Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Brod107]

What am I reading here? No matter his form, his mentality never changed. He didn't care about 2nd place 8 years ago, he won't start to enjoy them 1 or 2 years before his retirement.
I'm sure he is able to accept his poor form but that doesn't change who he is. I believe he would rather go for a stage win before methodically aiming for a podium place and consider it a great result. He very well knows that he isn't the strongest rider in the field and that alone is more disappointing (for himself) than a "desperate" long range attack that doesn't work.

 

[portugal11]

I'm intrigued to know how hard he will training next only to get froome's level

 

[Brod107]

Re:

I said he should retire if only if he enjoys wining and beating the best not he should retire..please read the full posts
I said he must accept defeat to move on
I said that is what happens to all

Would've been a valid point 5 years ago. This guy is going to retire very soon - no matter if he is winning or losing.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I said he should retire only if he enjoys wining and beating the best not he should retire..please read the full posts
I said he must accept defeat to move on
I said that is what happens to all

But this is a circular pedantic argument ..
If as you say Contador wants to get up every morning to fight for the win even though any by stander can see he is not going to beat Froome/Quintana ....I call that deluded ....But hey if he wantss to do that and a team is happy to pay him and a team will ride for him then fine.....but its not healthy

Okay - so can you explain to me why and in what way he has to move on? If he enjoys riding the way he does now, even if he can't win as much as he used to, why should he change?

 

[Gigs_98]

I'm curious what people will write about him next year. Will half the forum still say he is the favorite for the tour win or will the situation now finally change? At least I don't remember so many of his fans ever thought he is past his prime. Anyway, we all know what happened after Contador's last really bad season, therefore Contador ftw in the tour 2017

 

[Walkman]

Never been a fan but this is pretty ridiculous. He crashed. Just look at the Dauphine 2014 to se what a crash can do to a rider. Froome went from thermonuclear to a top-10 rider (at the Dauphine) over night.

 

[DFA123]

Never been a fan but this is pretty ridiculous. He crashed. Just look at the Dauphine 2014 to se what a crash can do to a rider. Froome went from thermonuclear to a top-10 rider (at the Dauphine) over night.

When he was already well over a minute down to the other main contenders.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I'm curious what people will write about him next year. Will half the forum still say he is the favorite for the tour win or will the situation now finally change? At least I don't remember so many of his fans ever thought he is past his prime. Anyway, we all know what happened after Contador's last really bad season, therefore Contador ftw in the tour 2017

I think there's a huge difference between 2013 and this season. In 2013 he was just in terrible shape all around. This year, he clearly was in at least decent shape. He's been very unlucky with 2 crashes at the Tour and another crash at the Vuelta. As Walkman says, that can have a huge impact.

 

[Angliru]

Re:

So, he wasted his last good year attempting the double. Glimpses of regret may have already come.

Since when is a Giro win a wasted year?

 

[Walkman]

Never been a fan but this is pretty ridiculous. He crashed. Just look at the Dauphine 2014 to se what a crash can do to a rider. Froome went from thermonuclear to a top-10 rider (at the Dauphine) over night.

When he was already well over a minute down to the other main contenders.

There was a TTT...

So you can start by subtracting the time he lost there and then come back if you want a relevant discussion.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Never been a fan but this is pretty ridiculous. He crashed. Just look at the Dauphine 2014 to se what a crash can do to a rider. Froome went from thermonuclear to a top-10 rider (at the Dauphine) over night.

When he was already well over a minute down to the other main contenders.

He lost 52 seconds in the TTT.
Besides, he crashed twice at the Tour and sustained injuries which the doctor said would take 4 weeks to heal completely.

 

[DFA123]

Never been a fan but this is pretty ridiculous. He crashed. Just look at the Dauphine 2014 to se what a crash can do to a rider. Froome went from thermonuclear to a top-10 rider (at the Dauphine) over night.

When he was already well over a minute down to the other main contenders.

There was a TTT...

So you can start by subtracting the time he lost there and then come back if you want a relevant discussion.

Ok, so even if we work on the ridiculous premise that TTTs don't count; there was one GC finish before he crashed. He lost 30 seconds in 2km to Froome and Valverde, and slightly less to Quintana.

He's been poor from the start of the race; I guess the crash makes yet another nice excuse though.

 

[Sciocco]

Contador will win this vuelta, next year's tour, and 2018 giro-vuelta double before WCRR. In 2019 he races all three GTs as a parade of mountain attacks.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I'm curious what people will write about him next year. Will half the forum still say he is the favorite for the tour win or will the situation now finally change? At least I don't remember so many of his fans ever thought he is past his prime. Anyway, we all know what happened after Contador's last really bad season, therefore Contador ftw in the tour 2017

I think there's a huge difference between 2013 and this season. In 2013 he was just in terrible shape all around. This year, he clearly was in at least decent shape. He's been very unlucky with 2 crashes at the Tour and another crash at the Vuelta. As Walkman says, that can have a huge impact.

I still feel you deny reality here. Contador had the advantage going into this race, there is no denying it. He was even the small favourite. This performance IS a letdown and can't only be explained by crashes. He is past his prime, you know it, but its obviously hard to deal with as a die hard fan.

 

[Angliru]

Never been a fan but this is pretty ridiculous. He crashed. Just look at the Dauphine 2014 to se what a crash can do to a rider. Froome went from thermonuclear to a top-10 rider (at the Dauphine) over night.

When he was already well over a minute down to the other main contenders.

There was a TTT...

So you can start by subtracting the time he lost there and then come back if you want a relevant discussion.

