Contador blasts LA

[Azdak6]

Man, the comments are coming fast and furious.

I am always wary about being too literal with public comments made by most pro cyclists. It seems to be part of the culture, esp w/the Europeans, to be very mannered in speaking to the press. Add a translation on to that, and I would not parse the words too closely.

 

[Hugh Januss]

That's a very different translation - and a much less controversial or provocative comment - than the original on here. I found the original kind of obnoxious, but that one sounds pretty mellow and for the most part complimentary.

Even the first one was hardly what I would call "fighting words". I'm conflicted, part of me wants him to just lay into LA while at the same time I admire his restraint!

 

[cody_57]

Many times LA made 'no comment' when asked specifically about an obvious situation between the two.

"I'll bite my tongue on that one" is more of a comment than an actual comment would be

 

[chambers]

I have no idea, but it made zero sense at the time since Contador's mechanical happened on a much more critical stage (I believe stage 17). Seems to me that is why you have Rast and the Kazakh. Kloden was pretty high up in the overall to be pacing Contador back. But as you note, I don't know the team strategy, but it sure looked odd a the time.

Contador's mechanical happened over 100 km from the end of the stage. The pace was not very fast and he was not going to have to put out much extra effort to catch up.

 

[scribe]

There was a time when NO ONE in the peloton would have said anything like this about LA. Says something about LA's current status.

I think it makes AC's status grow even more in the peloton. The guy who finally put the bully down. Even AC's detractors have to admit this guy is tough as nails. Not putting up with ****e from anyone.

He is a soft spoken girlesque that will be hard pressed to inspire a real team effort in the way that Armstrong does, even now.

 

[jamfra67]

cause he's gonna need another career. he just won his last TDF. Messin' with the Boss....too funny. Lance will have more money and more drawing power than any other team entering the tour next year - by a susbstantial amount. He will have 2 goals - 1) Win # 8. 2) Take down AC. I'll guarantee he brings the horses to achieve at least one of those 2 goals. So long Alberto.....

man just wake up from that dream and face reality. LA weakness has been exposed. Pedro Delgado "all the little dwarfs started to beleive in themselves and started to realise that Armstrong is beatable". He is busy Trying to buy off the little dwarfs to be on his side. The problem is that the little dwarfs are aware that he is on his way out and they are eager to make a name for the themselves. It's a hard sell to the little dwarfs to entertain his sinister egoistic plan to use them just to take down AC. Spain is the breeding ground for the mountain goats do you really think that tey will let LA succeed?

 

[Blakeslee]

Contador was put in a difficult position with Armstrong coming out of retirement and rejoining the team, all in all I think Contador handled the situation professionally. He largely avoided getting into a war of words in the media with Armstrong when there was plenty of opportunity to do so, and instead let his riding speak for him and clearly showed he was the stronger rider on the road. I don't see anything wrong with the comments Contador made today and considering the situation he was put in these kinds of comments were to be expected.

 

[Azdak6]

And the Vuelta and the Giro.

As for Armstrong, I stand by my earlier statement. No 38 year old man, who hasn't raced competitively for almost 4 years, with no wins over the course of the season, recovering from a broken collarbone, should be considered for the leadership at the start of the Tour. Especially when you have a healthy Alberto Contador on your squad. It's just a no-brainer.

If events on the road demonstrated that he was superior to Alberto, then that's a different matter. But at no point, on any day, did I ever see that demonstrated. Not once. The fact that Johan entertained the idea was, in my opinion, a mistake and the source of all of this drama.

I still find it hard to believe that Bruyneel ever considered Armstrong a potential winner. I am having trouble believing even Armstrong thought that about himself. Whatever their faults, these are not dumb guys.

I agree w/you 100% that there was not one iota of objective evidence that suggested that Armstrong was capable of winning the Tour. I still wonder what Armstrong saw in his training numbers or field tests that led him to believe he could compete for the MJ. I can understand his initial reaction after the 2008 TdF--I agreed with his assessment--and I can understand him having some initial doubts about AC after Paris-Nice (I don't agree, but I could understand). But in their training and watching AC in the Dauphine, they had to see the talent. Or were they truly in their own little bubble all that time?

