Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[benzwire]

Re:

I've seen it happen to many times...... Cycling is a Cruel sport and it never ends nicely for the very best who once soared away from the rest. Always a Legend!

Hinault did it right. Many other just don't know when to back away. I guess it's that super competitive mentality. Champions can be their own worst enemy. Oh well, it's their choice.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

I've seen it happen to many times...... Cycling is a Cruel sport and it never ends nicely for the very best who once soared away from the rest. Always a Legend!

Hinault did it right. Many other just don't know when to back away. I guess it's that super competitive mentality. Champions can be their own worst enemy. Oh well, it's their choice.

Again, there's no single way to do it right. Bugno kept riding well past his prime and earned a very different kind of respect for that, which came to the fore when he won a stage of the 1998 Vuelta from a breakaway and everybody was like "damn Bugno is class, always was, always will be".

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

He might even learn to have fun on the bike again that way.

Wow, big assumption there

Just looks to me like he's not enjoying his racing much. Like he's putting too much pressure on himself to be the rider he used to be, rather than the rider he is right now. A change of focus and goals could be good for motivation and give him a chance to ride with little expectations.

Going for the Tour again next year just looks like masochism on his part.

Well he never planned to go for the Tour next year

I think he enjoys racing a lot, he's even given that as the reason for continuing this year and also next year.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

I've seen it happen to many times...... Cycling is a Cruel sport and it never ends nicely for the very best who once soared away from the rest. Always a Legend!

Hinault did it right. Many other just don't know when to back away. I guess it's that super competitive mentality. Champions can be their own worst enemy. Oh well, it's their choice.

LeMond forced his hand!

 

[Jelantik]

I really want to hear what Contador will say about today. I do hope that he's not talking about the crash affected him. Even if it is, everyone will say, yeah another excuse. (Martin crashed too).

 

[Tonton]

I was afraid that it would happen...he doesn't have it anymore. Bertie may no even crack the top-5. Sad, for sure.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I was afraid that it would happen...he doesn't have it anymore. Bertie may no even crack the top-5. Sad, for sure.

No ***

 

[Carols]

Re:

I really want to hear what Contador will say about today. I do hope that he's not talking about the crash affected him. Even if it is, everyone will say, yeah another excuse. (Martin crashed too).

I thought he said 'no legs'. It is in a post above. He hasn't had legs this entire week

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

I've seen it happen to many times...... Cycling is a Cruel sport and it never ends nicely for the very best who once soared away from the rest. Always a Legend!

Hinault did it right. Many other just don't know when to back away. I guess it's that super competitive mentality. Champions can be their own worst enemy. Oh well, it's their choice.

Champions are not like ordinary people thats for sure. It wouldnt be Contador if he wasnt defiant to his own decline. Its is one thing to not going out in a blaze of glory but accept that he is perhaps past it but still finding comfort doing what he loves and hopefully racking up some wins here and there. But Ive got the nauseating feeling we're looking at a man who refuses to accept he's not what he used to be and that makes me somewhat sad.

Now, with contracts negotiating for 2018 and beyond and the hype this year with "2014 year numbers" there's just nothing stopping this man. Make no mistake, im always enjoying when he rides, but i do not want another year when he puts all eggs in the Tour basket and we'll have another this again. That would make me annoyed.

 

[benzwire]

Re: Re:

I've seen it happen to many times...... Cycling is a Cruel sport and it never ends nicely for the very best who once soared away from the rest. Always a Legend!

Hinault did it right. Many other just don't know when to back away. I guess it's that super competitive mentality. Champions can be their own worst enemy. Oh well, it's their choice.

Champions are not like ordinary people thats for sure. It wouldnt be Contador if he wasnt defiant to his own decline. Its is one thing to not going out in a blaze of glory but accept that he is perhaps past it but still finding comfort doing what he loves and hopefully racking up some wins here and there. But Ive got the nauseating feeling we're looking at a man who refuses to accept he's not what he used to be and that makes me somewhat sad.

Now, with contracts negotiating for 2018 and beyond and the hype this year with "2014 year numbers" there's just nothing stopping this man. Make no mistake, im always enjoying when he rides, but i do not want another year when he puts all eggs in the Tour basket and we'll have another this again. That would make me annoyed.

I agree. I don't want him to ride the Tour de France again. It's my least favorite GT anyway.

 

[hfer07]

Well, at least the reality is now clear as the sunny days in Summer time......

Alberto did give us so many great times, so many legendary chapters in cycling, but it is without a doubt as today that he's no longer a Grand Tour contender at all. I don't quite know what is the purpose of his apparent new contract extension other than banking some money and perhaps set a farewell caravan to the World of cycling....

Trek should unleash Pantano for stage win hunting

 

[arvc40]

Well, at least the reality is now clear as the sunny days in Summer time......

Alberto did give us so many great times, so many legendary chapters in cycling, but it is without a doubt as today that he's no longer a Grand Tour contender at all. I don't quite know what is the purpose of his apparent new contract extension other than banking some money and perhaps set a farewell caravan to the World of cycling....