Ok, so even if we work on the ridiculous premise that TTTs don't count; there was one GC finish before he crashed. He lost 30 seconds in 2km to Froome and Valverde, and slightly less to Quintana.

He's been poor from the start of the race; I guess the crash makes yet another nice excuse though.

So a team time trial performance is a reflection of one individual rider's form at the time? Now that is a ridiculous premise.

 

[DFA123]

Never been a fan but this is pretty ridiculous. He crashed. Just look at the Dauphine 2014 to se what a crash can do to a rider. Froome went from thermonuclear to a top-10 rider (at the Dauphine) over night.

When he was already well over a minute down to the other main contenders.

There was a TTT...

So you can start by subtracting the time he lost there and then come back if you want a relevant discussion.

Ok, so even if we work on the ridiculous premise that TTTs don't count; there was one GC finish before he crashed. He lost 30 seconds in 2km to Froome and Valverde, and slightly less to Quintana.

He's been poor from the start of the race; I guess the crash makes yet another nice excuse though.

So a team time trial performance is a reflection of one individual rider's form at the time? Now that is a ridiculous premise.

Agreed. Good job no-one has claimed that.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Its annoying to hear the same excuses over and over and over again, LF. I had expected something else from you on a day as this. Disappointing.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Contador will win this vuelta, next year's tour, and 2018 giro-vuelta double before WCRR. In 2019 he races all three GTs as a parade of mountain attacks.

So you weren't serious all along

 

[supa_cycler]

Re:

Contador will win this vuelta, next year's tour, and 2018 giro-vuelta double before WCRR. In 2019 he races all three GTs as a parade of mountain attacks.

Sold!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Its annoying to hear the same excuses over and over and over again, LF. I had expected something else from you on a day as this. Disappointing.

What?
Don't you agree he looked in way better shape in his spring campaign? Don't you agree the crashes probably played a role in his disappointing performance?
Of course, he might have gone through the most abrupt physical decline in history, but that seems unlikely.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Its annoying to hear the same excuses over and over and over again, LF. I had expected something else from you on a day as this. Disappointing.

What?
Don't you agree he looked in way better shape in his spring campaign? Don't you agree the crashes probably played a role in his disappointing performance?

He looked better in Pais Vasco, yes. Small climbs, a race which Contador truly excels at and would win 8 out of 10 times.

Its always hard to assess how much crashes matter, but Contador was quickly back on his back and won Burgos. So it haven't been that bad.

Now, DS Lars Michaelsen said after the rest day, Contador was again 100% fit after his crash in this Vuelta and that was why they believed so much in him today and reeled the break in.

He was in a better situation than Quintana and Froome, but they are simply just superior at this point. There is nothing more to do. Please, do accept that and stop denying reality. Even miburo has done that at this point. You haven't for some reason. As I've said, I expected more from you. Alternate reality is a great defence mechanism, but it doesn't make it anymore right.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Its annoying to hear the same excuses over and over and over again, LF. I had expected something else from you on a day as this. Disappointing.

What?
Don't you agree he looked in way better shape in his spring campaign? Don't you agree the crashes probably played a role in his disappointing performance?
Of course, he might have gone through the most abrupt physical decline in history, but that seems unlikely.

Wouldn't be that abrupt. The decline already started at the end of 2014. Surely you're not going to claim that he was anywhere near his 2014 shape in the Giro last year

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

Its annoying to hear the same excuses over and over and over again, LF. I had expected something else from you on a day as this. Disappointing.

What?
Don't you agree he looked in way better shape in his spring campaign? Don't you agree the crashes probably played a role in his disappointing performance?
Of course, he might have gone through the most abrupt physical decline in history, but that seems unlikely.

No, Unless his DS is lying. 100% fit according to him.

I think this is just his peak level and I have hard time to believe it will get better anymore. Happy to be proven wrong next year, but I doubt.

After 2017 he is probably going to be dropped from top 3 gran tour GC riders of the era starting from 2010 (and after his ban actually).

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

He looked better in Pais Vasco, yes. Small climbs, a race which Contador truly excels at and would win 8 out of 10 times.

And he looked better in Paris-Nice, and Catalunya, and Dauphiné,

Its always hard to assess how much crashes matter, but Contador was quickly back on his back and won Burgos. So it haven't been that bad.

With a 1 second gap to Ben Hermans and Sergio Pardilla.

Now, DS Lars Michaelsen said after the rest day, Contador was again 100% fit after his crash in this Vuelta and that was why they believed so much in him today and reeled the break in.

I may be mistaken but Lars Michaelsen isn't even a DS in this race? Sean Yates and Steven de Jongh are the DS's.

He was in a better situation than Quintana and Froome, but they are simply just superior at this point. There is nothing more to do. Please, do accept that and stop denying reality. Even miburo has done that at this point. You haven't for some reason. As I've said, I expected more from you. Alternate reality is a great defence mechanism, but it doesn't make it anymore right.

What the hell dude? Of course they are superior, duh, I never denied that. They are 3 minutes ahead.
Contador crashed 3 times in 2 months, he suffered some extensive injuries in the 2nd of those crashes, his doctor said he should rest for 4 weeks to recover. If you don't believe that had affected his shape, well...................................
Ugghhh. You are so rude and offensive, no use arguing with you.

 

[dacooley]

Well, having a solid spring build up cannot warrant you flying uphill in grand tours. That just indicates what expects you in a 3 week marathon, there's no direct correlation though... Not to mention that at the age of 33 bertie can't recover after crashes like he did in 2011 sadly.