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Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

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Yeah, 2011 isn't representative, but it was the only Tour he rode with Contador, thus really the only experience he had working together with him. ;)

I am well aware of it. Just thought I'd put it out there since it seemed relevant for this discussion, just being the messenger here.
 
Re:

rei_da_montanha said:
On the other hand, Michael Valgren only says good things about Contador!
Roche, Gogl, Rodgers, Pires, Bennati, Tossato, Basso...idem

Yeah, if Chris Anker and Vandborg, say he's bad person, then it's true. lol
This is exactly the defensiveness I despite when posting in here.. None said he was a bad person, just that he maybe had a flaw which made it hard for (some) riders to really relate to him. Some obviously didn't, its only natural.
 
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Re:

DFA123 said:
A lot of personal insults towards Tinkov in the last couple of pages here, looks a bit unedifying and I dont think people should lower themselves to his level of language by responding in kind. Would be much more interesting to find out what is his motivation for all this bile.

Tinkov knows Contador personally better than everyone on this forum I guess, so he's in a better position to make character judgements than any of us - positive or negative. And if you look beyond his ridiculous insults, he's obviously very bitter and angry about something Contador did (or perhaps didn't do) - it seems to me from his tweets that he feels Contador didn't integrate himself in the team and remained a bit aloof. Something that would re-inforce the view that the team split last year when Majka and Kreuziger seemed luke-warm in their support towards him. Hopefully, for Contador, he can do this better at Trek and get the team to really buy into his TdF hopes - because with the likes of Degenkolb, Felline, Mollema and possibly Pantano they have riders who may have half an eye or more on their own goals if Contador doesn't lead them 100% effectively.

Sometime early on, Tinkov was complaining on Twitter about Contador being rude to OT's wife at a race. I don't know the exact details, but I got the impression maybe she tried to speak to AC, but he blew her off or just spoke to her only briefly. I had the impression that maybe Contador was just getting ready to race, or had just finished, and she was at the team area and tried to talk to him. Oleg was pissed and complained about it for a while afterwards on Twitter.

Now, understandably OT supports his wife, and I guess he thought of AC as a highly paid employee who needed to show more deference to the boss' family. Whereas AC is the star athlete, and usually those guys are coddled at races and not given any complaints about anything, because it's all about the preparation and mindset for the sporting event at hand. I don't even know if AC knew it was Tinkov's wife or just maybe thought it was another sponsor person.

From the outside looking in, I see two things. One is that Oleg and Alberto are just way different personalities and never going to be best friends, especially when having to spend a lot of time together. They'd probably get along better if they were only acquaintances who only saw each other in small doses on rare occasions. Just two different personality types.

And two, Oleg spent a lot of time at the races, especially stage races. He'd spent his money, and it was his right to be there to embed with his team and enjoy his toy, but it must've weighed on the guys to constantly have to entertain and defer to the boss. Oleg was there a lot, and sometimes brought along other people from his bank for brief visits, etc.

Grand Tours just go on and on, and with crowds and stress and sponsor commitments and press, etc there's plenty to wear a person down outside of the actual racing. Away from family, no free time at all. And Oleg was around at dinner, hanging around the hotel and the bus, etc. It was probably intrusive - doubly so for a person who might be more introverted. When normally a rider would get a chance to decompress after the races turns out to be time to have to take selfies with the boss and sing songs at the dinner table. It was too much.

And that's just coming from OT wanting to hang with the guys, not counting the pressure from Oleg to produce results. I can imagine that Contador may have just tried to shut himself off from Oleg somewhat and that this was resented. After all, Oleg pays his salary and is used to running a business. But a sports team doesn't quite work the same way as regular employees. And Oleg does follow and adore the sport. He probably admired Contador a lot before they actually knew each other personally. So you pay a bunch of money and get disappointed because things didn't turn out like you had hoped.

I think there was resentment from early on, and it sounds from the tweets like it's still there.
 
Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
rhubroma said:
Russian nouveau riche...all that money, zero class. That Dave Brailsford once said he's "got lots of time for Oleg," demonstrates what types of characters propel this sport. At any rate, Tinkov's falling out with another dubious character, Rijs, was the rift that brought his ego in conflict with his star rider. Never a fortuitous occurrence. As far as AC is concerned, his cultural milieu is evidently problematical for the non-Latin riders. I say non-Latin, because he appears to have a strong friendship with Basso.
I'm not sure it's a cultural thing (although it obviously plays a big role) because he seems to have a good relationship with for example Roche (although maybe he is a strange case because he's so French) and of course De Jongh. I'd say it's much more of a personality thing.

