• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

All three grand tours.

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar

Could Contador win the Giro, Tour and Vuelta in one season?

  • He simply cannot do it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
Caruut

Caruut

Oct 30, 2011
2,639
0
0
Could Contador win all three grand tours in one season?

I was scanning through the PCM achievements list and one caught my eye "King of the World: Win all three grand tours in one season". I began to assemble a custom team to attempt to pull this off, and it got me thinking: could he actually do it?

While he disappointed trying to do the Giro/Tour last year, he had an injury and a pretty poor team for a rider of his standard. Obviously this year is off the cards but next year looks to be a very climb heavy Tour. The only man who can match him in the mountains is Schleck, but one would expect him to lose time in the TTs. By that time, Evans will be over the hill, and no-one has really appeared in the same class as those two.

With a good team able to take the pressure off him, he might not have to do so much of his work himself, reducing the fatigue going from race to race. If the Vuelta field is (somehow) as weak as in 2011, even an exhausted Contador should blow them apart.

Obviously securing a team that good would hinge a lot on whether the UCI's "no points for returning riders" rule is enforceable.

So, can he do it? How likely is it?
 
Caruut

Caruut

Oct 30, 2011
2,639
0
0
The Hitch said:
No.

For starters he won't try.

I'd say its about as likely as Frank Schleck winning this years Tour.
Click to expand...

How do you know he won't try? He would become one of the true legends of the sport.
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
17,455
5
0
Contador will rape everyone in August. He'll also destroy Cancellara and Tony Martin in the time trial in September. Watch out!
 
The Hitch

The Hitch

Jun 14, 2010
34,930
60
22,580
Caruut said:
How do you know he won't try? He would become one of the true legends of the sport.
Click to expand...

He doesn't do the Vuelta even when he has just the Tour in his legs. No way is he going to try a Vuelta after a Tour and a Giro in his legs.

And he doesn't even have a Giro Tour or Tour Vuelta double yet. Yes he got very unlucky in the 2011 Tour but if he hadn't been - hadn't lost minutes in the first weekend, hadn't been thrown of his bike by Karpets, hadn't hurt his knee, there would be no guarantee that he would have won the race.

Now try doing the Vuelta after that. How is he even supposed to prepare?

Nevermind that many people couldn't get over the Giro despite skipping the tour.

But most importantly Contador is someone who when he goes to a race, goes to perform. He has done 4 gts in 3 years and he has been ready for all of them. And he has gone all out in all of them. Its not like him to save up in 1 gt to prepare for the next. 3 gts in 1 year, I think he knows even he doesn't have the legs for it.


El Pistolero said:
Contador will rape everyone in August. He'll also destroy Cancellara and Tony Martin in the time trial in September. Watch out!
Click to expand...
Relevance to thread?
 
Caruut

Caruut

Oct 30, 2011
2,639
0
0
The Hitch said:
He doesn't do the Vuelta even when he has just the Tour in his legs. No way is he going to try a Vuelta after a Tour and a Giro in his legs.

And he doesn't even have a Giro Tour or Tour Vuelta double yet. Yes he got very unlucky in the 2011 Tour but if he hadn't been - hadn't lost minutes in the first weekend, hadn't been thrown of his bike by Karpets, hadn't hurt his knee, there would be no guarantee that he would have won the race.

Now try doing the Vuelta after that. How is he even supposed to prepare?

Nevermind that many people couldn't get over the Giro despite skipping the tour.



Relevance to thread?
Click to expand...

Surely if he did the Giro-Tour double though, he would at least go along for the ride on the Vuelta to see what he could do?

If he had a super-team, then the Giro would have put less into his legs, and Zomengan's no longer organising the Giro, which should make that easier.
 
happychappy

happychappy

Apr 19, 2010
1,112
0
0
I hope he doesn't try it next year - I want him to utterly and completely destroy Little Andrew in July. I don't just want Contador to win, I want his victory to be so crushing that there will be so many Andrew Tears flowing that people are going to need boats instead of bikes.
 
Caruut

Caruut

Oct 30, 2011
2,639
0
0
gooner said:
Not a hope.

He could win a Tour-Giro double but the Giro would have to be a lot easier then last years one. I think he is the only one in the peloton capable of winning 2 Tours in the same year though.

In 2013 I think he will concentrate solely on the Tour and if he wins it, I think he will go all out for the Tour-Giro double in 2014 provided the Giro isnt as brutal as in the last couple of years. I say this is a big ambition of Contador before he retires to win both in the same year.
Click to expand...

If he does do a Giro-Tour in the next couple of years (which I think he could), then why would he not at least try the Vuelta? If they take another strong GT rider (which he would need as super-dom anyway), the worst case scenario is that he drops out and says "nope, it's too much", and they work for the other guy.
 
goggalor

goggalor

Oct 16, 2009
3,864
0
0
I won't say it can't be done, but I think Contador showed last year that he can't do it. He also said he'd never ride the giro again, so it's a pointless discussion really.

The Tour-Vuelta double is very possible though.
 
Caruut

Caruut

Oct 30, 2011
2,639
0
0
The Hitch said:
Im interested to see how you explain this.
Click to expand...

I guess if he wins (when he wins?) the Vuelta this year and then does the Giro-Tour in 2013, he would hold all 3 at once, but that's not what I meant.
 
The Hitch

The Hitch

Jun 14, 2010
34,930
60
22,580
Caruut said:
Surely if he did the Giro-Tour double though, he would at least go along for the ride on the Vuelta to see what he could do?

If he had a super-team, then the Giro would have put less into his legs, and Zomengan's no longer organising the Giro, which should make that easier.
Click to expand...

The problem is that its not as simple as just doing the Vuelta.

This is a brutal sport. I bet after the Giro he was crying every day about how much pain he was in and wondering how he will get in shape for the Tour.

After the Tour he will have absolutely nothing left. He will know straight away that doing another gt 3 weeks later is pointless.
 
LaFlorecita

LaFlorecita

May 15, 2011
45,171
617
24,680
happychappy said:
I hope he doesn't try it next year - I want him to utterly and completely destroy Little Andrew in July. I don't just want Contador to win, I want his victory to be so crushing that there will be so many Andrew Tears flowing that people are going to need boats instead of bikes.
Click to expand...

You are not alone.
 
Havetts

Havetts

Jan 27, 2011
3,399
0
0
LaFlorecita said:
How did you know it was me?

Also, now I want to know who that person is. :p

Edit: Minessa from Kazakhstan?
Click to expand...

To be fair, your twitter account has Fleur as a name and combining it with your twitter username it is not hard to guess its you :)
 
will10

will10

Dec 27, 2010
6,674
1
0
Merckx could've. Even Hinault could've. In modern cycling it's as good as impossible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom