Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[filipepc]

MIBURO, he´s going to destroy everyone? Tell me men... I want to believe...

Let´s hope he can do it...

About lagos, the main dificulty is in the begining... If he starts attacking... maybe, but if they let the km´s pass... and pass... trying to do what nowadays we watch more in cycling that is letting go... hoping for some rivals fade... then maybe it won´t make so much diferences...

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Kiserlovski looks so much like Alberto at times, wow I almost got a heart attack, also because De Jongh was at his side. Looked like a collarbone, hope he recovers quickly
Alberto was grimacing a lot again, he said he came into this race a bit undercooked but he believes that will be an advantage later on. He cannot lose more time thought in the next few stages and that looks like a difficult task now.

He looked pretty good imo, but damn man, this guy really can't position xD

You both should start a cycling podcast together. You'd bring the right balance of different perspectives.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re:

Contador: "I was really lucky. I escaped, miraculously."

I'm gonna be happy when he retires, my heart really can't take this.

It seems that this time luck might be on his side.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

MIBURO, he´s going to destroy everyone? Tell me men... I want to believe...

Let´s hope he can do it...

About lagos, the main dificulty is in the begining... If he starts attacking... maybe, but if they let the km´s pass... and pass... trying to do what nowadays we watch more in cycling that is letting go... hoping for some rivals fade... then maybe it won´t make so much diferences...

He's 6 for 6 in the giro and the vuelta, there's nothing to worry about.

Contador wouldn't start the vuelta if he doesn't think he can win it, just believe in the man

 

[filipepc]

I trully believe he can win it.

That´s why i´m calma, but we both know that the next mountain will tell us the truth... If he can or not...

I want so much that he fight to do it...

 

[ILovecycling]

Alberto positioning is terrible, you cant win TdF without this skill these days.

Vamooos! 10th GT is waiting

 

[Gigs_98]

Lagos de Covadonga is the kind of climb which can cause absolute carnage if it's ridden hard from the beginning because of its steep gradients early on. However it comes relatively early this year so I doubt it will be raced very hard. On the other hand everyone will fear that Contador will improve so they basically have to gain time now and especially if Contador really shows a weakness there will be carnage. Hard to say what will happen.
This will be the crucial day for Alberto. If he survives it without losing time, he is still a top favorite. If he loses time again he has two problems: 1.) He probably also won't be in top shape on the next few stages 2.) Gaining 2 or 3 minutes isn't easy, even if he would be the strongest in the last two weeks.

 

[portugal11]

I think the stage before lagos de covadonga is more crucial than lagos and contador could loose more than a minute if he is in bad shape.

 

[Red Rick]

Alto del Naranco? That's seconds work.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

I think the stage before lagos de covadonga is more crucial than lagos and contador could loose more than a minute if he is in bad shape.

Do you mean stage 8, the "flat" stage with the incredibly steep climb at the end? Stage 9 has a relatively easy mtf and stage 10 finishes at the Lagos de Covadonga.

 

[filipepc]

He´s right.

La camperona is much more dificult than ezaro... It´s almost 4 km. at 20% it will be a madness. Or you are in top shape, or you have to do like froome and go and go... If a guy attacks there can fade away in the middle. It´s really brutal.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Lagos de Covadonga is the kind of climb which can cause absolute carnage if it's ridden hard from the beginning because of its steep gradients early on. However it comes relatively early this year so I doubt it will be raced very hard. On the other hand everyone will fear that Contador will improve so they basically have to gain time now and especially if Contador really shows a weakness there will be carnage. Hard to say what will happen.
This will be the crucial day for Alberto. If he survives it without losing time, he is still a top favorite. If he loses time again he has two problems: 1.) He probably also won't be in top shape on the next few stages 2.) Gaining 2 or 3 minutes isn't easy, even if he would be the strongest in the last two weeks.

1) Rest day the day after, so people will go all out. Covadonga has been relatively lame the previous years, I hope it will be better this year. If not, time for some other climbs.

2) Disagree. Contador isn't the favourite now and he won't be if he just goes even on Covadonga either. For him to be the favourite after Covadonga, he will have to show he is the strongest in the race at that point. As of now, he isn't the favourite, but a big outsider and will still be if he manages to go even.

 

[Gigs_98]

Lagos de Covadonga is the kind of climb which can cause absolute carnage if it's ridden hard from the beginning because of its steep gradients early on. However it comes relatively early this year so I doubt it will be raced very hard. On the other hand everyone will fear that Contador will improve so they basically have to gain time now and especially if Contador really shows a weakness there will be carnage. Hard to say what will happen.
This will be the crucial day for Alberto. If he survives it without losing time, he is still a top favorite. If he loses time again he has two problems: 1.) He probably also won't be in top shape on the next few stages 2.) Gaining 2 or 3 minutes isn't easy, even if he would be the strongest in the last two weeks.

1) Rest day the day after, so people will go all out. Covadonga has been relatively lame the previous years, I hope it will be better this year. If not, time for some other climbs.