 

[saxe_coburg_gotha]

get it outta yea son -you tell him AC
you aint gonna get bullied no more.
you rode lika champ = now you gonna act lika chump - so what
dont forget his serious brain injury he has every right to go off on one.
cyclists are getting softer soon saddlebags and wifes on tour will be the norm - AC just wants to get a scrap going
Bernardo Hinault put him up to it - The Badger lives on..

 

[dgodave]

"I'll bite my tongue on that one" is more of a comment than an actual comment would be

Right. Its like "I will swallow my bile". Or "lets get this done so I can expectorate the venom."
.

 

[Anonymous]

OK. Lance certainly is not used to playing second fiddle BUT, Contador not riding at the front missed the split on stage 3. Stupid move #1. Contador attacked his own team mate (Lance) on the way to Arcalais. There was no other reason to attack into a bloc headwind. Stupid move #2. Stage 17 rolls around and all Contador has to do is defend. He has his two most dangerous rivals marked and Kloeden with him.. 2 on 2. Lance has marked Wiggins who had been dropped. What does the brain surgeon Contador do?? Attacks the Schelck Bros who were riding hard tempo to put as much time into Wiggins and Lance as possible thus blowing up his only team mate with him! HE ISOLATED HIMSELF!!! Major Stupid Move #3. What would have happened to Contador had he crashed or flatted in the last 15k? Say what you want and take whatever shots at Lance BUT, Lance never attacked his own team. Contador did, just ask Horner, Levi, Kloeden and, oh yeah, Boss Bruyneel.

Tactically, Contador is an idiot. My guess is Bruyneel will exploit the lack of tactical sense. Next year should be fun.

 

[Azdak6]

"I'll bite my tongue on that one" is more of a comment than an actual comment would be

+1--I actually think that Armstrong tries to be pretty straightforward w/his comments and says honest things, even if others don't like to hear them.

But that was really annoying and juvenile.

 

[scribe]

OK. Lance certainly is not used to playing second fiddle BUT, Contador not riding at the front missed the split on stage 3. Stupid move #1. Contador attacked his own team mate (Lance) on the way to Arcalais. There was no other reason to attack into a bloc headwind. Stupid move #2. Stage 17 rolls around and all Contador has to do is defend. He has his two most dangerous rivals marked and Kloeden with him.. 2 on 2. Lance has marked Wiggins who had been dropped. What does the brain surgeon Contador do?? Attacks the Schelck Bros who were riding hard tempo to put as much time into Wiggins and Lance as possible thus blowing up his only team mate with him! HE ISOLATED HIMSELF!!! Major Stupid Move #3. What would have happened to Contador had he crashed or flatted in the last 15k? Say what you want and take whatever shots at Lance BUT, Lance never attacked his own team. Contador did, just ask Horner, Levi, Kloeden and, oh yeah, Boss Bruyneel.

Tactically, Contador is an idiot. My guess is Bruyneel will exploit the lack of tactical sense. Next year should be fun.

Be brave. The color you see might be blue. But there are some guys about to quote your post who see it as orange.

 

[Anonymous]

OK. Lance certainly is not used to playing second fiddle BUT, Contador not riding at the front missed the split on stage 3. Stupid move #1. Contador attacked his own team mate (Lance) on the way to Arcalais. There was no other reason to attack into a bloc headwind. Stupid move #2. Stage 17 rolls around and all Contador has to do is defend. He has his two most dangerous rivals marked and Kloeden with him.. 2 on 2. Lance has marked Wiggins who had been dropped. What does the brain surgeon Contador do?? Attacks the Schelck Bros who were riding hard tempo to put as much time into Wiggins and Lance as possible thus blowing up his only team mate with him! HE ISOLATED HIMSELF!!! Major Stupid Move #3. What would have happened to Contador had he crashed or flatted in the last 15k? Say what you want and take whatever shots at Lance BUT, Lance never attacked his own team. Contador did, just ask Horner, Levi, Kloeden and, oh yeah, Boss Bruyneel.

Tactically, Contador is an idiot. My guess is Bruyneel will exploit the lack of tactical sense. Next year should be fun.

Gosh, 3rd place really rubs some people the wrong way...

