Pre-Dauphiné press conference. Sounds like he won't deliberately lose time in the first stages, but will rather take it day by day.
https://youtu.be/80IHBg1udsQ
https://youtu.be/80IHBg1udsQ
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Red Rick said:I really don't think Federer is playing his best tennis ever right now. None of the top 5 at the ATP tour are.
While Contador's top-level certainly has been half a level above Quintana's best, we have seen that level on two occasions, Quintana's perhaps biggest strength is his consistency and recovery. Thats why its pretty likely he will podium in this Tour as well.LeSensei said:I'm sorry but saying Quintana will podium in this Tour and Contador won't is a joke. Contador in his peak wasn't able to achieve the double. Quintana is like 2 steps below the best Contador we've seen. It's not even debatable.
Surprise!LaFlorecita said:Pre-Dauphiné press conference. Sounds like he won't deliberately lose time in the first stages, but will rather take it day by day.
https://youtu.be/80IHBg1udsQ
Climber123 said:Red Rick said:I really don't think Federer is playing his best tennis ever right now. None of the top 5 at the ATP tour are.
Nadal and Federer were epic in the Australian open, they rolled back the years.
Nadal latest match in the French Open 6-0 6-1 6-0
lenric said:Climber123 said:Red Rick said:I really don't think Federer is playing his best tennis ever right now. None of the top 5 at the ATP tour are.
Nadal and Federer were epic in the Australian open, they rolled back the years.
Nadal latest match in the French Open 6-0 6-1 6-0
Doesn't mean much. I'm sure Bardet and Pinot can deliver a very good performance and a very good battle. Doesn't mean they're at the same level of the best riders, only that they are relatively (that is the key word, remember) better than the others.
The same happens with Nadal and Federer.
LaFlorecita said:Pre-Dauphiné press conference. Sounds like he won't deliberately lose time in the first stages, but will rather take it day by day.
https://youtu.be/80IHBg1udsQ
I looked closely and am unsure whether he looks tired or skinny. Maybe bothTheYouyou7 said:LaFlorecita said:Pre-Dauphiné press conference. Sounds like he won't deliberately lose time in the first stages, but will rather take it day by day.
https://youtu.be/80IHBg1udsQ
Here you are, I'm waiting for you fat/skinny analysis
Climber123 said:lenric said:Climber123 said:Red Rick said:I really don't think Federer is playing his best tennis ever right now. None of the top 5 at the ATP tour are.
Nadal and Federer were epic in the Australian open, they rolled back the years.
Nadal latest match in the French Open 6-0 6-1 6-0
Doesn't mean much. I'm sure Bardet and Pinot can deliver a very good performance and a very good battle. Doesn't mean they're at the same level of the best riders, only that they are relatively (that is the key word, remember) better than the others.
The same happens with Nadal and Federer.
Last years Vuelta was no indication as he was a broken rider yet he still stayed pretty close to Quintana/Froome for much of the time.
And remember he was peaking for July, not August/SeptemberRed Rick said:There's two assumptions that need to be true for Contador's Vuelta of last year to indicate his best level
1. He started the Vuelta in his best possible shape
2. He wasn't affected by the crashes.
2. is an assumption that's impossible to be verified. I think that crashes certainly affect you down the race. But then we can all say it fits our argument because we simply can't know
1. is an assumption that I'm gonna go ahead and say that it's false, and I'm basing that off the level Contador showed in the Dauphine and in Burgos. In the DL he won the MTT against a field that would later get 4 out of 5 top 5 placings in the Tour, and put the hurt on everyone in the last mountain stage, whereas in Burgos he got dropped hard by Sergio Pardilla and could barely beat Ben Hermans.
"I am happy because I felt very good," added Contador. "I think my feeling was better than I hoped. I made some good watts in some parts of the stage, I made it through with no crashes, no problems, and it was a nice day of work for the legs."
I deleted the irrelevant partsliamito said:I made it through with no crashes
Anyone still convinced he won't top-5 here?
Nah, he will just chill a bit like he said......liamito said:"I am happy because I felt very good," added Contador. "I think my feeling was better than I hoped. I made some good watts in some parts of the stage, I made it through with no crashes, no problems, and it was a nice day of work for the legs."
Anyone still convinced he won't top-5 here?
2014 contador wouldn't beat 2010 contador.LanLions said:Let's imagine that at the Tour Contador manages to improve on form of the past two years, though obviously doesn't reach the levels of 2009/2014; would a Contador with similar form to that of 2010 be able to challenge Froome in the mountains? By this I mean purely head to head, ambushes discounted.
portugal11 said:2014 contador wouldn't beat 2010 contador.LanLions said:Let's imagine that at the Tour Contador manages to improve on form of the past two years, though obviously doesn't reach the levels of 2009/2014; would a Contador with similar form to that of 2010 be able to challenge Froome in the mountains? By this I mean purely head to head, ambushes discounted.
Are you one of those people that says FACT in capitals a lot?LeSensei said:I'm sorry but saying Quintana will podium in this Tour and Contador won't is a joke. Contador in his peak wasn't able to achieve the double. Quintana is like 2 steps below the best Contador we've seen. It's not even debatable.
He lost time because he was too cocky and was responding to everybody, so he cracked when andy atracked. Contador dropped menchov very easily in all big mountains. He and andy were toying with the competition in every single mountain.LanLions said:portugal11 said:2014 contador wouldn't beat 2010 contador.LanLions said:Let's imagine that at the Tour Contador manages to improve on form of the past two years, though obviously doesn't reach the levels of 2009/2014; would a Contador with similar form to that of 2010 be able to challenge Froome in the mountains? By this I mean purely head to head, ambushes discounted.
2010 Contador couldn't drop Menchov on AX3 and lost time to Schleck and Sanchez at Morzine. 2014 Contador looked almost invincible.
It all depends on Froome's shape. He wouldn't be able to beat 2013 Froome, but 2016, possibly.LanLions said:Let's imagine that at the Tour Contador manages to improve on form of the past two years, though obviously doesn't reach the levels of 2009/2014; would a Contador with similar form to that of 2010 be able to challenge Froome in the mountains? By this I mean purely head to head, ambushes discounted.