Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Cance > TheRest]

I can see Alaphilippe try and hang on to Alberto when he attacks, and I think the fact that Alaphilippe rarely rides in a calculated manner, but instead responds instantly to attacks will present itself as an opportunity for Alberto to really try and crack him. He is not the worst opponent to ride against for Alberto in that sense - but 1½ minutes is a lot and will likely require that Alberto gains time on more than one occasion. Also, there are 5 other good GC riders (I don't count Gilbert) in front of him, that he also needs to distance.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I can see Alaphilippe try and hang on to Alberto when he attacks, and I think the fact that Alaphilippe rarely rides in a calculated manner, but instead responds instantly to attacks will present itself as an opportunity for Alberto to really try and crack him. He is not the worst opponent to ride against for Alberto in that sense - but 1½ minutes is a lot and will likely require that Alberto gains time on more than one occasion. Also, there are 5 other good GC riders (I don't count Gilbert) in front of him, that he also needs to distance.

This exactly. He has to worry about too many opponents. Sorry, I can't see him winning anymore - he needed to gain more time today.
He'll probably end 2nd or 3rd again, uuuh I can't deal with anymore podiums

 

[Forever The Best]

Around 30 seconds on Henao is very hard to beat as well. Even though if he cracks Alaphilippe he will probably not gain around 30 seconds to Henao. Cracking Alaphilippe will be pretty hard as well.
Probably Henao will win the race, Contador won't even win a stage and Sky will win the Tour again. I am not expecting too much from Contador this year. If he wins any races, all the good but I suggest you do the same as me and not be disappointed. :sad:
I had that horrible feeling in 2014 and 2016 Tour

 

[Red Rick]

Looking for insane agression in the last 3 days

 

[Valv.Piti]

Good time trial by Conti, but very surprised to see Gallopin and Gorka Izagirre go as fast as Contador. I suppose the wet roads lost him 5-10 seconds. But at least he didn't lose by 1 second this time, but beaten by a significantly stronger rider, a monster, Bala v.2, Balaphilippe.

From a racing perspetive, this is as good as it gets with Contador 1.31 down on a rider who have yet to prove how good he really is in the mountains on a route such as this! So thats something for you.

 

[Red Rick]

It looks great for the one big mountain stage. For the medium mountain stages it doesn't look great with Alaphilippe having a great team for that terrain, being the punchiest rider and best descener of the remaining contenders.

I hope Contador moves on the Saint Martin

 

[rhubroma]

Re:

Good time trial by Conti, but very surprised to see Gallopin and Gorka Izagirre go as fast as Contador. I suppose the wet roads lost him 5-10 seconds. But at least he didn't lose by 1 second this time, but beaten by a significantly stronger rider, a monster, Bala v.2, Balaphilippe.

From a racing perspetive, this is as good as it gets with Contador 1.31 down on a rider who have yet to prove how good he really is in the mountains on a route such as this! So thats something for you.

Can't comprehend why, if Balaphilippe is as good as you say (and this goes for Balaverde, who hasn't won the Tour), he's on the team he's on and why isn't he targeting a GT? His performance today raised eyebrows.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

It looks great for the one big mountain stage. For the medium mountain stages it doesn't look great with Alaphilippe having a great team for that terrain, being the punchiest rider and best descener of the remaining contenders.

I hope Contador moves on the Saint Martin

There is a decent opportunity to attack before Fayence and on Peille like last year as well, but yes, the big mountain stage is where he needs to strike. The more time, the more opportunistic attack unless Alphilippe just proves impossible to shake.

 

[Netserk]

Couillole is a proper HC climb. It's a 43'+ effort. It's total nonsense to go from the easier Saint-Martin (and Alaphilippe is a better descender than Contador). IF he has great legs, a lot can happen on that climb alone. If he doesn't, then it's a moot point to even consider going before that.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Honestly I'd prefer him to wait till Couillole and go all out for the stage. He needs a win to boost his confidence, all these near-misses can't be doing him any good. And we'd be able to make a proper assessment of his shape.

Edit: what Netserk said

 

[Matteo.]

My dream is the MTF , a solo win with at least 20-30s

 

[Jelantik]

1:30? that's a lot of time to recover. Contador got nothing to loose, what 2nd and 3rd anyway. He got that already. Time for throwing some Fuente De de coup. Just wrack a havoc and see which one left. Even if he looses, so what? 8,10 15, 2 or 3rd doesn't matter for him anymore.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

My dream is the MTF , a solo win with at least 20-30s

That would be great

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Couillole is a proper HC climb. It's a 43'+ effort. It's total nonsense to go from the easier Saint-Martin (and Alaphilippe is a better descender than Contador). IF he has great legs, a lot can happen on that climb alone. If he doesn't, then it's a moot point to even consider going before that.

