Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[chiocciolis_calves]

Wish he would target the Vuelta instead. He can still win there and would equal Heras' record with an overall victory.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I'll just chip in with a nugget I was today. Contador says he's using this race as training. I'd believe him on this as I noticed he was riding with Valverde on the big ring. All the others including Valverde were on 36/39.

This is not the gear to be using on 10% grades if he was interested in staying with Froome/Porte.

I think we can be assured he'll be on top of his game come the Tour

if Contador wasn't trying he would sit back and drop a few minutes. It was obvious he was trying looking at his face and body language. I never pay attention to what Contador says about his form.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

I'll just chip in with a nugget I was today. Contador says he's using this race as training. I'd believe him on this as I noticed he was riding with Valverde on the big ring. All the others including Valverde were on 36/39.

This is not the gear to be using on 10% grades if he was interested in staying with Froome/Porte.

I think we can be assured he'll be on top of his game come the Tour

Perhaps he's just laying the groundwork so that he can point to a knee injury as a reason he didn't win the Tour.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Maybe he and his coach decided he should stay below a certain heart rate or wattage threshold? There's something between trying to stay with your competitors with all your might and losing minutes, you know.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

Yeah, but he still looked really bad.

Let's see if he can bounce back from that. Last year, he improved after Vaujany.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Yeah, but he still looked really bad.

Let's see if he can bounce back from that. Last year, he improved after Vaujany.

Maybe had something to do with that huge gear he allegedly used (did not see the stage).

 

[phanatic]

Re:

Little known fact. AC hired Andy Schelck as his personal coach. A Andy like peak for the tour will happen

Second place would be amazing.

 

[rune1107]

Re: Re:

Yeah, but he still looked really bad.

Let's see if he can bounce back from that. Last year, he improved after Vaujany.

Maybe had something to do with that huge gear he allegedly used (did not see the stage).

The danish commentators, who include Chris Anker Sorensen, noticed his gearing at the beginning of the climb. He was very confused why Contador had chosen such heavy gearing for such a steep climb.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Little known fact. AC hired Andy Schelck as his personal coach. A Andy like peak for the tour will happen

Second place would be amazing.

"The second place is not good"

 

[Red Rick]

Just watched the stage. Don't see too much stuff that's worrying. Body language didn't seem that tortured after he got dropped.

 

[RedheadDane]

Dunno if it's a correct assessment, but Danish television have this little "theory" that if he's doing interviews in English, it means he's feeling pretty good.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Dunno if it's a correct assessment, but Danish television have this little "theory" that if he's doing interviews in English, it means he's feeling pretty good.

The stuff people come up with. This has to be a joke though.

We will see in July how his form will be.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Dunno if it's a correct assessment, but Danish television have this little "theory" that if he's doing interviews in English, it means he's feeling pretty good.

The stuff people come up with. This has to be a joke though.

We will see in July how his form will be.

I can actually see what they build it on:
If you're struggling you might not have the mental "overview" to start conducting interviews in a foreign language, which you doesn't speak very well.
Of course it's entirely possible that Trek has a - somewhat strict - everbody must speak English rule, so he's simply practicing.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Dunno if it's a correct assessment, but Danish television have this little "theory" that if he's doing interviews in English, it means he's feeling pretty good.

The stuff people come up with. This has to be a joke though.

We will see in July how his form will be.

I can actually see what they build it on:
If you're struggling you might not have the mental "overview" to start conducting interviews in a foreign language, which you doesn't speak very well.
Of course it's entirely possible that Trek has a - somewhat strict - everbody must speak English rule, so he's simply practicing.

His english is very good for an spaniard. Certainly not perfect, but its certainly quite goid. He has a fat spanish accent, that's all.

 

[Climber123]

This was better

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

This was better

Yeah, but he clearly lacks that last bit. 8 seconds to Porte is a small amount, although he was probably saved a bit by Talansky riding to the line.

 

[TheYouyou7]

Today he was all-in... As expected he lacks that high-end intensity to conclude the climbs. He's like Nibali in 2014 or himself prev-ban..

 

[indianfanboy]

He still seems to be pushing a big gear, but smaller compared to yesterday...maybe he is just training

 

[Alexandre B.]

Very encouraging performance.

 

[SeriousSam]

Encouraging. You can't expect him to equal Porte in the Porte Era but he was close to being the best of the rest

 

[Jelantik]

Today score card IMHO for Bertie, he wasn't as bad as yesterday. Tomorrow, we'll see how he is going.

 

[rune1107]

Looks to be improving

 

[46&twoWheels]

Re:

Encouraging. You can't expect him to equal Porte in the Porte Era but he was close to being the best of the rest

which is basically an interval of one week every year. Peak Porte.
Enjoy it now because you only get one chance to see the lunar eclipse

 

[Jspear]

Wow the stage finished early....was hoping to catch the end of it. Glad to see these last comments....will have to see what he looked like later.

 

[perico]

Re:

Encouraging. You can't expect him to equal Porte in the Porte Era but he was close to being the best of the rest

The Porte era? Will it last as long as the TJVG era after the 2015 Dauphine?