Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

He can't lose anytime. He's already lost 40 some seconds. He's happy with his form and it's July so he shouldn't lose any.

Of course with the 40 seconds lost it would be better not to lose anything but it's reasonable to expect a time loss. A time loss wouldn't immediately mean he's in bad form. Porte and Froome are probably just better than him on such a finish.

 

[Climber123]

Pretty good effort today from Bertie. Came from nowhere to the front very quickly.
My guess is he will be 3rd or 4th on Wednesday with a small time loss (+/-10sec)
He will have better chances later on and I suspect his form will show an upward trajectory anyway.
The signs are promising though.

 

[LaFlorecita]

with regards to Wednesday - I find it hard to say how much time he'll lose
If Porte and Froome wait till the final km, he shouldn't lose more than 10s. If they go earlier, it could be at least double that. I hope if they attack early he rides his own tempo and doesn't blow up.

 

[Red Rick]

It's the French Pena Cabarga.

Expecting a result similar to the Spanish Pena Cabarga.

 

[Climber123]

Re:

with regards to Wednesday - I find it hard to say how much time he'll lose
If Porte and Froome wait till the final km, he shouldn't lose more than 10s. If they go earlier, it could be at least double that. I hope if they attack early he rides his own tempo and doesn't blow up.

Maybe he will attack! I cannot wait...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Contador seems to have 100% suppport from the team as he said that De Kort and Degenkolb guided him through the flats, even Mollema took part (who is nowhere in the GC) So I guess these questions marks are gone now how loyal these riders would be for Alberto.

 

[Climber123]

Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?

I guess he could, but not sure he should. Maybe a more conservative approach is in order.

 

[Climber123]

Re: Re:

Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?

I guess he could, but not sure he should. Maybe a more conservative approach is in order.

When do you think they should adopt the Pantano launch? Stage 9 maybe?
Sky will go on the offensive on Wednesday no doubt..

 

[Red Rick]

Sky will pace with everyone but Thomas and Froome. Then they'll probably go for the 1/2 in the final 1.5km.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?

I guess he could, but not sure he should. Maybe a more conservative approach is in order.

When do you think they should adopt the Pantano launch? Stage 9 maybe?
Sky will go on the offensive on Wednesday no doubt..

If Wednesday goes relatively well, they should try on Mont du Chat for sure. Of course he won't be solo-ing to the finish, but it would be nice if he could take time on some lesser GC contenders. But of course, let's wait and see how he goes on Wednesday.

 

[Galic Ho]

Re:

Sky will pace with everyone but Thomas and Froome. Then they'll probably go for the 1/2 in the final 1.5km.

Contador should try something. Be the instigator.

Break up Sky by doing an attack.

Thomas finishing with Froome, is actually just asking for trouble.

If Froome doesn't get dropped or gaped by rivals, he should take the lead from Thomas.

Thomas finishing with him ahead of everyone...really suspect and so dumb in this climate.

They can have one super rider. Not two. Two is too much; re 2013 AX-3 Domaines.

 

[rune1107]

Re: Re:

Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?

I guess he could, but not sure he should. Maybe a more conservative approach is in order.

When do you think they should adopt the Pantano launch? Stage 9 maybe?
Sky will go on the offensive on Wednesday no doubt..

If Wednesday goes relatively well, they should try on Mont du Chat for sure. Of course he won't be solo-ing to the finish, but it would be nice if he could take time on some lesser GC contenders. But of course, let's wait and see how he goes on Wednesday.

To me stage 9 has AC written all over it. It's the stage where he can create carnage if the form is where it should be, and I would personally like to see him go earlier than Mont du Chat. If he want's to win this race he has to fool the others, or otherwise I don't believe he is good enough to win from single mountain efforts like he has in the past. Stages like 9 and 13 is where I believe he should play his cards if he is feeling good.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

Contador seems to have 100% suppport from the team as he said that De Kort and Degenkolb guided him through the flats, even Mollema took part (who is nowhere in the GC) So I guess these questions marks are gone now how loyal these riders would be for Alberto.

Maybe the question is more accurately how loyal Contador to them? Meaning would he stays and help his teammate if he lost too much time in GC (remember last year TDF? the entire team was mad at him when he finally left TDF. Granted so he could prepare for Vuelta. But he wasn't spectacular either there).

Today, not quite sure to make of it, too short and too punchy for him. I'm afraid he might be left behind by Froome and Porte, even Quitana and Aru on stage 5.

 

[rei_da_montanha]

Amazing picture.

 

[Jspear]

"When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."

So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

To me stage 9 has AC written all over it. It's the stage where he can create carnage if the form is where it should be, and I would personally like to see him go earlier than Mont du Chat. If he want's to win this race he has to fool the others, or otherwise I don't believe he is good enough to win from single mountain efforts like he has in the past. Stages like 9 and 13 is where I believe he should play his cards if he is feeling good.

There's a long valley between Grand Colombier and Mont du Chat. Attacking early would be suicide, in fact even attacking early on Mont du Chat is extremely risky IMO. Of course, they could try to break open the race on the earlier climbs but who's going to ride in the valley? Big chance domestiques will come back because the GC contenders are just looking at each other.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Amazing picture.

I think that is a Kristof Ramon photo. He's a master.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

"When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."

So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful.

sounds about right. He could have dug a little deeper, but when you see how he fell back in the final 500m it probably would have cost him.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re:

"When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."

So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful.

Also that was when the climb started to flatten out.

 

[TheYouyou7]

Re: Re:

"When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."

So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful.

sounds about right. He could have dug a little deeper, but when you see how he fell back in the final 500m it probably would have cost him.

There's not much to learn from today's finish, the las 700m were false flat and he's always been *** with these percentages (Montevergine 2011)...

 

[gregrowlerson]

Please do NOT crash today!

I am really looking forward to seeing Alberto dancing on Wednesday's final climb.

 

[rhubroma]

Re:

"When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."

So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful.

Hmm. Porte jumps at the front, AC falls back to not blow in the end? Porte still finished ahead of him, thus he could attack off the front and yet not get gapped at the finish.

I'd say if Contador wasn't comfortable on Porte's wheel, then he shouldn't have been on it and rode the climb in progression as Aru, Quintana, Froome and Thomas did.

He exposed a limit, of which his rivals can now take advantage. That's why I think he'll loose more time on stage 5.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

"When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."

So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful.

Hmm. Porte jumps at the front, AC falls back to not blow in the end? Porte still finished ahead of him, thus he could attack off the front and yet not get gapped at the finish.

I'd say if Contador wasn't comfortable on Porte's wheel, then he shouldn't have been on it and rode the climb in progression as Aru, Quintana, Froome and Thomas did.

He exposed a limit, of which his rivals can now take advantage. That's why I think he'll loose more time on stage 5.

Once Sagan found Porte's wheel there was no point for Contador to keep pushing even Porte admitted that.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Porte top end power put AC into the lactic acid. Froome did his usual rev it up till the finish and actually had more in the tank than AC of Porte, but Porte dug deep early. Sagan is, well, a phenom.

I see AC loosing a bit of time to those two on Weds.

I will not disagree. But Porte will have his bad day sooner or later. Froome, well I expect him to be Very Strong throughout.

Porte's worst day last year cost him 19 seconds apart from the puncture stage and the TTs.