Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Climber123]

I think something very determined will happen tomorrow.

 

[kingjr]

Chris Froome was just asked by danish TV who he expected to attack tomorrow. He answered that guys who have lost time in GC will not be allowed back in the race, and that they will chase after them if they go up the road. Must be a reference to Alberto or Quintana perhaps.

Honestly, no matter how bad Contador looks atm, it would be foolish to give him even a whiff of a shot at getting back into the game, if it can be avoided.

 

[Climber123]

Chris Froome was just asked by danish TV who he expected to attack tomorrow. He answered that guys who have lost time in GC will not be allowed back in the race, and that they will chase after them if they go up the road. Must be a reference to Alberto or Quintana perhaps.

Honestly, no matter how bad Contador looks atm, it would be foolish to give him even a whiff of a shot at getting back into the game, if it can be avoided.

He should try tomorrow because everyone is really expecting an ambush on stage 13 and not tomorrow.

 

[rune1107]

He should attack on Port de Bales if the legs feel good, or otherwise try to hang on the best he can. I either hope he finds some form and does a great ambush style ride tomorrow or friday, or that he looses a load of time, and then can focus on winning stages in the Alpes.

 

[Jelantik]

Chris Froome was just asked by danish TV who he expected to attack tomorrow. He answered that guys who have lost time in GC will not be allowed back in the race, and that they will chase after them if they go up the road. Must be a reference to Alberto or Quintana perhaps.

Honestly, no matter how bad Contador looks atm, it would be foolish to give him even a whiff of a shot at getting back into the game, if it can be avoided.

Yeah, but first he needs to be healthy to do that. At the moment, he crashed again on a relative flat stage. (don't know what's up with him and crashing in TDF). Not sure if he can even muster to follow the favorites tomorrow. From the look of it, it's not really a probability. I think Froome was referring to Quitana, Martin and everyone. If Contador can recover mentally and physically on the 3rd week, yeah maybe.

 

[Jelantik]

Alberto Contador: This Tour is pushing me to the limit, even psychologically
Contador admits that things aren't going well in the race and today's crashes put an end to the idea of attacking in the Pyrenees. "This didn't help, now we will have to wait to the Alps. But my motivation is always high, particularly because of all the people that show me their support."

http://www.cyclingpub.com/article/2...ub+(CyclingPub.com+-+The+latest+cycling+news)

 

[Carols]

Alberto Contador: This Tour is pushing me to the limit, even psychologically
Contador admits that things aren't going well in the race and today's crashes put an end to the idea of attacking in the Pyrenees. "This didn't help, now we will have to wait to the Alps. But my motivation is always high, particularly because of all the people that show me their support."

http://www.cyclingpub.com/article/2...ub+(CyclingPub.com+-+The+latest+cycling+news)

I'm really hoping this is an attempt to lull them, and that if he has legs he will attack in the Pyrenees . But my expectations are low. I will be happy if he manages to finish with the GC leaders.

 

[Climber123]

Today looked minor but must be really demoralising. I hope it lit a fire in him.

 

[hazaran]

Re:

It's a bit bizarre how often he crashes at the Tour. Crashes riding in the peloton, crashes down hills. Even tangled with Quintana riding uphill the other day and crashed. It sounded like Quintana reacted in an annoyed manner so he must have thought whatever happened was Contador's fault? Maybe his anticipation and/or reactions just aren't sharp enough.

He is just at the upper limit going up the smallest berg with the GC favorites and so his concentration slips immediately. Doesn't help he is constantly out of the saddle and swerving a metre side to side.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Chris Froome was just asked by danish TV who he expected to attack tomorrow. He answered that guys who have lost time in GC will not be allowed back in the race, and that they will chase after them if they go up the road. Must be a reference to Alberto or Quintana perhaps.

Thats really normal tactics, isn't it? I mean, thats how they have ridden all of this race even when it come to relative no-names threatening the yellow jersey. Of course they aren't letting great riders like Quintana and Contador just go up the road because they are a little down. With that team, its the ONLY right thing to do... control the race, dont let anyone get ideas and ride about as hard as you your domestiques can, making the opponents doubt if its even worth it to attack.