Trek should unleash Pantano for stage win hunting

Certainly making a *** load of money !

 

[Chomsky]

Great day for Contador. He has a real chance to finish within 10 minutes of Froome and if people keep crashing a real shot at a top 10 finish. Not to mention he finished 8th on stage 5 only one place short of his best Tour Mountain stage finish since 2009. All in all there is a lot to be optimistic about. Think about it Izgairre, Valverde, Thomas and Porte. 4 riders he had no chance of beating. He has already improved 4 spots. He is on pace for one of his best Tours. All he needs is another 180 riders to abandon. He has to be quite excited as do all of his fans.

I doubt anyone expected such great results. I almost wish there was a mountain stage everyday to see more great Contador results like today.

 

[jilbiker]

Re:

One theory I've been thinking about is that maybe AC knew he had no real chance of winning, even before signing with Trek, but after all the pain cycling has brought him (and it has; he has spoken bitterly about pro cycling before), he wanted to milk it for what its worth. A big f u to pro cycling.
Although, i admit, that would be very out of character. Just a thought.

Wow...that thought actually crossed my mind yesterday, but I said that would sound so bizarre that it would be shouted down. Interesting someone also had the same thought. My thoughts were that AC is still ticked off about the whole suspension thing, thinks it was most unfair and that someone's got to pay for that. Stick it to the systems! UCI, sponsors et all. Give the whole fairy tale about form and collect a nice paycheck or a tax while having casual ride...

I honesty could not believe Trek was offering another year!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Well, at least the reality is now clear as the sunny days in Summer time......

Alberto did give us so many great times, so many legendary chapters in cycling, but it is without a doubt as today that he's no longer a Grand Tour contender at all. I don't quite know what is the purpose of his apparent new contract extension other than banking some money and perhaps set a farewell caravan to the World of cycling....

Trek should unleash Pantano for stage win hunting

He still enjoys racing & wants to say goodbye to the Italian fans

 

[bob.a.feet]

I guess we can, for the most part, agree on what we saw today - the end of an era. But it was exactly that - an era. One man managed to be competitive in almost every race he rode over a 10 year period. 10 years! Most riders would have retired by then. Not Contador. In fact he managed to win 7 GTS (9 if you want) in the modern world of cycling, an incredible feat to say the least. Only Merckx, Hinault, and Anquetil managed more. Contador will be remembered as one of the greats. We will remember him smoke the field with ease on Verbier and Etna. But we will also remember when he did not win with ease and it was quite surprising that he won at all. And for good reasons or bad, we will also remember this Tour because it shows us that even the greats decline. But his career is not over. The race is still on.

 

[Matteo.]

Well, at least the reality is now clear as the sunny days in Summer time......

Alberto did give us so many great times, so many legendary chapters in cycling, but it is without a doubt as today that he's no longer a Grand Tour contender at all. I don't quite know what is the purpose of his apparent new contract extension other than banking some money and perhaps set a farewell caravan to the World of cycling....

Trek should unleash Pantano for stage win hunting

He still enjoys racing & wants to say goodbye to the Italian fans

And italian fans are happy and grateful to greet one last time. Always.

 

[hfer07]

Well, at least the reality is now clear as the sunny days in Summer time......

Alberto did give us so many great times, so many legendary chapters in cycling, but it is without a doubt as today that he's no longer a Grand Tour contender at all. I don't quite know what is the purpose of his apparent new contract extension other than banking some money and perhaps set a farewell caravan to the World of cycling....

Trek should unleash Pantano for stage win hunting

He still enjoys racing & wants to say goodbye to the Italian fans

fair enough

 

[Robert5091]

I think management will speak to Bertie tomorrow ...

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I think management will speak to Bertie tomorrow ...

I'd hope so - wouldn't be nice of them to ignore him

 

[DNP-Old]

Crash or no crash, he just doesn't have it anymore. No shame in that. His legacy has already been set in stone, nothing can change that. I just hope he continues to give us entertainment. What worried me the past two months or so is that we never, not once, saw his trademark dancing style on the bike. You can pretty much tell Contador is good if he's doing this. He didn't do it.

He'll get some recovery the next three days and I sincerely hope he is ready to go crazy on Port de Bales or the stage to Foix. Ride or die.

 

[arvc40]

Be interesting to see what Contador makes of the remainder of the race. He need not feel bad, Froome is an incredible athlete. Also be interesting how Contador approaches Tour of Spain. Froome no doubt planning to crush all there too. Reality is that Contador has performed terribly in Tour since 2011.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I'm not sure he'll go to the Vuelta. If he wants to target the Giro next year, it's probably not the best choice.

 

[GuyIncognito]

All credit to him, no excuses, just straight to the point.

Hopefully he can win a couple stages.

 

[Red Rick]

What he should do, totally depends on why he was so far off today.

For reference, of the guys that beat Contador to the top of PdBF, only Yates wasn't in the first group over the MdC.