 

[Carboncrank]

In all honesty, it would be hard to wake up everyday and look at yourself in the mirror if you were LA after that tour. Everyone states that he is a master with the press (and I agree, he is very political (maybe practicing for what seem to be his reasoning for making a comeback) and speaks well in front of the camera). But his actions along with Bruyneel are totally inexplicable. I still can't believe that they publicly complained about a rider attacking to gain time on a climb, albeit Contador...Armstrongs nemesis. But it's a race and to win, you have to be aggressive. It was interesting to hear Armstrong talk throughout the tour starting with the egotistical LA saying we'll see who the team leader is after the prologue...hmmm, 4th (not overall, but in the team!). That seems to me that Mr. Armstrong, welcome to the domestique ranks. Then eventually being back only 2 seconds off of Contador but still thinking the team leader wasn't depicted yet. What is wrong with this guy...does he truly see himself as someone who can only stand on the top step or what? In the Tour of California, he was so shaky on his bike that he actually took his team leader (Levi) out by swerving and taking his front wheel out. You know...even in that race and even after creating the crash, he didn't wait up for Levi to help pace him back. What an ***!

People all the time accuse Lance of things they wouldn't accuse other riders of. There are riders on teams who's job it is to pace riders back up. Makes not sense whatsoever to have your main domestique gas himself doing so when you are going to need him after you've paced back up. They accused him of the same thing on Levi's extremely ill fated flat in the Giro. It's stupid.

His tactics on 7 and 17 were disrespectable to the team and unnecessary. Astana was in complete control of this entire race and all Alberto had to do was collect the trophy in Paris. He was clearly the strongest guy. Stage 15 and his time trials is all he needed. He felt so threatened by the mere presence of Lance that he made unnecessary mistakes that may haunt him if he doesn't treat future teammates better than his old ones.
Lance knew perfectly well after stage 1 that he had no chance of beating Alberto. But tacitly it made sense to make it appear as if it was possible.
Notice how after the missed wind shift Alberto is glued to Lance's wheel on the flats surrounded by Astana. That is how Johan treats the team leader. My guess is that there were 3 other riders at the team dinner that wished they were somewhere where they didn't have to force a smile.

Getting the National Anthem wrong is a disgrace. I wonder who's head that falls on.

 

[richwagmn]

Say what you want and take whatever shots at Lance BUT, Lance never attacked his own team. Contador did, just ask Horner, Levi, Kloeden and, oh yeah, Boss Bruyneel.

Huh? No one on LA's team ever rode for himself. Ever. LA would have sent them packing. Everyone one on LA's team was focused on thing - LA winning the tour. See how that's different from this year?

 

[LaBici]

Huh? No one on LA's team ever rode for himself. Ever. LA would have sent them packing. Everyone one on LA's team was focused on thing - LA winning the tour. See how that's different from this year?

LA attacked his team leader in this the tdf of 2009! Atsana was built around Contador. He was the team leader, but then LA joined and he had his own ideas. Well El Pistolero shot back. He won in the mountains and the TT.

 

[LaBici]

Huh? No one on LA's team ever rode for himself. Ever. LA would have sent them packing. Everyone one on LA's team was focused on thing - LA winning the tour. See how that's different from this year?

I wonder what Landis would say of LA

 

[scribe]

I wonder what Landis would say of LA

Can I get a bump of testo?

 

[LugHugger]

OK. Lance certainly is not used to playing second fiddle BUT, Contador not riding at the front missed the split on stage 3. Stupid move #1. Contador attacked his own team mate (Lance) on the way to Arcalais. There was no other reason to attack into a bloc headwind. Stupid move #2. Stage 17 rolls around and all Contador has to do is defend. He has his two most dangerous rivals marked and Kloeden with him.. 2 on 2. Lance has marked Wiggins who had been dropped. What does the brain surgeon Contador do?? Attacks the Schelck Bros who were riding hard tempo to put as much time into Wiggins and Lance as possible thus blowing up his only team mate with him! HE ISOLATED HIMSELF!!! Major Stupid Move #3. What would have happened to Contador had he crashed or flatted in the last 15k? Say what you want and take whatever shots at Lance BUT, Lance never attacked his own team. Contador did, just ask Horner, Levi, Kloeden and, oh yeah, Boss Bruyneel.

