it right now because of the injuries sustained on stage 1 and 2.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Re:

He shouldn't continue. The chance he recovers enough for the last week to have a decent chance to grab a stage is really, really small and anyway you could ask yourself if a chance to win a stage is worth the pain. He has 2 sore shoulders, a sore calf and a sore bum. Those bruises aren't going to go away in a few days.

go on until first rest day. If it doesn't get any better focus towards Vuelta would be my guess

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I have to admit I'm becoming more doubtful now. I have no idea what happened with him in the end. Is it problem with descending or he just doesn't have it right now because of the injuries sustained on stage 1 and 2.

He already dropped before the descent. It wasn't that surprising, he didn't look comfortable for most of the last 30km.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

I have to admit I'm becoming more doubtful now. I have no idea what happened with him in the end. Is it problem with descending or he just doesn't have it right now because of the injuries sustained on stage 1 and 2.

It isn't a mystery. Some might try to make it sound like it's because of his low level of form coming into the Tour. That's nonsense. Forget whether he would have actually won the Tour. He wouldn't have been dropped by Rolland, Mollema, ect. He's obviously hurting because of the crashes.

 

[fantomas]

Re:

He shouldn't continue. The chance he recovers enough for the last week to have a decent chance to grab a stage is really, really small and anyway you could ask yourself if a chance to win a stage is worth the pain. He has 2 sore shoulders, a sore calf and a sore bum. Those bruises aren't going to go away in a few days.

He should at least wait a couple of days and see how he recovers, and if he recovers well, see if he's strong enough.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

He shouldn't continue. The chance he recovers enough for the last week to have a decent chance to grab a stage is really, really small and anyway you could ask yourself if a chance to win a stage is worth the pain. He has 2 sore shoulders, a sore calf and a sore bum. Those bruises aren't going to go away in a few days.

Pyreenes will be a massacre. We must be aware

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

I have to admit I'm becoming more doubtful now. I have no idea what happened with him in the end. Is it problem with descending or he just doesn't have it right now because of the injuries sustained on stage 1 and 2.

He already dropped before the descent. It wasn't that surprising, he didn't look comfortable for most of the last 30km.

He couldn't follow the attack. Bardets attack put him off the back, not the pace.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

I have to admit I'm becoming more doubtful now. I have no idea what happened with him in the end. Is it problem with descending or he just doesn't have it right now because of the injuries sustained on stage 1 and 2.

It's obviously due to the injuries. I think he can be fully healed by the second week but fear a DQ is imminent, also because of the demoralization of being pratically teamless.

Must be frustrating for his fans, looking at how the field looks (nobody looks really strong, even Quintana and Froome give ''meh'' first impressions) he could have won this rather easily.

 

[Carols]

Re:

Delgado came back from a 9 minute deficit to finish on the podium against to riders as talented as Froome or Quintana. Hold the wheels then go off on Ventoux. He may not win, but can still podium if his health improves

If you're talking 1989 LeMond and Fignon are in an entirely and higher talent class than Froome and Quintana IMO. But the later 2 guys still have to finish writing their story.

Alberto's morale must be so low right now and he doesn't seem to have team support.

Majka has always been selfish IMO. But with the team folding it looks like it's every man for himself

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

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.

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

With all due respect we can not imagine that...fortunately

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Must be frustrating for his fans, looking at how the field looks (nobody looks really strong, even Quintana and Froome give ''meh'' first impressions) he could have won this rather easily.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

I have to admit I'm becoming more doubtful now. I have no idea what happened with him in the end. Is it problem with descending or he just doesn't have it right now because of the injuries sustained on stage 1 and 2.

He already dropped before the descent. It wasn't that surprising, he didn't look comfortable for most of the last 30km.

At times he looked outright Awful...all out suffer mode.

I think riding to the first rest day and after a rest make a decision.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

He shouldn't continue. The chance he recovers enough for the last week to have a decent chance to grab a stage is really, really small and anyway you could ask yourself if a chance to win a stage is worth the pain. He has 2 sore shoulders, a sore calf and a sore bum. Those bruises aren't going to go away in a few days.

go on until first rest day. If it doesn't get any better focus towards Vuelta would be my guess

Thats my guess too.

 

[burning]

Quintana gave "meh" impression? I think he is looking really sharp, Contador should just retire or focus on stages, he's not going to win this tour

 

[Publicus]

So much for Taxus' lack of fitness argument. His body can't recover from injury AND riding 200+KM per day. I wouldn't be surprised if he bowed out of the TdF after this weekend so that he can recover for the Olympics and the Vuelta.

 

[Publicus]

Re: Re:

I have to admit I'm becoming more doubtful now. I have no idea what happened with him in the end. Is it problem with descending or he just doesn't have it right now because of the injuries sustained on stage 1 and 2.

It's obviously due to the injuries. I think he can be fully healed by the second week but fear a DQ is imminent, also because of the demoralization of being pratically teamless.

Must be frustrating for his fans, looking at how the field looks (nobody looks really strong, even Quintana and Froome give ''meh'' first impressions) he could have won this rather easily.

Indeed. I think this is part of what has him demoralized a bit.

 

[hulkhogansknees]

Poor guy...
I wanna believe in the miracle. Everything can happen in cycling, but with his luck so far I fear this will be almost impossible to turn around.

I just wanna see him dance up the mountains in lonely majesty again. Might have to wait for the Vuelta for that to happen, sadly.

 

[Miburo]

He has until sunday to recover, i don't think any big GC action wll happen untill then

If he can fully recover, then maybe but i don't know. If he can't and loses minutes then abandon and vuelta