Although this reminds me that last year, I worried that the Tour team was lacking South European influence and this would make Alberto less comfortable... people called me paranoid but look what happened :eek:
In additionto that, Roche's wife is Spanish, and he speaks Spanish reasonably well
 
Re: Re:

Beech Mtn said:
I know what you're saying about the incident with Tinkov's wife, I remember that as well. But after that, in 2014 mainly and occasionally in 2015 and 2016, Tinkov praised Contador to heaven and back. As long as he was winning, Tinkov didn't seem to mind Contador at all. So I doubt the one incident with the wife is the main reason for Tinkov's hatred.
I think your spot on about Tinkov's position in the team - it seemed like he was really involved in the team and wanted to be "one of the guys". It's understandable in some way, but I can imagine it must have been quite irritating for the riders and especially to someone more introverted like Contador (as opposed to Sagan), because of Tinkov's extremely loud behavior he must have been hard to ignore.
 
Re:

LaFlorecita said:
Well the Tour was the first (and only) race Vandborg ever did with Contador so of course he felt like he didn't know him at all compared to Basso and Schleck, with whom he shared teams for multiple years.
Also it seems unfair to blame the fans booing them and Riis' bad temper on Contador (although he was obviously the main reason for it)
Anyway none of this is a surprise to me because Karsten Kroon said something similar about Contador building a cocoon around himself (although he was way more understanding about it than these two appear to be, at least from the way you're describing it) and Bruyneel told a similar story a while ago (but let's not pretend he wasn't to blame as well) but why is it such a big deal :confused: that's what introverts do when they're in a group of people they don't really know at all. It also shows how important it is for Contador to have a team around him with people he knows and trusts.
So even if he isn't the easiest person to work with, none of the above is an excuse for Tinkov's abuse. What if Evans had been his team leader?!

Maybe the best way to judge him is by comparing the people that like him to those that hate him... so if it's people like Scarponi, Roche, Rogers and Basso on one side verse people like Tinkov and Kreuziger on the other... what are we even talking about?

Tinkov and Evans, now that I would like to see ! Two ride off into the mist together but only one comes back........... Cadel the perfectionist and Tinkov the party boy, a match made in heaven.
 
Re: Re:

Beech Mtn said:
DFA123 said:
A lot of personal insults towards Tinkov in the last couple of pages here, looks a bit unedifying and I dont think people should lower themselves to his level of language by responding in kind. Would be much more interesting to find out what is his motivation for all this bile.

Tinkov knows Contador personally better than everyone on this forum I guess, so he's in a better position to make character judgements than any of us - positive or negative. And if you look beyond his ridiculous insults, he's obviously very bitter and angry about something Contador did (or perhaps didn't do) - it seems to me from his tweets that he feels Contador didn't integrate himself in the team and remained a bit aloof. Something that would re-inforce the view that the team split last year when Majka and Kreuziger seemed luke-warm in their support towards him. Hopefully, for Contador, he can do this better at Trek and get the team to really buy into his TdF hopes - because with the likes of Degenkolb, Felline, Mollema and possibly Pantano they have riders who may have half an eye or more on their own goals if Contador doesn't lead them 100% effectively.

Sometime early on, Tinkov was complaining on Twitter about Contador being rude to OT's wife at a race. I don't know the exact details, but I got the impression maybe she tried to speak to AC, but he blew her off or just spoke to her only briefly. I had the impression that maybe Contador was just getting ready to race, or had just finished, and she was at the team area and tried to talk to him. Oleg was pissed and complained about it for a while afterwards on Twitter.

Now, understandably OT supports his wife, and I guess he thought of AC as a highly paid employee who needed to show more deference to the boss' family. Whereas AC is the star athlete, and usually those guys are coddled at races and not given any complaints about anything, because it's all about the preparation and mindset for the sporting event at hand. I don't even know if AC knew it was Tinkov's wife or just maybe thought it was another sponsor person.

From the outside looking in, I see two things. One is that Oleg and Alberto are just way different personalities and never going to be best friends, especially when having to spend a lot of time together. They'd probably get along better if they were only acquaintances who only saw each other in small doses on rare occasions. Just two different personality types.

