Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Climber123]

Alberto Contador = Roger Federer

People have been saying they are past there prime for the last 5 years now. Both winning big before the arrival of equally matched opponents in Froome/Quintana/Nibali = Nadal/Djokovik/Murray. It's easy to forget that like the big 4 era in tennis is perhaps unmatched we actually have the same in GT cycling at the moment.

Contador is not (much) worse, the competition is just substantially better. Contador '14 was the best version ever in my opinion and it was just about a match for Froome. Not better, not worse, just on par.

Berto still believes because he knows on his day in top form he can be up there. And win TDF with some luck.

Remember Federer won a Grand Slam this year, it can happen for Berto.

 

[Red Rick]

I really don't think Federer is playing his best tennis ever right now. None of the top 5 at the ATP tour are.

 

[LaFlorecita]

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]

Re:

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

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

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.

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.

 

[Valv.Piti]

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

Surprise!

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

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.

 

[Climber123]

Re: Re:

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.

I meant throughout the tournament. They were immense.

Point is Contador decline is overstated. I have a feeling he will prove it in devastating fashion this July.

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.

 

[TheYouyou7]

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

 

[LaFlorecita]

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

I looked closely and am unsure whether he looks tired or skinny. Maybe both

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

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.

That's a fallacy. Because a) no one knows how the crashes had affected him, thus it's unknown how'd he performed in the Vuelta without them and b) both Quintana and Froome (and Chaves, for that matter) had ridden one more GT prior to the Vuelta, unlike Contador.

 

[gregrowlerson]

I am hoping that by the end of July, that the new buzz phrase will be "meticulous gains"

 

[Katabatic]

The point isn't to say that Contador was on Froome/Quintana's level last year (he wasn't). But that it's fair to say that the injury/crashes had a wattage drain > 0, which is enough to suggest that we didn't know what his level would have been compared to his competitors when he is at full strength.

There's nothing more that needs to be said regarding his level then. Just that trying to overanalyze how he performed at the Vuelta last year is probably an exercise in futility.

 

[Red Rick]

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.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re:

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.

And remember he was peaking for July, not August/September

 

[LeSensei]

Last year Vuelta can't be compared to 2014's. In 2014 he was in an amazing shape in the Tour and he managed to mantain that form during the Vuelta. The situation this year was different, he abandoned the Tour with fever, and he didn't recover as well from the season effort. That is probably the biggest difference as of now compared to 6 or 7 years ago. Alberto's recovery over the weeks is great, but not as great over the whole season. This is probably why he decided to go slower this year.

 

[liamito]

"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?

 

[Red Rick]

The eternal cycle of hype and disappointment.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I made it through with no crashes

Anyone still convinced he won't top-5 here?

I deleted the irrelevant parts

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

"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?

Nah, he will just chill a bit like he said......

 

[dacooley]

AC is using his usual verbal stunt of not taking too much pressure on himself and not giving any indication of his form to the opponents. it's really optimal in terms of mind games. let's have a look at how it works this time.

 

[LanLions]

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]

Re:

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.

2014 contador wouldn't beat 2010 contador.

 

[LanLions]

Re: Re:

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.

2014 contador wouldn't beat 2010 contador.

2010 Contador couldn't drop Menchov on AX3 and lost time to Schleck and Sanchez at Morzine. 2014 Contador looked almost invincible.

 

[Singer01]

Re:

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.

Are you one of those people that says FACT in capitals a lot?