Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Laughable team.

Not all teams have as much depth as Sky and Movistar. This is the best possible team.

I know, but it doesn't really seem to be the best possible team....

Many of their riders have other objectives or have already raced 1 or 2 GTs. Valgren will presumably ride the Canadian races as will Bodnar, Majka has raced 2 GTs, Kreuziger doesn't want to ride most likely, Hansen is injured. I don't know about Poljanski, but perhaps the team feels 2 GTs is too much for him.
What it comes down to is, the team know Alberto is a huge contender for this race, the favorite in the eyes of many. They'll look to put together the best possible combination of riders to maximize Alberto's chances of winning the race. This is why I often get annoyed when people complain. The team may not be very strong but on paper, whatever team they select should be the best possible. Whether the riders will deliver is another question, but that is not simple to predict even for the team.

 

[damian13ster]

Poljanski is/was fighting some nasty virus entire season. This is the reason that he was weak this year, havent raced for a while, and wasnt in the olympics (seemed like a shoe-in preseason)

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

Laughable team.

Not all teams have as much depth as Sky and Movistar. This is the best possible team.

I know, but it doesn't really seem to be the best possible team....

Many of their riders have other objectives or have already raced 1 or 2 GTs. Valgren will presumably ride the Canadian races as will Bodnar, Majka has raced 2 GTs, Kreuziger doesn't want to ride most likely, Hansen is injured. I don't know about Poljanski, but perhaps the team feels 2 GTs is too much for him.
What it comes down to is, the team know Alberto is a huge contender for this race, the favorite in the eyes of many. They'll look to put together the best possible combination of riders to maximize Alberto's chances of winning the race. This is why I often get annoyed when people complain. The team may not be very strong but on paper, whatever team they select should be the best possible. Whether the riders will deliver is another question, but that is not simple to predict even for the team.

Well, the difference between us is that I believe the Tinkofg managers are bunch of idiots. Or they follow the tinkoff idiot himself. It has all started when tinkoff bought Sagan instead of securing a decent team for Bertie. To send Bodnar to Canada (who cares about Canada?) instead of Let him help with TTT ( could be a difference of a few seconds and that's not irrelavant in Vuelta) is a stupid mistake.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Poljanski is/was fighting some nasty virus entire season. This is the reason that he was weak this year, havent raced for a while, and wasnt in the olympics (seemed like a shoe-in preseason)

I wasn't aware of that, thanks

 

[afpm90]

That team doesn't look too bad. Yes, it could be better, but you really don't need a strong mountain team in the Vuelta. Only if something, like a mechanical, happens during the climb a good mountain helper is a great asset; Kiserlovski may be that men; even Trofimov, if he shows the form of previous years. The weak point, IMO, is the team time trial: it'll be all about trying to lose the least amount of time possible.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

That team doesn't look too bad. Yes, it could be better, but you really don't need a strong mountain team in the Vuelta. Only if something, like a mechanical, happens during the climb a good mountain helper is a great asset; Kiserlovski may be that men; even Trofimov, if he shows the form of previous years. The weak point, IMO, is the team time trial: it'll be all about trying to lose the least amount of time possible.

Try telling Purito that

 

[afpm90]

Re: Re:

That team doesn't look too bad. Yes, it could be better, but you really don't need a strong mountain team in the Vuelta. Only if something, like a mechanical, happens during the climb a good mountain helper is a great asset; Kiserlovski may be that men; even Trofimov, if he shows the form of previous years. The weak point, IMO, is the team time trial: it'll be all about trying to lose the least amount of time possible.

Try telling Purito that

Who will try something like what Contador did in that year?

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

That team doesn't look too bad. Yes, it could be better, but you really don't need a strong mountain team in the Vuelta. Only if something, like a mechanical, happens during the climb a good mountain helper is a great asset; Kiserlovski may be that men; even Trofimov, if he shows the form of previous years. The weak point, IMO, is the team time trial: it'll be all about trying to lose the least amount of time possible.

Try telling Purito that

Who will try something like what Contador did in that year?

Froome

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

That team doesn't look too bad. Yes, it could be better, but you really don't need a strong mountain team in the Vuelta. Only if something, like a mechanical, happens during the climb a good mountain helper is a great asset; Kiserlovski may be that men; even Trofimov, if he shows the form of previous years. The weak point, IMO, is the team time trial: it'll be all about trying to lose the least amount of time possible.

Try telling Purito that

Who will try something like what Contador did in that year?

Froome has nothing to lose, and has the team to pull off a similar move too

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I don't see Froome trying anything similar let alone pulling it off. Contador would be right on his wheel.
He might try it if he's several minutes down like in 2012 and Contador might let him go, but he'd pose no threat.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I could see an outsider for GC try something similar, Lopez perhaps, but it's hard to see an outsider win the race with such a move.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

That team doesn't look too bad. Yes, it could be better, but you really don't need a strong mountain team in the Vuelta. Only if something, like a mechanical, happens during the climb a good mountain helper is a great asset; Kiserlovski may be that men; even Trofimov, if he shows the form of previous years. The weak point, IMO, is the team time trial: it'll be all about trying to lose the least amount of time possible.

Try telling Purito that

Who will try something like what Contador did in that year?

Froome has nothing to lose, and has the team to pull off a similar move too

We saw that in 2014...

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

That team doesn't look too bad. Yes, it could be better, but you really don't need a strong mountain team in the Vuelta. Only if something, like a mechanical, happens during the climb a good mountain helper is a great asset; Kiserlovski may be that men; even Trofimov, if he shows the form of previous years. The weak point, IMO, is the team time trial: it'll be all about trying to lose the least amount of time possible.