And two, Oleg spent a lot of time at the races, especially stage races. He'd spent his money, and it was his right to be there to embed with his team and enjoy his toy, but it must've weighed on the guys to constantly have to entertain and defer to the boss. Oleg was there a lot, and sometimes brought along other people from his bank for brief visits, etc.

Grand Tours just go on and on, and with crowds and stress and sponsor commitments and press, etc there's plenty to wear a person down outside of the actual racing. Away from family, no free time at all. And Oleg was around at dinner, hanging around the hotel and the bus, etc. It was probably intrusive - doubly so for a person who might be more introverted. When normally a rider would get a chance to decompress after the races turns out to be time to have to take selfies with the boss and sing songs at the dinner table. It was too much.

And that's just coming from OT wanting to hang with the guys, not counting the pressure from Oleg to produce results. I can imagine that Contador may have just tried to shut himself off from Oleg somewhat and that this was resented. After all, Oleg pays his salary and is used to running a business. But a sports team doesn't quite work the same way as regular employees. And Oleg does follow and adore the sport. He probably admired Contador a lot before they actually knew each other personally. So you pay a bunch of money and get disappointed because things didn't turn out like you had hoped.

I think there was resentment from early on, and it sounds from the tweets like it's still there.
Thanks for the detailed reply; it certainly looks a plausible theory to me. I can see Contador's stuborness and emotional detachment winding Tinkov up the wrong way. I wonder if it was a similar thing with his team-mates, which would be more problematic. That he never really connected with the likes of Kreuziger or Majka on a personal level, so their commitment to him was luke warm at best, particularly as he consistently failed in the Tour where they had their own objectives.
 
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Very interesting contributions, Valv.Piti, DFA and Beech Mtn, thanks.

I always like to put these kind of situations this way: everybody is to blame or nobody is to blame. Everybody has their own personality and ways of reacting to things and to other people. Tinkov, thanks to his extremely no nonsense style, has become the person he is, has achieved what he has achieved, just like Alberto or other people in cycling are who they are thanks to their personal attributes and behaviour. There is no right or wrong. In the world (or in a team, or a peloton) there can be only one Alberto, just like there can be just a little few Tinkovs.

It's just interesting to watch from the outside and in the end these are all grown up people. Intelligent enough to deal with it.

And oh yeah, according to this theory I also don't blame the people who are extremely defensive towards any of these personality's involved, or who cannot accept some types of behaviour. It's just the way they are. Not right nor wrong. Let's accept all these beautiful diversities :).
 
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Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
Beech Mtn said:
I know what you're saying about the incident with Tinkov's wife, I remember that as well. But after that, in 2014 mainly and occasionally in 2015 and 2016, Tinkov praised Contador to heaven and back. As long as he was winning, Tinkov didn't seem to mind Contador at all. So I doubt the one incident with the wife is the main reason for Tinkov's hatred.
I think your spot on about Tinkov's position in the team - it seemed like he was really involved in the team and wanted to be "one of the guys". It's understandable in some way, but I can imagine it must have been quite irritating for the riders and especially to someone more introverted like Contador (as opposed to Sagan), because of Tinkov's extremely loud behavior he must have been hard to ignore.

The wife incident is just an example of the whole fraught relationship. Oleg was coming at this from a place of "who are you to treat my wife and me this way? I pay your salary." And Contador was coming at this from a whole different place as the star athlete. Not saying AC was necessarily arrogant, but usually the athletes show up and be "on" for appointments, but don't get all these demands 24/7 on race days. They just had two different perspectives on the situation, combined with two different personalities.

We the public should have never heard about the Oleg's wife incident. That should've been dealt with privately within the team/the parties involved. I wonder if Oleg going public didn't turn AC off to him permanently to some degree, even if they did eventually patch things up. I know if someone did that to me, personally, I'd never really trust them 100% again afterwards, even if we did make amends later.

As for the current tweets, someone else earlier said something about OT maybe wanting to motivate AC. I don't see that so much. I think he wants to hurt AC's "brand" (reputation). Oleg's businesses over the years show he knows a lot about branding.

I think you're totally right about Oleg being happy with Contador as long as he was winning. That's OT's right as the boss, but it makes for a boss/employee relationship, not friends. Oleg seemed to want to have it both ways with his riders, be their buddy and bask in their glory when they won, but be a real pain when anything didn't go right. Many teams have a go-between the sponsor and the riders, but that didn't happen here. Probably was difficult for lots of guys.

