Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Pennino]

Re:

Contador can reset for the Vuelta and should do well of course as his injuries should have healed and he misses the hardest half of the Tour. Fatigue should not be a factor for him.

Moreover, in the Vuelta often we see examples of super compensation, top shape that can't unleash itself at the Tour and after some rest it reappears at the Vuelta. Tom Dumoulin who is way to heavy for a GC rider had that last year. And also AC himself the year before.

Of course Conta has demanded a lot from his body to suffer on while injured, but the stamina should be perfectly fine.

 

[Miburo]

He's gonna crush the vuelta, it's not even gonna be close. All guys who have a chance are in the tour, not that it matter since Contador would crush them anyways

Btw Quintana won't do the vuelta, he'll *** his pants facing a enraged contador. He's gonna get bodied.

Froome might, he's a champion, he has balls to face contador despite doing the tour. He's gonna get crushed too though.

I hope he wins at least 5 stages, no gifts. Take everything with you then also win Lombardia.

 

[Carols]

Re:

He's gonna crush the vuelta, it's not even gonna be close. All guys who have a chance are in the tour, not that it matter since Contador would crush them anyways

Btw Quintana won't do the vuelta, he'll **** his pants facing a enraged contador. He's gonna get bodied.

Froome might, he's a champion, he has balls to face contador despite doing the tour. He's gonna get crushed too though.

I hope he wins at least 5 stages, no gifts. Take everything with you then also win Lombardia.

PLEASE don't start the hype train up again

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

He's gonna crush the vuelta, it's not even gonna be close. All guys who have a chance are in the tour, not that it matter since Contador would crush them anyways

Btw Quintana won't do the vuelta, he'll **** his pants facing a enraged contador. He's gonna get bodied.

Froome might, he's a champion, he has balls to face contador despite doing the tour. He's gonna get crushed too though.

I hope he wins at least 5 stages, no gifts. Take everything with you then also win Lombardia.

I might be wrong, but wasn't the last time he won a road stage in 2014, at Ancares?

What Contador's resume has lacked have been stage wins lately IMO, so I doubt he will win more than 2.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

@Valv.Piti Maybe test how he feels and if he can continue?

He does look and sound fairly bad http://sport.tv2.dk/cykling/2016-07-10-contadors-kaempe-nedtur-jeg-skal-til-laege-og-undersoeges

Test how he feels when a) supposedly is sick and b) still suffering relatively much from the crashes? I don't think anybody would wan't to 'test' themselves under those circumstances, then again, Contador is a different bike rider than most. But it smells like an image stunt to me.

DS Yates didn't understand why Contador attacked while he knew he was suffering from the crashes and also woke up with a fever as that completely emptied his tank.
My feeling says that AC was frustated and went in the attack thinking that if it works then I can keep go on, but on the other side he was allready convinced that it wouldn't work and was ready to quit this uphill battle in which he absolutely had nothing to gain anymore, besides destroying his season.

So yeah, kind of an image stunt, but also frustation.

He has said in the past that he likes to entertain the cycling fans when he rides and I can guess that attacking is something that he likes to do. I agree that it was likely an attempt to see what the consequences would be from attacking but suspecting that even with his deficit, he would not be allowed to much space. I couple that with his teammates sacrificing their own interests for his and he and the team decided it best for him to pull out before he compromises his health any further thus freeing up the team to focus on Sagan, Kreuziger and Majka's interests (green, gc/stage win, KOM).

 

[Miburo]

That will change now my friend,

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

That will change now my friend,

Since he is better now, or? I don't think you should discount Chaves and Lopez on these finishes in the Vuelta either.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

He was still with the peloton when he started speaking to the team car and effortlessly moved back up the peloton. He could have easily paced himself to the end, respected the race and regrouped to find for stages or KotM and generally help his team. This was the weakest retirement I've seen since the days of Cipollini.

If his health was endangers by be prospect of making an effort then his team should be punished for letting him attack over 100km out.

I don't think I've read, in all my years on this forum, a post as silly as this.

Calling it silly is a compliment. I'd say it deserves credit for being near the top of the most idiotic posts I've read on here. Congrats! I can't take anymore of your posts so welcome to my phantom zone list.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

He's gonna crush the vuelta, it's not even gonna be close. All guys who have a chance are in the tour, not that it matter since Contador would crush them anyways

Btw Quintana won't do the vuelta, he'll **** his pants facing a enraged contador. He's gonna get bodied.

Froome might, he's a champion, he has balls to face contador despite doing the tour. He's gonna get crushed too though.

I hope he wins at least 5 stages, no gifts. Take everything with you then also win Lombardia.