2) Disagree. Contador isn't the favourite now and he won't be if he just goes even on Covadonga either. For him to be the favourite after Covadonga, he will have to show he is the strongest in the race at that point. As of now, he isn't the favourite, but a big outsider and will still be if he manages to go even.

I wrote a favorite, not the favorite, because others have equal or better chances. Anyway they all know their advantage on Contador might become smaller so they would be incredibly stupid if they don't try to gain time on him as long as they can

 

[ninjadriver]

............This will be the crucial day for Alberto. If he survives it without losing time, he is still a top favorite. If he loses time again he has two problems: 1.) He probably also won't be in top shape on the next few stages 2.) Gaining 2 or 3 minutes isn't easy, even if he would be the strongest in the last two weeks.

..........2) Disagree. Contador isn't the favourite now and he won't be if he just goes even on Covadonga either. For him to be the favourite after Covadonga, he will have to show he is the strongest in the race at that point. As of now, he isn't the favourite, but a big outsider and will still be if he manages to go even.

I wrote a favorite, not the favorite, because others have equal or better chances. Anyway they all know their advantage on Contador might become smaller so they would be incredibly stupid if they don't try to gain time on him as long as they can

GIGS: Actually you wrote "a TOP favorite."

Wish I could agree with you, as Contador is my personal favorite rider, in general, not for the Vuelta, but I fear he finally is showing he is washed up relative to the very best - I'm not talking about compared to Rolland or Pinot.

He faded badly at the 2015 Giro, his last GT win, although his team stunk, and the last time I saw great Contador was the 2014 Vuelta; that's 2 years ago.

My hope is that Alberto still is hurt from the TDF and/or was hurt and didn't have time to train up to killer form for the Vuelta, but I really believe he simply is washed up. It's been 2 YEARS, and it's been 15 months since his amazing Mortirolo dash, but even then, Landa demolished him at the end of that stage.

I hope differently, so do you, so do most here, but I don't see Alberto as having ANY chance of winning the Vuelta, which is sad considering Froome (TDF + Rio) and Quintana (TDF) are overraced, Kruiswijk doesn't look good, Valverde is massively overraced, and Simon Yates isn't fully baked yet. Were we still blessed with vintage Contador, or even 2014 Contador, Chaves would be his only obvious challenge.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

I'm just hoping he won't show up with 2013 TDF form. He sounded like he wasn't well prepared, which made me thinks his injury was severe than what we think of. I just hope it will be enough to topple Froome's TDF+Rio leg and Quintana's TDF leg. So far Kreusjwijck is out for good. Chavez has been looking good, but he will most likely fade on the 3rd week. Yates,.. hasn't been tested yet. So ... so far, Froome and Quintana stand to have greater chance to win Vuelta with 1.20 advantage from Contador. Contador hasn't shown anything remotely indicating that he has a great form. In the back of my head, I'm really concern that his best form might look like 2013 TDF. That would a depressing scene to see Froome and Quintana toys w/ Contador.

 

[lenric]

I believe it's still too early to say anything concrete about his form, but I'd say, according to what he has shown so far, that it's probably halfway between TDF 2013 and Giro 2015.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Lagos de Covadonga is the kind of climb which can cause absolute carnage if it's ridden hard from the beginning because of its steep gradients early on. However it comes relatively early this year so I doubt it will be raced very hard. On the other hand everyone will fear that Contador will improve so they basically have to gain time now and especially if Contador really shows a weakness there will be carnage. Hard to say what will happen.
This will be the crucial day for Alberto. If he survives it without losing time, he is still a top favorite. If he loses time again he has two problems: 1.) He probably also won't be in top shape on the next few stages 2.) Gaining 2 or 3 minutes isn't easy, even if he would be the strongest in the last two weeks.

1) Rest day the day after, so people will go all out. Covadonga has been relatively lame the previous years, I hope it will be better this year. If not, time for some other climbs.

2) Disagree. Contador isn't the favourite now and he won't be if he just goes even on Covadonga either. For him to be the favourite after Covadonga, he will have to show he is the strongest in the race at that point. As of now, he isn't the favourite, but a big outsider and will still be if he manages to go even.

I wrote a favorite, not the favorite, because others have equal or better chances. Anyway they all know their advantage on Contador might become smaller so they would be incredibly stupid if they don't try to gain time on him as long as they can

No, you wrote a top favourite. Thats just semantics, tho.

 

[Ataraxus]

He´s right.

La camperona is much more dificult than ezaro... It´s almost 4 km. at 20% it will be a madness. Or you are in top shape, or you have to do like froome and go and go... If a guy attacks there can fade away in the middle. It´s really brutal.

The truth is Camperona is 2.6km at 14.6 %. And Ezaro is 1.8km at 14.6%.
The hardest middle km of Camperona is 17.7%. And the first hardest km of Ezaro is 16.7%.
Camperona reaches 20% only slightly and for a short distance. Ezaro has 500m at 21.8%.
They are not that different from each other.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

I think the stage before lagos de covadonga is more crucial than lagos and contador could loose more than a minute if he is in bad shape.