He certainly gave Sagan grief about not winning at times, but Peter is a different person. (And he won something big), and also OT never went public with personal stuff about Peter like he does with AC. Probably because Sagan is more extroverted and they had more of a friendship and respect between them. I suspect with AC there was just distance.

Probably after working with Vino and Lance before, AC was not interested in team drama. Plus losing Riis. Plus getting older and not winning the Tour like he'd wanted to. Maybe being distant with newcomers is a shortcoming of AC. I definitely think he has sometimes not always recognized strong teammates who would be to his benefit to keep on a team in favor of keeping less talented riders who are his friends. It's great that he's loyal, but I can see where other riders might feel disappointed if they worked really hard for Contador all year and then he didn't try to get the management to renew their contracts because he was only interested in his small group of friends. I don't think Contador is that great about being able to form a team around himself. Throughout his career he's had so many other strong qualities that could often compensate for this.
 
Re: Re:

movingtarget said:
Irondan said:
Does anyone think that Tinkov could be using reverse psychology on Alberto?

Tinkov knows that he's going to get under Alberto's skin with what he's saying, maybe he's doing it as an extra motivator? The best way for Alberto to respond to Tinkov is to win the Tour, maybe Tinkov knows that what he's saying will light a fire with Alberto to give him that extra 1% he needs to go from 2nd place finishes to 1st place?

I don't really know if this theory holds water, it was just a thought.... :confused:

I was thinking myself that Contador will take the extra motivation but a rider like Contador never needs motivation from others. If he has another Tour off the podium expect Tinkov to be all over Twitter saying I told you so.

I don't know. He seems to perform when he has external motivators driving him:

2009 TdF---> Armstrong drama
2011 Giro---> Clembuterol positive
2014 --------> Complete embarrassment by Froome at 2013 Tour de France
2016---------> ???

I don't think Tinkov rates, but perhaps what he's saying echoes what others are whispering about Contador. That time has moved on from him. That he can't win. That would add the necessary motivation....
 
Re: Re:

Publicus said:
movingtarget said:
Irondan said:
Does anyone think that Tinkov could be using reverse psychology on Alberto?

Tinkov knows that he's going to get under Alberto's skin with what he's saying, maybe he's doing it as an extra motivator? The best way for Alberto to respond to Tinkov is to win the Tour, maybe Tinkov knows that what he's saying will light a fire with Alberto to give him that extra 1% he needs to go from 2nd place finishes to 1st place?

I don't really know if this theory holds water, it was just a thought.... :confused:

I was thinking myself that Contador will take the extra motivation but a rider like Contador never needs motivation from others. If he has another Tour off the podium expect Tinkov to be all over Twitter saying I told you so.

I don't know. He seems to perform when he has external motivators driving him:

2009 TdF---> Armstrong drama
2011 Giro---> Clembuterol positive
2014 --------> Complete embarrassment by Froome at 2013 Tour de France
2016---------> ???

I don't think Tinkov rates, but perhaps what he's saying echoes what others are whispering about Contador. That time has moved on from him. That he can't win. That would add the necessary motivation....

Well all of his fans better start attacking him on Twitter ! In 2014 he was already in great form same in 2009. I just don't think champions need extra motivation it's already inbuilt. Part of their character. I would hate to think that Contador was relying on criticism from the likes of Tinkov to bring out the best in himself.
 
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Re: Re:

movingtarget said:
Publicus said:
movingtarget said:
Irondan said:
Does anyone think that Tinkov could be using reverse psychology on Alberto?

Tinkov knows that he's going to get under Alberto's skin with what he's saying, maybe he's doing it as an extra motivator? The best way for Alberto to respond to Tinkov is to win the Tour, maybe Tinkov knows that what he's saying will light a fire with Alberto to give him that extra 1% he needs to go from 2nd place finishes to 1st place?

I don't really know if this theory holds water, it was just a thought.... :confused:

I was thinking myself that Contador will take the extra motivation but a rider like Contador never needs motivation from others. If he has another Tour off the podium expect Tinkov to be all over Twitter saying I told you so.

I don't know. He seems to perform when he has external motivators driving him:

2009 TdF---> Armstrong drama
2011 Giro---> Clembuterol positive
2014 --------> Complete embarrassment by Froome at 2013 Tour de France
2016---------> ???

I don't think Tinkov rates, but perhaps what he's saying echoes what others are whispering about Contador. That time has moved on from him. That he can't win. That would add the necessary motivation....

