Teams & Riders Alberto Contador Discussion Thread

[Sciocco]

Re:

Oh man, I just realized that contador will retire in 10 days. Huh... cycling will not be the same

It *** sucks.

 

[GraftPunk]

Let him go down as the wolf, not the lamb; he doesn't owe us anything at this point.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Do you think, he is planning something?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYc99lYFBTa/

 

[Climber123]

Do you think, he is planning something?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYc99lYFBTa/

I would be surprised if he wasn't. It's an ideal stage for his trickery

 

[Matteo.]

why not. The other day he attacked 40km from the finish line. A 25km attack is easier

 

[red zone]

Re:

Let him go down as the wolf, not the lamb; he doesn't owe us anything at this point.

and not surprisingly he will stay true to himself and be a wolf til the end

I`m still holding out hope he changes his mind and comes back to do the Giro & Vuelta next year . I`m not ready for him to retire and believe he still has at least one more competitive season in him .

 

[portugal11]

GRANDE!! But he could have gained more 20 seconds if theuns wasn't so useless

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

GRANDE!! But he could have gained more 20 seconds if theuns wasn't so useless

He was in the break all day! :lol:

 

[PremierAndrew]

How anyone can complain about Theuns today is beyond me

He potentially sacrificed a stage win there

 

[LaFlorecita]

Berto! Keeping everyone on the edge of their seats!
A really big effort for 21s, hopefully it doesn't hurt him this weekend...
Theuns was amazing, without him Berto would easily have been caught. It's a shame Nico couldn't hang on.
Great great ride by our champion

 

[Ariane]

Alberto - THE GREAT ONE!

 

[portugal11]

He was dropped by contador on a flat section. He didn't go hard in the final climb and still was able to drop

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

How anyone can complain about Theuns today is beyond me

He potentially sacrificed a stage win there

No he didn't, he got dropped really early, the 2nd group lost big time to Marczynski, Theuns would have lost at least double.
They wouldn't have made Theuns wait if he was in with a chance for the stage.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

He was dropped by contador on a flat section. He didn't go hard in the final climb and still was able to drop

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

He was dropped by contador on a flat section. He didn't go hard in the final climb and still was able to drop

He pushed really hard between the summit and 3km to go. You're unfair to him.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

How anyone can complain about Theuns today is beyond me

He potentially sacrificed a stage win there

No he didn't, he got dropped really early, the 2nd group lost big time to Marczynski, Theuns would have lost at least double.
They wouldn't have made Theuns wait if he was in with a chance for the stage.

I know this was far far harder than anything in Eneco but no way Theuns drops that early unless he's having to wait for a team leader behind. Okay, maybe he told the team he wasn't on a good day, but still, he could have caught up on the downhill if nothing else, and a stage win was definitely on the cards

 

[Brullnux]

Within a minute of the podium, which is more of a symbolic boost than anything but still

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I know this was far far harder than anything in Eneco but no way Theuns drops that early unless he's having to wait for a team leader behind. Okay, maybe he told the team he wasn't on a good day, but still, he could have caught up on the downhill if nothing else, and a stage win was definitely on the cards

He dropped together with most of the big guys (except for Rojas, all of them actually), so I don't think he dropped deliberately.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

How anyone can complain about Theuns today is beyond me

He potentially sacrificed a stage win there

No he didn't, he got dropped really early, the 2nd group lost big time to Marczynski, Theuns would have lost at least double.
They wouldn't have made Theuns wait if he was in with a chance for the stage.

I know this was far far harder than anything in Eneco but no way Theuns drops that early unless he's having to wait for a team leader behind. Okay, maybe he told the team he wasn't on a good day, but still, he could have caught up on the downhill if nothing else, and a stage win was definitely on the cards

Even if he'd been allowed to ride for himself, odds are that he would at best have been able to follow the chase group with Rojas etc. Considering that this group was no where close to catching Marczynski, I'd say he did not miss out on the stage win today.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

He was dropped by contador on a flat section. He didn't go hard in the final climb and still was able to drop

He pushed really hard between the summit and 3km to go. You're unfair to him.

That was the descent. Pulling when you go downhill is not that hard. Theuns is a endurance rider, his favourite races are the cobbled classics so his performance was really weak

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

How anyone can complain about Theuns today is beyond me

He potentially sacrificed a stage win there

No he didn't, he got dropped really early, the 2nd group lost big time to Marczynski, Theuns would have lost at least double.
They wouldn't have made Theuns wait if he was in with a chance for the stage.

I know this was far far harder than anything in Eneco but no way Theuns drops that early unless he's having to wait for a team leader behind. Okay, maybe he told the team he wasn't on a good day, but still, he could have caught up on the downhill if nothing else, and a stage win was definitely on the cards

Even if he'd been allowed to ride for himself, odds are that he would at best have been able to follow the chase group with Rojas etc. Considering that this group was no where close to catching Marczynski, I'd say he did not miss out on the stage win today.

Realistically, yeah, he wouldn't have won today but my point is Trek didn't know that at the time.

 

[benzwire]

Contador is 1 minute to 3rd place Chaves, 1m14s to 2nd place Nibali (EDIT: 2m14s to Nibali). The podium is definitely in reach.
I'm glad he took the chance today to gain some time, although it was not a lot gained. He really animated the stage and it was great to see him ride in alone with the roar of the fans. The Vuelta always seems to bring out the best in Contador and the race seems to be quite unpredictable. This will be a fun week coming up!

 

[Melo]

Contador is 1 minute to 3rd place Chaves, 1m14s to 2nd place Nibali. The podium is definitely in reach.
I'm glad he took the chance today to gain some time, although it was not a lot gained. He really animated the stage and it was great to see him ride in alone with the roar of the fans. The Vuelta always seems to bring out the best in Contador and the race seems to be quite unpredictable. This will be a fun week coming up!

2m14 to Nibali. But yeah, really impressed with Alberto, hope he's gonna maintain his form through 3rd week.

 

[Carols]

Grande Alberto! It was a lot of work for 20" and 40". Still it could make the difference between standing on the podium or not. But the best thing is he is still ready, willing and able to attack . Now he needs to recover for the big weekend ahead!

Big thanks to Theuns. He may have folded at the end but without his effort Alberto would have been caught. So atta boy to Theuns.

 

[Electress]

Not bad time to gain on a stage like today plus Berto being true to form and never saying die. Got to be happy about that. Theuns doesn't deserve the abuse, not that he looked like he would ever get a stage win - he did his pulls where needed and Berto TT'd to the end.

I do wish the other teams would take a leaf out and just mix it up more. When you try, there is at least the opportunity for things to happen. And racing becomes so much more interesting to watch.