Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[sir fly]

I guess it's too much to expect fully prepared riders in the closing year of a team.

 

[ad9898]

I think we can finally put to bed the Contador of old (2007-2011), those days are gone. He was winning and peaking at a younger age than the likes of Froome etc. A great champion and at his peak was utterly unbeatable even when his own team was against him (2009). As I've said those days are over. Chapeau to the best GT rider of the modern era

 

[Red Rick]

I'm gonna go ahead and say it's actually better than Mur de Huy last year, and this time he should be on an upward trajectory. More we can't say. I don't understand why you don't go for Froome's wheel when you know he's gonna do his yo yo thing. If you can't follow him, you at least blew up less badly.

 

[bajbar]

He is in the same shape as in Burgos... How could he not improve is beyond me. Since the Dauphine prologue it was all just downhill...

 

[Miburo]

He had worse starts in a gt. The tour will show its effects in the 3rd week

 

[Jspear]

Re:

I'm gonna go ahead and say it's actually better than Mur de Huy last year, and this time he should be on an upward trajectory. More we can't say. I don't understand why you don't go for Froome's wheel when you know he's gonna do his yo yo thing. If you can't follow him, you at least blew up less badly.

He should be, but is he really? This is what concerns me. Speaking in normal terms, riders like Froome and Quintana should start to lose form later and AC should get better....I don't think it's gonna work this way though. If AC must lose then I hope Chaves slaughters everyone.

 

[Valv.Piti]

How many times hasn't Contador exploded like this? Incredible. He has this burning desire to stick with the leaders, but when he doesn't have it, he explodes and loses a bunch of time. Seen it time and time again. It doesn't have to be as extreme as Froome, but he really isn't good to measure his efforts at times.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

He had worse starts in a gt. The tour will show its effects in the 3rd week

Stop with this trolling miburo, enough is enough.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

He had worse starts in a gt. The tour will show its effects in the 3rd week

Stop with this trolling miburo, enough is enough.

Why? Is optimism really such a bad thing?

 

[KyoGrey]

Maybe we should wait for Lagos de Covadonga to make an assessment.

He may not be at his best, but he is the only contender without a GT on his legs.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

How many times hasn't Contador exploded like this? Incredible. He has this burning desire to stick with the leaders, but when he doesn't have it, he explodes and loses a bunch of time. Seen it time and time again. It doesn't have to be as extreme as Froome, but he really isn't good to measure his efforts at times.

He doesn't have that mentality, he was used to demolish every race he entered in the past. He has a lot of proud

 

[Carols]

Re:

Worse than I expected. Not sure how to feel about this...

I know how I feel; this isn't going well at all

Losing time in the TTT was expected, they lost more than I'd hoped. But today it was Berto that came up short. He was right there, looking very uncomfortable, and then gone

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

How many times hasn't Contador exploded like this? Incredible. He has this burning desire to stick with the leaders, but when he doesn't have it, he explodes and loses a bunch of time. Seen it time and time again. It doesn't have to be as extreme as Froome, but he really isn't good to measure his efforts at times.

He doesn't have that mentality, he was used to demolish every race he entered in the past. He has a lot of proud

Exactly, and thats the problem. He should really try to adapt and let go before he explodes. This isn't 2009 where Alberto couldn't feel his chain.

 

[arvc40]

I have no expectations of him in this race and ive no idea why people think Froome and Quintana are going to be tired. Neither have had any setbacks. As much as id like Contador to be up there, today does not surprise me, he wasn't good in Burgos. Man has clearly struggled with injury.

 

[hfer07]

Re:

He is in the same shape as in Burgos... How could he not improve is beyond me. Since the Dauphine prologue it was all just downhill...

To my eyes, he performed badly in Burgos despite winning it by a stroke of luck TBH

 

[KyoGrey]

There is no need to freak out. Only in Aitana and the TT a rider can recover 2-3 minutes if he is fresh. It is a long race.

If the work is there, it will show as the race progresses. If his preparation is insufficent, we will see it in Lagos.

 

[bajbar]

Re: Re:

He is in the same shape as in Burgos... How could he not improve is beyond me. Since the Dauphine prologue it was all just downhill...

To my eyes, he performed badly in Burgos despite winning it by a stroke of luck TBH

That was my point. He was bad in Burgos. He is bad here... What will be the excuse I wonder. He really has none. He is the freshest of them all, he has done a prep race, his injury was almost 2 months ago. To think that this is the same rider from the last two stages of Pais Vasco just 4 months ago. Something must have gone really bad in those 4 months...

 

[buchanan]

Re: Re:

He had worse starts in a gt. The tour will show its effects in the 3rd week

Stop with this trolling miburo, enough is enough.

Why? Is optimism really such a bad thing?

His posts are annoying because his eternal Contador optimism is often unrealistic and usually turns out to be wrong. Don't think I have never seen any of his assertions come true. Think he posted a couple of days ago something like: "Contador is going to destroy Froome, Quintana, etc. on Monday. He's the best. Deal with it". I think it's those sorts of deliberately cocky, silly and usually wrong posts that some people are tired of.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

It has nothing to do with age. He destroyed all on this type of finish this year already

I'm digging into my memory but I can't think of any stage that suits your description?

 

[lenric]

Today wasn't good obviously, but maybe he needs more time to ride himself into form than a couple of his years ago, because of his ageing body. Until the first MTF I believe nothing can be concluded, but no doubt that Contador needs to rethink his goals, if he wants to ride next year.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

He had worse starts in a gt. The tour will show its effects in the 3rd week

Stop with this trolling miburo, enough is enough.

Why? Is optimism really such a bad thing?

His posts are annoying because his eternal Contador optimism is often unrealistic and usually turns out to be wrong. Don't think I have never seen any of his assertions come true. Think he posted a couple of days ago something like: "Contador is going to destroy Froome, Quintana, etc. on Monday. He's the best. Deal with it". I think it's those sorts of deliberately cocky, silly and usually wrong posts that some people are tired of.

So put him on ignore. It works for me .

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

He had worse starts in a gt. The tour will show its effects in the 3rd week

Stop with this trolling miburo, enough is enough.

I don't often agree with Miburo, but he's right on this one.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

There is no need to freak out. Only in Aitana and the TT a rider can recover 2-3 minutes if he is fresh. It is a long race.

If the work is there, it will show as the race progresses. If his preparation is insufficent, we will see it in Lagos.

Of course, the time difference is not really an issue, but it shows he's not well prepared. He may still gain some form, but he might be 3 minutes behind at that point.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Today wasn't good obviously, but maybe he needs more time to ride himself into form than a couple of his years ago, because of his ageing body. Until the first MTF I believe nothing can be concluded, but no doubt that Contador needs to rethink his goals, if he wants to ride next year.

Yeah, I expected a time loss today because of his age, I too feel he needs a few days to get spark in his legs. This is worse than I expected though.

 

[Jakub]

So I think I'm done with cycling. I wanted to do that anyway at the end of the year (when I thought Bertie would retire) and I was already pissed off that he wanted to prolong his career.
Good luck everyone, may God be with you and don't waste your time discussing on cyclingnews