And this suck. I was sure Alberto was gonna light it up on one of the stages, probably to Foix, now I don't even know if its worth going to the local bar to watch and spend 10 Euros not to feel like a jerk in the corner.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Chris Froome was just asked by danish TV who he expected to attack tomorrow. He answered that guys who have lost time in GC will not be allowed back in the race, and that they will chase after them if they go up the road. Must be a reference to Alberto or Quintana perhaps.

Thats really normal tactics, isn't it? I mean, thats how they have ridden all of this race even when it come to relative no-names threatening the yellow jersey. Of course they aren't letting great riders like Quintana and Contador just go up the road because they are a little down. With that team, its the ONLY right thing to do... control the race, dont let anyone get ideas and ride about as hard as you your domestiques can, making the opponents doubt if its even worth it to attack.

And this suck. I was sure Alberto was gonna light it up on one of the stages, probably to Foix, now I don't even know if its worth going to the local bar to watch and spend 10 Euros not to feel like a jerk in the corner.

Yeah I guess I foolishly hoped he'd be allowed just a little bit of room to maybe take a stage somewhere. Should have known better.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Considering the way Sky handled the stage to Chambery and especially to Station des Rousses, I don't think anyone should expect any gifts from Sky really. They want to show authority and kill the race, kill the hopes and kill the ideas.

Edit: As they should do with the riders they have available. Kwito is riding incredibly well, strongest rider in the race so far.

 

[LaFlorecita]

“First he wants to finish here and then think about the future,” coach and Trek-Segafredo sport director Steven De Jongh told VeloNews.

“I’m not going to give any advice. If he wants to continue, he continues. If he really enjoys it and can still deliver those numbers, he can continue.

“If he says, ‘Steven, I can’t do it anymore and it’s too much stress,’ then fair enough. He doesn’t have to show anything to anybody. If that’s when he wants to stop, he stops.

“He’s not going to continue going to grand tours just for stages. He’d just quit because it takes so much from his personal life to be at that level and when he’s not going for the big thing, that doesn’t fit him.”


Read more at http://www.velonews.com/2017/07/tour-de-france/contador-will-quit-if-he-cant-challenge-for-grand-tour-gc_443573#WtveegslXfhrfjTl.99

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Considering the way Sky handled the stage to Chambery and especially to Station des Rousses, I don't think anyone should expect any gifts from Sky really. They want to show authority and kill the race, kill the hopes and kill the ideas.

Edit: As they should do with the riders they have available. Kwito is riding incredibly well, strongest rider in the race so far.

A strong Contador and attacking minded Quintana could break Sky train into pieces on Port de Bales, believe me.

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

Considering the way Sky handled the stage to Chambery and especially to Station des Rousses, I don't think anyone should expect any gifts from Sky really. They want to show authority and kill the race, kill the hopes and kill the ideas.

Edit: As they should do with the riders they have available. Kwito is riding incredibly well, strongest rider in the race so far.

A strong Contador and attacking minded Quintana could break Sky train into pieces on Port de Bales, believe me.

Lol

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

I already thought he was broken mentally after P-N 2017 (in the interview after the final stage of the P-N he was close to tears) where he attacked with 60km out and lost with 2 seconds. He definitely had the hunger in PN but after losing with 2 seconds he may have lost it.

He was definitely a little emotional after PN but I don't think he gets broken very easily. Still all those near losses and now such a **** Tour, it has to gnaw at him. He needs to clear his mind and start again with new goals so it may be better to completely forget about GC, I think he'd quite enjoy being a stage hunter

He needs to forget about TDF GC indeed, and I also think that he won't be good in Giro and Vuelta next year since he is getting older and declining(around top-5 or between 5-10 depending on the field) but I still think he may win some one-week races next year(e.g. Suisse, or P-N but I don't think he will be good enough to win it next year since he is declining)

 

[Melo]

Since Alberto is mentally broken right now, it can go two ways, either he's gonna completely crack and not give a crap anymore or attack like an absolute mad man tomorrow on Port de Bales, I hope it's gonna be the latter. Even if he'll not achieve anything, I just want to see him try at least once this Tour.