Pretty much. If he doesn't overtake Alaphillipe, he may have to go earlier than Col de Peille on Sunday

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Porte didnt bother at all on the flat. Hes a poor indication

Why, is he saving himself for a road stage win? He was one of the favorites for this TT, instead AC beat him senseless, even Michael Matthews beat him...

When you drop 14 minutes motivation is not that great. He probably just decided to test his form on the climb and his TT riding has been hit and miss lately. The best stages are still to come and Porte will be trying to salvage something. Contador looks to be too far back now but some of the riders ahead of him will go backwards fast.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Good time trial by Conti, but very surprised to see Gallopin and Gorka Izagirre go as fast as Contador. I suppose the wet roads lost him 5-10 seconds. But at least he didn't lose by 1 second this time, but beaten by a significantly stronger rider, a monster, Bala v.2, Balaphilippe.

From a racing perspetive, this is as good as it gets with Contador 1.31 down on a rider who have yet to prove how good he really is in the mountains on a route such as this! So thats something for you.

Can't comprehend why, if Balaphilippe is as good as you say (and this goes for Balaverde, who hasn't won the Tour), he's on the team he's on and why isn't he targeting a GT? His performance today raised eyebrows.

Alaphilippe has seemed a pretty natural progression to me. A guy who can finish 2nd in FW and LBL aged 22, is highly likely to develop into a very, very good climber a few years later when he gets more miles in his legs and a few hard stage races/ grand tours under his belt. For now though, he's already probably the 2nd best hilly classics rider in the world, so it kind of makes sense to focus on those rather than GTs. There are clear parallels to Valverde though - like Valverde, Alaphilippe will probably never be the absolute best GT rider, but I think we'll see him progress to top 5s in GTs before long.

1:30+ looks a pretty insurmountable gap for Contador, given that it seems Alaphilippe is on way better form at the moment. I wouldn't even be surprised if Alaphilippe ends up dropping most of the chasers himself.

 

[Valv.Piti]

And like Valverde, you get the sense that Alaphilippe is born on a bike and can do everything on it.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Good time trial by Conti, but very surprised to see Gallopin and Gorka Izagirre go as fast as Contador. I suppose the wet roads lost him 5-10 seconds. But at least he didn't lose by 1 second this time, but beaten by a significantly stronger rider, a monster, Bala v.2, Balaphilippe.

From a racing perspetive, this is as good as it gets with Contador 1.31 down on a rider who have yet to prove how good he really is in the mountains on a route such as this! So thats something for you.

Can't comprehend why, if Balaphilippe is as good as you say (and this goes for Balaverde, who hasn't won the Tour), he's on the team he's on and why isn't he targeting a GT? His performance today raised eyebrows.

Not yet. He is very explosive and this was a short TT. Let's wait more time and make a better conclusion.
But as I see it he could be targeting GT's in the near future.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

And like Valverde, you get the sense that Alaphilippe is born on a bike and can do everything on it.

Agree...maybe we should start calling him Don Julian .

Contador won't win PN, it is a crazy race in crazy conditions...but it's not the point. Today was a good performance and let's see what the queen stage will bring. If Bertie wins it, or drops the hammer in a big way and falls short, it's only a preparation race. Losing today is no indication of future performance: what needs to happen is build up...momentum.

 

[HelloDolly]

Contador wining PN is not at stake...Contador in July is all that matters...He needs ot build his form and concentrate on the main goal not chasing a race that is out of reach

Everyone ahead of bert are not his rivals in July

 

[Irondan]

Oleg Tinkov trolling the CN comments section to talk smack about Alberto....

In case you're wondering, this is really Oleg's account, I can verify his email address (not in public though, sorry).

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/paris-nice-contador-blown-away-by-alaphilippe/#comment-3193530171

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2017/stage-1/results/#comment-3187862118

 

[sir fly]

Legendary!
He should join the forum, as well!
Would bring absolute madness in this thread.

 

[Irondan]

Re:

Legendary!
He should join the forum, as well!
Would bring absolute madness in this thread.

That would be some serious fun!

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Legendary!
He should join the forum, as well!
Would bring absolute madness in this thread.

That would be some serious fun!

It would be surreal... But I won't be surprised if he comes by. He's that type of character.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Trump and Oleg have to be related