Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[perico]

Perfect day from my perspective. Yeah he lost 6 sec but wasn't that what we expected? Bounced back from cracking and had a small dig at the end. The high MT stages will of course suit him better. Podium still very much in reach

This. That was better than anyone predicted. Doesn't have the kick anymore, but he came back and went to the front, only to lose seconds in the sprint as usual. He rode like an aging champion, but a champ. Looked stronger than Nairo.

 

[Gigs_98]

Better than expected tbh. Don't get why so many of you are disappointed

 

[red zone]

good show , stayed within himself and closed the gap to get back to the Froome Porte group after he was dropped which would never have happened if skeletor was climbing like he used too

 

[LaFlorecita]

He came back and went straight to the front. But then he struggled again on the final ramp. Really don't know what to make of it, before today I'd have signed for a 6s loss but the signs are not good IMO.

 

[Jspear]

Perfect day from my perspective. Yeah he lost 6 sec but wasn't that what we expected? Bounced back from cracking and had a small dig at the end. The high MT stages will of course suit him better. Podium still very much in reach

Why do so many people talk about him doing better in the high mountains? Or the multi mountain stages? He'll do worse if he doesn't have the form....anyways. My stream cut out right when they said he was dropped. Will have to go back and see how bad he looked. Couple people here already a little upset, but yesterday some of y'all were expecting a time loss.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Better than expected tbh. Don't get why so many of you are disappointed

for me I guess it's because he got dropped so easily both times... it seemed like he only got back because they were looking at each other and Berto didn't hesitate

 

[Carols]

Re:

As i expected: he's not good enough. Anyway he made a comeback. It was a pity the final attack where he blew up

Yeah he was doing fine until he blew himself up . Still a 6 second loss to Froome is good. But he needs to improve and the odds of that happening aren't good.

 

[No_Balls]

Better than expected tbh. Don't get why so many of you are disappointed

The result was somewhat "ok-ish". Im more disappointed with the overall impression i got today.

 

[bob.a.feet]

I think that considering how well this stage suited Froome and Martin, 6 seconds is very respectable.

 

[buchanan]

His performance was as good as can be expected. He can't be expected to match Froome, Porte, Aru, etc. His race will be for 5th/6th against Yates, a tired Quintana, maybe Majka...

 

[Netserk]

Disappointing performance, but the same is true for Froome and Porte. The difference between them was as expected, but it's not good enough that several others were better as well.

 

[DFA123]

Very disappointing performances from Pantano and Mollema. I guess its a climb where domestiques can't help much, but still, not a great sign how far back they both were.

Contador really needs to just ride to his own tempo. He was kind of lucky that Froome and Porte started playing games, but he has to stop himself blowing up if he's going to seriously challenge for podium here.

 

[DFA123]

Better than expected tbh. Don't get why so many of you are disappointed

I thought it was about par and in keeping with his recent form; but losing 35 seconds to Aru is a big blow. It's kind of what he's done all year - followed attacks to an extent, but let a gap come out when the hammer really goes down. And also losing a bit of time in the final 300m sprint.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Very disappointing performances from Pantano and Mollema. I guess its a climb where domestiques can't help much, but still, not a great sign how far back they both were.

Contador really needs to just ride to his own tempo. He was kind of lucky that Froome and Porte started playing games, but he has to stop himself blowing up if he's going to seriously challenge for podium here.

Well, Porte/Froome could not keep up the attacks forever. Tactics or not, they were not that much better than Berto and the others today.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Very disappointing performances from Pantano and Mollema. I guess its a climb where domestiques can't help much, but still, not a great sign how far back they both were.

Contador really needs to just ride to his own tempo. He was kind of lucky that Froome and Porte started playing games, but he has to stop himself blowing up if he's going to seriously challenge for podium here.

Well, Porte/Froome could not keep up the attacks forever. Tactics or not, they were not that much better than Berto and the others today.

I'd say they were still a level above Contador. But only one level, not the two or three we saw at the Dauphine, so I guess that's a kind of positive.

Aru, on the other hand, looks a different class at the moment.

 

[arvc40]

All clear now.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Contador really needs to just ride to his own tempo. He was kind of lucky that Froome and Porte started playing games, but he has to stop himself blowing up if he's going to seriously challenge for podium here.

That's kinda strange criticism after today. The only positive thing was that he rode his own pace rather than trying to follow and blowing up.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I'd say they were still a level above Contador. But only one level, not the two or three we saw at the Dauphine, so I guess that's a kind of positive.
.

Which is not at all surprising because Contador did not go into the red at the Dauphiné.

 

[movingtarget]

Pretty good ride by Contador. Not too much damage done.

 

[VanBsr]

In my opinion he looked very strong when he came back. It was like he had a mechanical and this was the reason he dropped from the Froome group not a problem of following the pace.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

In my opinion he looked very strong when he came back. It was like he had a mechanical and this was the reason he dropped from the Froome group not a problem of following the pace.

I highly doubt it. He just struggles big time when someone ups the pace. We saw it on the final ramp also when Porte went for it.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Contador really needs to just ride to his own tempo. He was kind of lucky that Froome and Porte started playing games, but he has to stop himself blowing up if he's going to seriously challenge for podium here.

That's kinda strange criticism after today. The only positive thing was that he rode his own pace rather than trying to follow and blowing up.

Well, that's kind of true, he did ride at his own pace a bit better than he normally does. But I think he still tried to follow the accelerations too much. Perhaps the lack of teammates meant that he wanted to stick with the front group as long as possible though.

One thing I liked was that he went to the front and towed Quintana, Yates and a couple of others, without messing around or trying to make them share work - that showed a good mentality.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

In my opinion he looked very strong when he came back. It was like he had a mechanical and this was the reason he dropped from the Froome group not a problem of following the pace.

He'll be having lots of mechanicals.

 

[VanBsr]

Re: Re:

In my opinion he looked very strong when he came back. It was like he had a mechanical and this was the reason he dropped from the Froome group not a problem of following the pace.

I highly doubt it. He just struggles big time when someone ups the pace. We saw it on the final ramp also when Porte went for it.

I don't say he had mechanical. But this is how it looked

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

I'd say they were still a level above Contador. But only one level, not the two or three we saw at the Dauphine, so I guess that's a kind of positive.
.

Which is not at all surprising because Contador did not go into the red at the Dauphiné.

Well no, to me its certainly not surprising that he's still a level below Froome and Porte. He's obviously improved from the Dauphine, but still not enough to be on the level of the latest big three I think.