Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Yea I'm starting to wonder if it wouldn't be better if he skipped Pais Vasco

No no no
He could win it for a record 5th time, even if he doesn't succeed it would be stupid to throw away that opportunity. He has 2 months to rest after that.
Not sure how rhubroma concluded he is fatigued considering the man himself hasn't said anything to that extent.

PN was extremely demanding, echelons, bad weather, starting on the back foot and thus needing to dig too deep to make up time. And he wouldn't tell his rivals. What is the tactical benefit?

Sure he feels it in his legs but to just flat out say he's "fatigued".. I don't think he's fatigued, Paris-Nice may have taken a bigger toll on his body than normal which might be why he seems to be at a slightly lower level here than usual.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

He's not gonna win the Tour either way, at least this way he racks up the week long race wins

What

Even if hes digging too deep rn and slightly compromising his level in July, its worth it

 

[portugal11]

He said in interview that last year he went to the dauphine overcooked because he did overtraining in teide

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

He's not gonna win the Tour either way, at least this way he racks up the week long race wins

What

Even if hes digging too deep rn and slightly compromising his level in July, its worth it

He's not exactly "racking up the week long race wins", is he?
I wouldn't say compromising his July form for a bunch of second places is worth it. What if Froome is off his best form or crashes out and Contador loses to for example Porte by 20 seconds. No thanks.

However, I highly doubt he's compromising his July form here and he said he'll ride Dauphiné purely for training, which should help

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

He said in interview that last year he went to the dauphine overcooked because he did overtraining in teide

That seems possible. Seems consistent with going in sharp and then getting recked on Vaujany.


I don't think it's great to overexert yourself in the early year. You have 2 months after this, but it's not like you can come out overraced. A similar thing happened in 2013, where he came out the winter undertrained and overweight and I think he trained too hard to catch up. Going deep in every race. Also raced some disastrous conditions that spring.

In 2015 it happened a wee bit as well. Going from super strong on the Hazallanas in februari to dropped by Porte on La Molina a month later.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I assume 2nd is still better than 3rd, no?

For my CQ team yes. For WT points yes. For prize money yes. But both are podium positions and both are not first place.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

At least he won't finish 2nd on GC, lol.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

I foresee a 2nd place in GC

Yeah

I don't really think we should be disappointed when he just did as expected

Itzulia, on the other hand, will be conquered

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I don't think it's great to overexert yourself in the early year. You have 2 months after this, but it's not like you can come out overraced. A similar thing happened in 2013, where he came out the winter undertrained and overweight and I think he trained too hard to catch up. Going deep in every race. Also raced some disastrous conditions that spring.

In 2015 it happened a wee bit as well. Going from super strong on the Hazallanas in februari to dropped by Porte on La Molina a month later.

I don't think he trained very hard in 2013 at all, he was chubby at the Tour in fact it seemed like he got heavier as the season progressed

But you're right, he came into the season with a very small base to build on and his main mistake: he didn't drastically change his build up. He continued racing and training (perhaps a bit more than usual to "catch up") as he would have if he had had a normal winter which meant he never got to build the base he needed. I remember at the time a member of the staff (don't remember who) had suggested he should race the Giro as training, I think that would have been a good idea in hindsight.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I foresee a 2nd place in GC

Yeah

I don't really think we should be disappointed when he just did as expected

Itzulia, on the other hand, will be conquered

You think so? I reckon it'll be very hard against Piti but also Kwiat, Roglic etc. Seems there are a lot of riders that *could* beat him which means it's rather likely one of them *will* beat him. I'm happy Porte isn't racing

 

[LaFlorecita]

He's almost as large as Noval here

 

[Red Rick]

Come to think, overtrained prior to DL is also consistent with lacklustre Vuelta.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Another 2nd, I'm dying here. If he's on track to finish 2nd again in Itzulia I want him to climb off 100m before the finish

 

[Valv.Piti]

He chased Soler pretty hard down there

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Alberto Secontador.

 

[the asian]

That's cool. He's going to be second in the Tour this year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Alberto Secontador.

Ex-teammate of Peter Segan

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

That's cool. He's going to be second in the Tour this year.

I don't care for 2nd at the Tour and definitely not 2nd after Froome :exclaim:

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

That's cool. He's going to be second in the Tour this year.

I don't care for 2nd at the Tour and definitely not 2nd after Froome :exclaim:

That's two of us .

Second, yes, but showing some good form. I'm still not ready to write Alberto off for the TdF win. Trapping Froome as it happened this week or at last year's Vuelta seems to be the only way though. The Skyborgs army will be hard to crack in the mountains...

 

[Jspear]

Second to Froome would be painful. But we don't have to worry about that. He's either gonna win or place 4-5th.

 

[the asian]

Re: Re:

That's cool. He's going to be second in the Tour this year.

I don't care for 2nd at the Tour and definitely not 2nd after Froome :exclaim:

He's not going to finish 2nd after Froome. Froome winning again would be a disaster.

 

[TheYouyou7]

I've just seen Itzulia's route, it's crap... He won't win.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I've just seen Itzulia's route, it's crap... He won't win.

I'm mainly worried about the Arrate climb on stage 5. It's a different side which is much steeper than the usual side, which could hurt him a lot.
The TT should suit him but then again it should also suit Valverde, Roglic, Kwiatkowski.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

I've just seen Itzulia's route, it's crap... He won't win.

I'm mainly worried about the Arrate climb on stage 5. It's a different side which is much steeper than the usual side, which could hurt him a lot.
The TT should suit him but then again it should also suit Valverde, Roglic, Kwiatkowski.

4kms at 10.8%. Is that so bad for him?

 

[Matteo.]

I've just seen Itzulia's route, it's crap... He won't win.

I'm mainly worried about the Arrate climb on stage 5. It's a different side which is much steeper than the usual side, which could hurt him a lot.
The TT should suit him but then again it should also suit Valverde, Roglic, Kwiatkowski.

4kms at 10.8%. Is that so bad for him?

No not at all.
The point is if he'll have good legs...at least as he was in PN