I might be wrong, but wasn't the last time he won a road stage in 2014, at Ancares?

What Contador's resume has lacked have been stage wins lately IMO, so I doubt he will win more than 2.

Geez I could have sworn he won a MTT in the Dauphne 2016.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

He's gonna crush the vuelta, it's not even gonna be close. All guys who have a chance are in the tour, not that it matter since Contador would crush them anyways

Btw Quintana won't do the vuelta, he'll **** his pants facing a enraged contador. He's gonna get bodied.

Froome might, he's a champion, he has balls to face contador despite doing the tour. He's gonna get crushed too though.

I hope he wins at least 5 stages, no gifts. Take everything with you then also win Lombardia.

I might be wrong, but wasn't the last time he won a road stage in 2014, at Ancares?

What Contador's resume has lacked have been stage wins lately IMO, so I doubt he will win more than 2.

Geez I could have sworn he won a MTT in the Dauphne 2016.

He won a MTT in Pais Vasco as well, but those weren't road stages which was the question at hand.

Anyways, he won in Andalucia as well in 2015, his last road stage, but Contador has never been a guy just sweeping the floor for stage wins.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

He won a MTT in Pais Vasco as well, but those weren't road stages which was the question at hand.

Anyways, he won in Andalucia as well in 2015, his last road stage, but Contador has never been a guy just sweeping the floor for stage wins.

After his stage win at Andalucia he won a stage in Route du Sud, a stage in Algarve and the TTs in Pais Vasco and Dauphiné.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

Contador can reset for the Vuelta and should do well of course as his injuries should have healed and he misses the hardest half of the Tour. Fatigue should not be a factor for him.

Remember how fast can he heal even bone fracture? I have no worries.

IMO he's much better off without so called "fans" like youself.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

He won a MTT in Pais Vasco as well, but those weren't road stages which was the question at hand.

Anyways, he won in Andalucia as well in 2015, his last road stage, but Contador has never been a guy just sweeping the floor for stage wins.

After his stage win at Andalucia he won a stage in Route du Sud, a stage in Algarve and the TTs in Pais Vasco and Dauphiné.

Oh ***, I forgot Algarve and Sud, my mistake. But I still doubt he will win 4-5 stages in this Vuelta, lmao Miburo.

 

[Fernandez]

Now to ride La Vuelta and next year Giro/Vuelta. I dont think he should return to Le Tour, he has nothing to do there with Froome, Quintana and the rest.

 

[TommyGun]

Re:

Now to ride La Vuelta and next year Giro/Vuelta. I dont think he should return to Le Tour, he has nothing to do there with Froome, Quintana and the rest.

Actually next year would be the perfect moment to ride the Tour one last time, if most top GC riders target the 100th Giro! And then finish his career piano with a Giro/Vuelta double in 2018

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

He won a MTT in Pais Vasco as well, but those weren't road stages which was the question at hand.

Anyways, he won in Andalucia as well in 2015, his last road stage, but Contador has never been a guy just sweeping the floor for stage wins.

After his stage win at Andalucia he won a stage in Route du Sud, a stage in Algarve and the TTs in Pais Vasco and Dauphiné.

Oh ****, I forgot Algarve and Sud, my mistake. But I still doubt he will win 4-5 stages in this Vuelta, lmao Miburo.

Of course he won't, even if he is by far the best climber he will probably win 2 mountain stages max. Like he did in 2014. There will always be breaks etc. taking stages and on the short steep finishes riders like Chavito could beat him.

I agree with you by the way that he wins less stages than you would expect considering his quality as a rider. I think it can be explained by his characteristics, he isn't a great sprinter so if he can't drop everyone, he'll probably lose the stage. The reason he is such a big force in stage races is his allroundness and his consistency. It is obvious in Catalunya this year, for example. He won neither of the 2 mountain top finishes, but was 2nd in both
Of course, at times he is just so much stronger than the rest of the field, like at Tirreno in 2014, which allows him to win multiple stages. Although I doubt he would have won the Guardiagrele stage if he hadn't attacked on Lanciano.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

He won a MTT in Pais Vasco as well, but those weren't road stages which was the question at hand.

Anyways, he won in Andalucia as well in 2015, his last road stage, but Contador has never been a guy just sweeping the floor for stage wins.

After his stage win at Andalucia he won a stage in Route du Sud, a stage in Algarve and the TTs in Pais Vasco and Dauphiné.

The authority on Alberto facts is here .

 

[perico]

Mollema resigns with a Trek and seems happy to step into another role with Contador reportedly signing. Im thinking Trek may end up being the best possible option.