Try telling Purito that

Who will try something like what Contador did in that year?

Froome has nothing to lose, and has the team to pull off a similar move too

We saw that in 2014...

He tried dropping Contador on the final climb and failed. He'll have learnt from that, and he'll be more inventive this time if there's enough time between himself and AC if he has the legs to pull it off

Of course, if the gap is small, he might as well just wait for the final climb

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

He tried dropping Contador on the final climb and failed. He'll have learnt from that, and he'll be more inventive this time if there's enough time between himself and AC if he has the legs to pull it off

Of course, if the gap is small, he might as well just wait for the final climb

He definitely won't try that again. He's gonna be more tired than he was in 2014. He's climbing form should be even worse. Froome shouldn't be the biggest threat to AC. I think it will be someone who didn't go all out in the Tour and Olympics.

 

[filipepc]

I have a doubt about how much time Tinkoff will loose to sky in the firts day? That can be a problem, i think it can be more than a minute, maybe two.

That´s not good.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I have a doubt about how much time Tinkoff will loose to sky in the firts day? That can be a problem, i think it can be more than a minute, maybe two.

That´s not good.

I agree that Tinkoff will likely lose time, but I don't think they'll lose as much as you expect. It seems likely that Bennati, Boaro and Gogl will be in the team, add some riders with a decently large engine like Trofimov and Paulinho and they'll be able to limit the damage.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

He tried dropping Contador on the final climb and failed. He'll have learnt from that, and he'll be more inventive this time if there's enough time between himself and AC if he has the legs to pull it off

Of course, if the gap is small, he might as well just wait for the final climb

He definitely won't try that again. He's gonna be more tired than he was in 2014. He's climbing form should be even worse. Froome shouldn't be the biggest threat to AC. I think it will be someone who didn't go all out in the Tour and Olympics.

Yea, biggest threats should probably be Lopez and the Orica pair, all of whom are unlikely to sacrifice a podium to attack AC

 

[Red Rick]

I think there's very few reasons to think Froome will be able to do better than in 2012.

 

[IMA]

Re: Re:

I have a doubt about how much time Tinkoff will loose to sky in the firts day? That can be a problem, i think it can be more than a minute, maybe two.

That´s not good.

I agree that Tinkoff will likely lose time, but I don't think they'll lose as much as you expect. It seems likely that Bennati, Boaro and Gogl will be in the team, add some riders with a decently large engine like Trofimov and Paulinho and they'll be able to limit the damage.

Paulinho got dropped after 1 km in the TTT in Burgos. He´s finished.

Alberto will need someone else apart from Bennati, Boaro and Gogl. Valgren would definetly be a good help.

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

I have a doubt about how much time Tinkoff will loose to sky in the firts day? That can be a problem, i think it can be more than a minute, maybe two.

That´s not good.

I agree that Tinkoff will likely lose time, but I don't think they'll lose as much as you expect. It seems likely that Bennati, Boaro and Gogl will be in the team, add some riders with a decently large engine like Trofimov and Paulinho and they'll be able to limit the damage.

Paulinho got dropped after 1 km in the TTT in Burgos. He´s finished.

Alberto will need someone else apart from Bennati, Boaro and Gogl. Valgren would definetly be a good help.

yes. And Bodnar, for the christ sake. Let the leaked roster be wrong!

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

I think there's very few reasons to think Froome will be able to do better than in 2012.

Well, Froome rode 2012 TdF a lot harder, as he was hitting the front much sooner, and Froome didn't really push too hard on any climbs apart from finault and ventoux

Plus he aimed for a week 3 peak, so should be a bit better at the start of the Vuelta, but I'd be surprised if he doesn't drop off after the first rest day.

 

[peloton]

Unofficial, but Vuelta team (unless last changes): Alberto, Bennati, Boaro, Gogl, Hernández, Kiserlovski, Paulinho, Rovny & Trofimov

 

[Cannibal72]

Re: Re:

He tried dropping Contador on the final climb and failed. He'll have learnt from that, and he'll be more inventive this time if there's enough time between himself and AC if he has the legs to pull it off

Of course, if the gap is small, he might as well just wait for the final climb

He definitely won't try that again. He's gonna be more tired than he was in 2014. He's climbing form should be even worse. Froome shouldn't be the biggest threat to AC. I think it will be someone who didn't go all out in the Tour and Olympics.

Yea, biggest threats should probably be Lopez and the Orica pair, all of whom are unlikely to sacrifice a podium to attack AC

I think Lopez will struggle in the third week; he's never done a GT before and he'll probably go all-out attack in the first two weeks. Chaves is my second favourite for the overall after Contador.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I think Lopez will struggle in the third week; he's never done a GT before and he'll probably go all-out attack in the first two weeks. Chaves is my second favourite for the overall after Contador.

For me too. 3rd, Kruijswijk or Quintana

 

[thehook]

Re: Re:

I think Lopez will struggle in the third week; he's never done a GT before and he'll probably go all-out attack in the first two weeks. Chaves is my second favourite for the overall after Contador.

For me too. 3rd, Kruijswijk or Quintana

Really want to see how Kruijswijk does in the scorching heat in LaVuelta. Quintana needs to do something here. He gave Movistar nothing in Letour this year. Last year he tried to win the race on stage 20. He needs to answer to all the hype he gets. IMHO. He beat Rigo at the Giro on a controversial weather day.

Really would like to see Lopez Podium.