Well all of his fans better start attacking him on Twitter ! In 2014 he was already in great form same in 2009. I just don't think champions need extra motivation it's already inbuilt. Part of their character. I would hate to think that Contador was relying on criticism from the likes of Tinkov to bring out the best in himself.

Champions probably are the human beings who are the most driven by external motivation. Something extraordinary that has triggered them to become the champions who they are. But... you cannot win year after year after year simply doing the same thing all over again.

You 'haven't seen the Usain Bolt documentary I guess. He struggled all the way during his prep for the 2016 Olympics finding the right motivation, until he saw footage of Justin Gatlin who seemed already celebrating his almost certain gold medal. At that point Bolt said to himself: oh that's not going to happen...
 
The truth is Contador has no weider a personality than Quitana or Froome....
They are all driven, narrow focused ( on cycling) individuals and the niceties of hanging out with the boss and chewing the cud is not part of their program

It is obvious Contador did not worship at the alter that is Tinkov and Tinkov is pi**ed at this and is now going to keep slagging him off ....
Nothing to do with wining I think...this is personal .

Contador strikes me as a shy (in social situations) introvert who would prefer to hang out with his dog ...
He is also very controling ( which most top champions are) and I think ( no proof) maybe brings anxiety to races that are no going well and puts too much pressure on himself and thus the team
It is obvious that he maybe has self exteem issues as prefers to surround himself with lesser riders who are loyal and grateful than command the stronger riders to his bidding...I would also say there are communication issues

People who know him well seem to really like him while those who are kept at arms length are wary

For his sake he needs to communicate more with peer riders, spent time with them and not away by himelf and build a rapport ....

But does not seem his personality ....and everyone is different
 
Re:

HelloDolly said:
The truth is Contador has no weider a personality than Quitana or Froome....
They are all driven, narrow focused ( on cycling) individuals and the niceties of hanging out with the boss and chewing the cud is not part of their program

It is obvious Contador did not worship at the alter that is Tinkov and Tinkov is pi**ed at this and is now going to keep slagging him off ....
Nothing to do with wining I think...this is personal .

Contador strikes me as a shy (in social situations) introvert who would prefer to hang out with his dog ...
He is also very controling ( which most top champions are) and I think ( no proof) maybe brings anxiety to races that are no going well and puts too much pressure on himself and thus the team
It is obvious that he maybe has self exteem issues as prefers to surround himself with lesser riders who are loyal and grateful than command the stronger riders to his bidding...I would also say there are communication issues

People who know him well seem to really like him while those who are kept at arms length are wary

For his sake he needs to communicate more with peer riders, spent time with them and not away by himelf and build a rapport ....

But does not seem his personality ....and everyone is different

100% agree with what you say.
Still from what I've seen Froome is a much better leader than Contador or Quintana. Obviously, the team is always motivated when you're extremely strong and take yellow in the first week but he's really molded himself into a leader who the riders can look up to.
 
Re: Re:

Pennino said:
movingtarget said:
Publicus said:
movingtarget said:
Irondan said:
Does anyone think that Tinkov could be using reverse psychology on Alberto?

Tinkov knows that he's going to get under Alberto's skin with what he's saying, maybe he's doing it as an extra motivator? The best way for Alberto to respond to Tinkov is to win the Tour, maybe Tinkov knows that what he's saying will light a fire with Alberto to give him that extra 1% he needs to go from 2nd place finishes to 1st place?

I don't really know if this theory holds water, it was just a thought.... :confused:

I was thinking myself that Contador will take the extra motivation but a rider like Contador never needs motivation from others. If he has another Tour off the podium expect Tinkov to be all over Twitter saying I told you so.

I don't know. He seems to perform when he has external motivators driving him:

2009 TdF---> Armstrong drama
2011 Giro---> Clembuterol positive
2014 --------> Complete embarrassment by Froome at 2013 Tour de France
2016---------> ???

I don't think Tinkov rates, but perhaps what he's saying echoes what others are whispering about Contador. That time has moved on from him. That he can't win. That would add the necessary motivation....

Well all of his fans better start attacking him on Twitter ! In 2014 he was already in great form same in 2009. I just don't think champions need extra motivation it's already inbuilt. Part of their character. I would hate to think that Contador was relying on criticism from the likes of Tinkov to bring out the best in himself.

Champions probably are the human beings who are the most driven by external motivation. Something extraordinary that has triggered them to become the champions who they are. But... you cannot win year after year after year simply doing the same thing all over again.