 

[Red Rick]

Vuelta is gonna get a pretty strong field, as usual in the last few years. I'm assuming a bunch of the top guys from the Tour will be there on a 2nd peak, which is usually a little lower and a bunch of others will come relatively fresher after Giro + Olympics. Contador would likely tier 1 contender coming in relatively fresh. Its hard to predict how these levels compare to each other. Often you see the guy's coming from the Tour being slightly off their Tour shape, and being more susceptible to having a bad day. Especially on the hardest stages. I think freshness is more important for those, then for the typical unipublic stages. Looking at the parcours, there's only one multi mountain stage, so that should help those who come off the Tour.

Looking at the parcours, the strongest climber will win. Being relatively better at steeper and shorter climbs is an advantage. The tt will be all about who's got the most energy left.

I don't really know how the Olympics will affect this, however. It makes me think doing that double will be even harder. There are 26 days between the End of the Tour and the start of the Vuelta. This was also the case in 2012. However, in 2012, the Olympics started the weekend after the Tour. This year, there's an additional week between the Tour, and the start of the Olympics, so the road race is square in the middle between Tour and Vuelta.

We don't really have reference to how this affects a double attempt. Froome tried in 2012, started in a little bit less form than in the Tour, and then completely ran out of gas in the third week. This is the only reference we have. Some factors are completely different however.

- Preperations for doing all these races are likely more specific
- Peak in Tour will be later
- They'll likely go deeper than in Froome did in 2012
- More travel, possible jet lag
- Different early season, Froome didn't do much in the spring, but then in 2012 he did even less. Same goes for Purito for example. Quintana raced quite hard in the spring.
- I'm probably missing some stuff as well.

Al in all, this 10 week period will be super hard on those riders. They'll have to their peak in the 3rd week of those 10 weeks, and then hold it throughout the recuperation period between the GTs to compete in the Olympics, all the way to the end of the third week if they want to possibly win the Vuelta as well.

If you then look at what Contador has to do for the Vuelta, it's rest and recover > train > race prep race > train > go to Vuelta. Unless the likes of Chaves, Superman, or Kruijswijk reach a level we haven't seen of them before, Contador has to be the favourite, assuming he won't ride the Olympics. If it goes well, I'd say 2-3 stage wins.

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

Contador can reset for the Vuelta and should do well of course as his injuries should have healed and he misses the hardest half of the Tour. Fatigue should not be a factor for him.

Remember how fast can he heal even bone fracture? I have no worries.

IMO he's much better off without so called "fans" like youself.

I am not his fan anymore.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Vuelta is gonna get a pretty strong field

Vuelta is going to have quite weak field. This is why " I'm assuming a bunch of the top guys from the Tour will be there on a 2nd peak, which is usually a little lower".
That doesn't mean bad racing, quite on the contrary. I agree that given circumstances Contador sholud rule Vuelta with firm hand.

 

[Pippo_San]

Since he was busted because of those clinic issues, he's been half the rider he once was.
Not to mention all those suspicious bike changes.
Just look at Balaverde and see the differences.

This is the final nail in the coffin.
He's done.
He's totally lost credibility. Speaking PR *** just because he couldn't win the Tour anymore.
This is no champion. Nibs never ever thought of abandoning. And still.
Where's the heart of the champ when it matters?

 

[mufana]

Mollema resigns with a Trek and seems happy to step into another role with Contador reportedly signing. Im thinking Trek may end up being the best possible option.

Think so too. It's a nice team. Okay, lots of old guys but they're willing to work for each other. Tho, that's how it looks from the outside.

 

[mufana]

Re: Re:

Vuelta is gonna get a pretty strong field

Vuelta is going to have quite weak field. This is why " I'm assuming a bunch of the top guys from the Tour will be there on a 2nd peak, which is usually a little lower".
That doesn't mean bad racing, quite on the contrary. I agree that given circumstances Contador sholud rule Vuelta with firm hand.

Don't rule out Kruijswijk. He's not weak at all.

 

[Gigs_98]

Since he was busted because of those clinic issues, he's been half the rider he once was.
Not to mention all those suspicious bike changes.
Just look at Balaverde and see the differences.

This is the final nail in the coffin.
He's done.
He's totally lost credibility. Speaking PR ****** just because he couldn't win the Tour anymore.
This is no champion. Nibs never ever thought of abandoning. And still.
Where's the heart of the champ when it matters?

Contador was injured...or do you seriously think he wouldn't have been better in the tour anyway? Nibali went to the tour knowing that he probably can't win because he rode the giro. Contador also didn't give up last year because he was simply in a bad shape, this year however it the situation completely different.