 

[Red Rick]

I would love to see him ride a GT to his abilities for the first time in years, to get a somewhat reliable idea of his decline. I get the feeling he's been training a lot differently, relying too much on high intensity training in the early season on a too shallow base. Only reason I can delude myself with, apart from the never-failing argument that crashing many times in fewer days can't be beneficial to your performance.

 

[Red Rick]

Another point to make. People sometimes ask why Contador didn't just repeat his 2014 prep. But that stuff is very hard. Other riders go years without getting great from. Uran is an example. His climbing has been off for ages before coming back and reaching a very good level again.

 

[arvc40]

Re:

Another point to make. People sometimes ask why Contador didn't just repeat his 2014 prep. But that stuff is very hard. Other riders go years without getting great from. Uran is an example. His climbing has been off for ages before coming back and reaching a very good level again.

Mmmmm... unfortunately for Contador Froome gets his form together for every target. You don't rise to the level of your expectations, you fall to the level of your training. On off form is not a good look for a rider of Contadors calibrate, so called. Probably best not to get to excited over Uran, good chance he will implode

 

[arvc40]

Re: Re:

Another point to make. People sometimes ask why Contador didn't just repeat his 2014 prep. But that stuff is very hard. Other riders go years without getting great from. Uran is an example. His climbing has been off for ages before coming back and reaching a very good level again.

Mmmmm... unfortunately for Contador Froome gets his form together for every target. You don't rise to the level of your expectations, you fall to the level of your training. On off form is not a good look for a rider of Contadors calibrate, so called. Probably best not to get to excited over Uran, good chance he will implode

Too risky to replicate 2014

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Considering the way Sky handled the stage to Chambery and especially to Station des Rousses, I don't think anyone should expect any gifts from Sky really. They want to show authority and kill the race, kill the hopes and kill the ideas.

Edit: As they should do with the riders they have available. Kwito is riding incredibly well, strongest rider in the race so far.

A strong Contador and attacking minded Quintana could break Sky train into pieces on Port de Bales, believe me.

Problem is Contador isn't strong and he is injured and Quintana seems to be just hanging on.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

Considering the way Sky handled the stage to Chambery and especially to Station des Rousses, I don't think anyone should expect any gifts from Sky really. They want to show authority and kill the race, kill the hopes and kill the ideas.

Edit: As they should do with the riders they have available. Kwito is riding incredibly well, strongest rider in the race so far.

A strong Contador and attacking minded Quintana could break Sky train into pieces on Port de Bales, believe me.

Problem is Contador isn't strong and he is injured and Quintana seems to be just hanging on.

Quintana is done. With another ITT coming in, where he'll lose valuable time, even the mythical "Quintana's very strong in the last week, whereas Froome usually fades" will be useless.

I can only see Bardet teaming up with both Aru and Martin to try to disrupt the Sky train... which means Fuglsang has to be sacrificed (or Aru, depending on who's in better form). Add Uran to the bunch if he keeps his relative form.

 

[cantpedal]

Re: Re:

Considering the way Sky handled the stage to Chambery and especially to Station des Rousses, I don't think anyone should expect any gifts from Sky really. They want to show authority and kill the race, kill the hopes and kill the ideas.

Edit: As they should do with the riders they have available. Kwito is riding incredibly well, strongest rider in the race so far.

A strong Contador and attacking minded Quintana could break Sky train into pieces on Port de Bales, believe me.

I'm not sure either of those guys is in the race. We haven't seen them yet.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

Considering the way Sky handled the stage to Chambery and especially to Station des Rousses, I don't think anyone should expect any gifts from Sky really. They want to show authority and kill the race, kill the hopes and kill the ideas.

Edit: As they should do with the riders they have available. Kwito is riding incredibly well, strongest rider in the race so far.

A strong Contador and attacking minded Quintana could break Sky train into pieces on Port de Bales, believe me.

Problem is Contador isn't strong and he is injured and Quintana seems to be just hanging on.

Quintana is done. With another ITT coming in, where he'll lose valuable time, even the mythical "Quintana's very strong in the last week, whereas Froome usually fades" will be useless.

I can only see Bardet teaming up with both Aru and Martin to try to disrupt the Sky train... which means Fuglsang has to be sacrificed (or Aru, depending on who's in better form). Add Uran to the bunch if he keeps his relative form.

This.

Quintana is fried...Giro-Tour anyone?