I may be imagining, but I think he's riding a slightly smaller gear, and stands on the pedals a bit less. His biceps look a bit smaller too.
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It's really interesting to me that many people feel Contador's acceleration was bad last year. I see it repeated over and over again. Yet, last year, we were raving about his explosive attacks, saying he'd found his old turn of pace again. I remember that a poster wrote after seeing his attack on the last stage of Paris-Nice, "another one of those super explosive attacks", or something in that regard. In my memory he was definitely much more explosive than in 2015. In fact, from what I've seen so far, he does not seem as explosive this season. For example his attacks at the Ruta del Sol, he didn't immediately snap the elastic but rather rode away from everyone pushing a high pace, with riders falling away behind him. Maybe it's because it was a steep climb, but that's my impression. Either way, he definitely wasn't "un-explosive" last year. I guess the second half of 2016 really clouds people's memories.
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However, I did notice he was riding in the saddle a lot in Ruta del Sol. Maybe it's part of his training. He definitely still prefers the out-of-the-saddle technique because you can see he switches to that when he needs to go faster. It was very obvious when Pinot was chasing him down.
I hadn't noticed that. He's never had a whole lot of muscle anywhere, really. His biceps don't seem smaller than usual to me.Jspear said:Red Rick said:
His biceps?! Some of the things you all "notice".
However, I did notice he was riding in the saddle a lot in Ruta del Sol. Maybe it's part of his training. He definitely still prefers the out-of-the-saddle technique because you can see he switches to that when he needs to go faster. It was very obvious when Pinot was chasing him down.
In 2015 he attempted giro-tour and he was very explosive in abetone, he blew the peloton in pieces, even aru struggled a lot to come to his wheel. But he crashed the day after and he got injured in his shoulder. I truly beleive he would have destroyed landa and aru if it wasn't that crash.
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Assuming that AC at 80-90% had been able to easily destroy Landa and Aru, we can almost be assured he could have made the giro-tour double if there hadn't been that ill-fated crash.portugal11 said:
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I didn't say that... quintana and froome are way better gc riders than aru and landadacooley said:
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that's for sure, but both landa and aru delivered a very decent climbing in that giro. honestly I don't see AC riding in energy-saving mode being able to destroy them.portugal11 said:
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Funny how there's this sense every year that he is better now than last year. I guess its only natural people act that way, but its way too early to draw any conclusions. Especially based on a useless MTF from Abu Dhabi.
Ehm. No he wouldn't.Climber123 said:
Funny how there's this sense every year that he is better now than last year. I guess its only natural people act that way, but its way too early to draw any conclusions. Especially based on a useless MTF from Abu Dhabi.
"At the end of the day, I decided to come to this race at the last minute. When we decided to come here it was to gather speed. I had a training camp lined up between Andalucia and Paris Nice, but we swapped it for this race to get the speed in the legs. And that's what we've done," said Contador.
"The truth is the sensations were good. Coming almost straight from Ruta, with the travel and the time changes, I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but I've felt very good."
From CN article.
"The truth is the sensations were good. Coming almost straight from Ruta, with the travel and the time changes, I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but I've felt very good."
From CN article.
Contador on Abu Dhabi first two stages..
I'm slightly surprised that this isn't exactly what he was expecting from two flat, short stages in a peloton full of climbers and sprinters.
I'm slightly surprised that this isn't exactly what he was expecting from two flat, short stages in a peloton full of climbers and sprinters.
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Yeah, that must have been a nice little interval! Maybe he could try and get in the break tomorrow, nothing to lose now regarding GC. I'd like to see the faces of whichever Bardiani and Bahrain riders are there, when they look around and see Contador has bridged across.LaFlorecita said:The frantic chase on stage 1 must have been good speed trainingDFA123 said:
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Yeah, well, thats racing on a completely flat course in the desert for you in a warmup race.DFA123 said:
He said he was working for Mollema and that's what he did, by covering Quintana and snuffing out his accelerations. It's a pitty, though, when a champion isn't racing for the win, but the team stratagy was what it was. Seems he and the team wanted to gauge Nairo's form and capacity and only if Quintana had been able to make the difference would the tactics have changed to allow for a different result. Sei la vie. Still, even if clearly AC was up for the game, there's no way of telling his actual form. Although an attack following Nairo's probably would have made a real selection, thus eliminating any opportunity for the likes of Rui Costa, Zakarin and Dumoulin going from that far out. (On a side note, given the roles on the road, it's Mollema's failure that he didn't go with Rui Costa and Zakarin. Sleeping? Bad legs?) Those guys were able to escape because the sparing between Quintana and AC effectively neutralized the race and made the selection come from the back, as opposed to the front as they say. The problem of course was that Nairo couldn't make the difference against this field on that climb, as I predicted up thread. Consequently nobody can be sure if the competition has gotten stronger or the "bigs" weaker. Actually it was just the way the stage was raced in the early season, when more possibilities and full tanks make for less script based outcomes.
Paris nice will start in 7 days. I still think that contador shouldn't have started abu dhabi. Porte is very strong in one week races, and that time trial on brouilly will be crucial. The winner of that time trial will be the gc winner
I suppose there is a high chance Col de la Couillole will get cancelled due to snow, but if it isn't cancelled then anything can happen there, it's a really tough climb. The ITT will have a big impact on the GC obviously but if they race Couillole, the best climber will win the race.
I feel the racing will depend mostly on team strength and the ITT. If Contador doesn't have yellow going into that stage, every single rider will be looking for his wheel on that climb. Same for the Nice stage.
So, what team is Trek bringing?
So, what team is Trek bringing?
And it has Col Saint Martin before Couilloule:
That is the stage I am waiting about Contador to see his form totally.
That is the stage I am waiting about Contador to see his form totally.
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