Do you mean stage 8, the "flat" stage with the incredibly steep climb at the end? Stage 9 has a relatively easy mtf and stage 10 finishes at the Lagos de Covadonga.

Yes, thank you

 

[portugal11]

Lagos de Covadonga is the kind of climb which can cause absolute carnage if it's ridden hard from the beginning because of its steep gradients early on. However it comes relatively early this year so I doubt it will be raced very hard. On the other hand everyone will fear that Contador will improve so they basically have to gain time now and especially if Contador really shows a weakness there will be carnage. Hard to say what will happen.
This will be the crucial day for Alberto. If he survives it without losing time, he is still a top favorite. If he loses time again he has two problems: 1.) He probably also won't be in top shape on the next few stages 2.) Gaining 2 or 3 minutes isn't easy, even if he would be the strongest in the last two weeks.

1) Rest day the day after, so people will go all out. Covadonga has been relatively lame the previous years, I hope it will be better this year. If not, time for some other climbs.

2) Disagree. Contador isn't the favourite now and he won't be if he just goes even on Covadonga either. For him to be the favourite after Covadonga, he will have to show he is the strongest in the race at that point. As of now, he isn't the favourite, but a big outsider and will still be if he manages to go even.

Who is the favourite for you?

 

[Gigs_98]

Lagos de Covadonga is the kind of climb which can cause absolute carnage if it's ridden hard from the beginning because of its steep gradients early on. However it comes relatively early this year so I doubt it will be raced very hard. On the other hand everyone will fear that Contador will improve so they basically have to gain time now and especially if Contador really shows a weakness there will be carnage. Hard to say what will happen.
This will be the crucial day for Alberto. If he survives it without losing time, he is still a top favorite. If he loses time again he has two problems: 1.) He probably also won't be in top shape on the next few stages 2.) Gaining 2 or 3 minutes isn't easy, even if he would be the strongest in the last two weeks.

1) Rest day the day after, so people will go all out. Covadonga has been relatively lame the previous years, I hope it will be better this year. If not, time for some other climbs.

2) Disagree. Contador isn't the favourite now and he won't be if he just goes even on Covadonga either. For him to be the favourite after Covadonga, he will have to show he is the strongest in the race at that point. As of now, he isn't the favourite, but a big outsider and will still be if he manages to go even.

I wrote a favorite, not the favorite, because others have equal or better chances. Anyway they all know their advantage on Contador might become smaller so they would be incredibly stupid if they don't try to gain time on him as long as they can

No, you wrote a top favourite. Thats just semantics, tho.

Can there only be one top favorite? In german I can say "Contador ist einer der Top Favoriten" which means Contador is one of the "top" favorites. Maybe the word top simply works differently in the two languages. Anyway, I definitely meant he is one of the favorites.

 

[dacooley]

Why was contador allegedly supposed to reach his peak condition in week 3 of the tour 2015 as it was planned whilst froome / nairito will very likely fade in the 3rd week of the vuelta. seems weiiird.

chaves is a top favorite. he's followed by quintana, froome and contador.

 

[infeXio]

Re:

Why was contador allegedly supposed to reach his peak condition in week 3 of the tour 2015 as it was planned whilst froome / nairito will very likely fade in the 3rd week of the vuelta. seems weiiird.

chaves is a top favorite. he's followed by quintana, froome and contador.

Contador didn't peak for the Giro 2015 - Froome and Quintana peaked for the Tour this year. Difference between reaching peak form and maintaining it. Though, in regards to Contador, I guess it was unlikely to happen anyways

 

[Netserk]

Re:

Why was contador allegedly supposed to reach his peak condition in week 3 of the tour 2015 as it was planned whilst froome / nairito will very likely fade in the 3rd week of the vuelta. seems weiiird.

chaves is a top favorite. he's followed by quintana, froome and contador.

I'd guess that it has something to do with (allegedly) entering the first GT a little bit undercooked, so as to be able to contend in the next one, whereas Quintana and Froome first and foremost prepared themselves optimally for the first GT.

 

[filipepc]

He´s right.

La camperona is much more dificult than ezaro... It´s almost 4 km. at 20% it will be a madness. Or you are in top shape, or you have to do like froome and go and go... If a guy attacks there can fade away in the middle. It´s really brutal.

The truth is Camperona is 2.6km at 14.6 %. And Ezaro is 1.8km at 14.6%.
The hardest middle km of Camperona is 17.7%. And the first hardest km of Ezaro is 16.7%.
Camperona reaches 20% only slightly and for a short distance. Ezaro has 500m at 21.8%.
They are not that different from each other.

I was watching the graphics and it looks much more dificult. In this climbs so steep, 1 more km. can represent plus 50% or more of the difivulty.

if you look yere, you,lle see that is more than that in terms of dificulty :
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=31120

I think it will be much more dificult, and that is a problem... Let´s see what he can do, but i don´t know if he can handle with this soo steep for so much time. Froome is very strong in this types of uphills, he looks always defeated in the beginning and then he goes and goes...