You 'haven't seen the Usain Bolt documentary I guess. He struggled all the way during his prep for the 2016 Olympics finding the right motivation, until he saw footage of Justin Gatlin who seemed already celebrating his almost certain gold medal. At that point Bolt said to himself: oh that's not going to happen...


Contador was doing fine before Armstrong reappeared and Tinkov turned up. I disagree that champions need external motivation. I think it's part of their personality and drive and what made them champions in the first place. They can train harder, put up with pain longer and often just hate being beaten, they have the will to win more than most. And sometimes it's physiology playing a part as well.
 
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Re: Re:

movingtarget said:
Pennino said:
Champions probably are the human beings who are the most driven by external motivation. Something extraordinary that has triggered them to become the champions who they are. But... you cannot win year after year after year simply doing the same thing all over again.

You 'haven't seen the Usain Bolt documentary I guess. He struggled all the way during his prep for the 2016 Olympics finding the right motivation, until he saw footage of Justin Gatlin who seemed already celebrating his almost certain gold medal. At that point Bolt said to himself: oh that's not going to happen...


Contador was doing fine before Armstrong reappeared and Tinkov turned up. I disagree that champions need external motivation. I think it's part of their personality and drive and what made them champions in the first place. They can train harder, put up with pain longer and often just hate being beaten, they have the will to win more than most. And sometimes it's physiology playing a part as well.

That is certainly part of it, but the way you're putting it is way too simple. The preparation they need to do is extraordinary. Not only to be able to compete at top level, but on top of that also being able to beat all the other top level champions, escpecially on those days in which they don't really feel well. Winning is by a large margin decided by psychological factors. Your body is giving you all the signals possible that it's exhausted and nevertheless you're able to find an extra putch. Sometimes you absolutely need external motivation for that.
 
Tinkov began his public trashing of Contador after he didn't ride Lombardia last year due to illness. He's still pissed he lost any chance at winning the No1 team spot on the world tour (to achieve that, apparently he wanted or needed Contador to get some kind of top-ish placement in that race). You would have thought he'd have moved on from that by now, but it appears not. Possibly doesn't believe him...
Whatever the case I imagine he was probably pretty exhausted after having just finished racing one-and-a-bit grand tours with continual injury to ride a race he normally doesn't ride.
 
Re:

HelloDolly said:
The truth is Contador has no weider a personality than Quitana or Froome....
They are all driven, narrow focused ( on cycling) individuals and the niceties of hanging out with the boss and chewing the cud is not part of their program

It is obvious Contador did not worship at the alter that is Tinkov and Tinkov is pi**ed at this and is now going to keep slagging him off ....
Nothing to do with wining I think...this is personal .

Contador strikes me as a shy (in social situations) introvert who would prefer to hang out with his dog ...
He is also very controling ( which most top champions are) and I think ( no proof) maybe brings anxiety to races that are no going well and puts too much pressure on himself and thus the team
It is obvious that he maybe has self exteem issues as prefers to surround himself with lesser riders who are loyal and grateful than command the stronger riders to his bidding...I would also say there are communication issues

People who know him well seem to really like him while those who are kept at arms length are wary

For his sake he needs to communicate more with peer riders, spent time with them and not away by himelf and build a rapport ....

But does not seem his personality ....and everyone is different
Good post - I think you're spot on... okay, not entirely sure about the wife swap ;)
 
Re:

HelloDolly said:
The truth is Contador has no weider a personality than Quitana or Froome....
They are all driven, narrow focused ( on cycling) individuals and the niceties of hanging out with the boss and chewing the cud is not part of their program

It is obvious Contador did not worship at the alter that is Tinkov and Tinkov is pi**ed at this and is now going to keep slagging him off ....
Nothing to do with wining I think...this is personal .

Contador strikes me as a shy (in social situations) introvert who would prefer to hang out with his dog ...
He is also very controling ( which most top champions are) and I think ( no proof) maybe brings anxiety to races that are no going well and puts too much pressure on himself and thus the team
It is obvious that he maybe has self exteem issues as prefers to surround himself with lesser riders who are loyal and grateful than command the stronger riders to his bidding...I would also say there are communication issues

People who know him well seem to really like him while those who are kept at arms length are wary

For his sake he needs to communicate more with peer riders, spent time with them and not away by himelf and build a rapport ....

But does not seem his personality ....and everyone is different

I do think likewise, but like you also mention all the time....it's what we think. From analysing what we get to see and hear from Alberto it certainly seems very likely.
 

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