Tactically, Contador is an idiot. My guess is Bruyneel will exploit the lack of tactical sense. Next year should be fun.

OK, reality check here. Contador was not the only GC contender to miss out on the road to La Grand Motte. Both the Schlecks, Wiggins, Leipheimer and Kloden all missed out. Are they all tactically naive? Or was it the Hog not paying enough attention? Or was it Big George insider trading? All of the subsequent moves were effectively Contador saying "FU, I'm the only guy who's going to win this race. If you won't support me, I'll support myself" to the Hog and LA. There are a lot of "What ifs?" that never came into play in your scenario.

Let's face it, you don't need tactics if you know that you can attack on any type of terrain and at least hold off the opposition. You can bet your life though that Contador learned a lot this July. So did the Schlecks and Riis.

 

[Carboncrank]

Huh? No one on LA's team ever rode for himself. Ever. LA would have sent them packing. Everyone one on LA's team was focused on thing - LA winning the tour. See how that's different from this year?

No, I'm sorry. You can't find a time when Lance sprinted past 3, or was it 4 guys controlling the tempo of the front on a climb that close to the top creating chaos behind him for a lousy 20 gain in the first week. I didn't hear any rider asked about it who defended it. It was dumb. I'm convinced now he's not the brightest bulb on the string.

He's an example of why race horses need jockeys.

When asked about the future after stage 20 Lance mentioned briefly that he though Alberto had certain vulerabilites that he of course would not elaborate on. I'm sure this is exactly what he was thinking.

 

[Anonymous]

Huh? No one on LA's team ever rode for himself. Ever. LA would have sent them packing. Everyone one on LA's team was focused on thing - LA winning the tour. See how that's different from this year?

Point taken and I agree with you The circumstances were different this year for sure. The Lance haters are out en masse and all I'm saying is this;

Who was the Horse's ***, Lance or Contador? Who attacked whom? Contador was the strongest without doubt. But in the end did Contador attack Lance & Kloeden & the best interests of Team Astana or not? But not for his insecurities would Astana not have swept the podium? Same guy would have won and everybody knew it. I don't think Contador has many friends on that team right now.

 

[Azdak6]

OK. Lance certainly is not used to playing second fiddle BUT, Contador not riding at the front missed the split on stage 3. Stupid move #1. Contador attacked his own team mate (Lance) on the way to Arcalais. There was no other reason to attack into a bloc headwind. Stupid move #2. Stage 17 rolls around and all Contador has to do is defend. He has his two most dangerous rivals marked and Kloeden with him.. 2 on 2. Lance has marked Wiggins who had been dropped. What does the brain surgeon Contador do?? Attacks the Schelck Bros who were riding hard tempo to put as much time into Wiggins and Lance as possible thus blowing up his only team mate with him! HE ISOLATED HIMSELF!!! Major Stupid Move #3. What would have happened to Contador had he crashed or flatted in the last 15k? Say what you want and take whatever shots at Lance BUT, Lance never attacked his own team. Contador did, just ask Horner, Levi, Kloeden and, oh yeah, Boss Bruyneel.

Tactically, Contador is an idiot. My guess is Bruyneel will exploit the lack of tactical sense. Next year should be fun.

Let's say you are 100% correct in your assessment that those were all "mistakes".

BFD.

Contador is 26 years old. He has an attacking style. He is going to make mistakes.

During the Tour, when Armstrong would make a snide comment about Contador, I would remember this:

"...I was insecure and defensive, not totally confident of how strong I was...Fortunately I was surrounded by some protective teammates...They seemed to understand that I had some maturing to do, and if they were exasperated with me, they kept it to themselves, and patiently steered me in the right direction."

Lance Armstrong, It's Not About the Bike

To me, that may be the most damning evidence of all.

I see Contador as being similar to other young superstars--Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, Tiger Woods, and, yes, Armstrong--at the same age. They hadn't fully matured and sometimes relied too much on individual talent rather than strategy.

So, yeah, he'll make mistakes. A good coach or teammate works with the talent and allows him to mature.

 

[LaBici]

"Contador beat Cadel Evans, the first Australian to reach the podium, by 23 seconds and his Discovery Channel team-mate Levi Leipheimer by 31 seconds. ...
The race for the overall title was won in the time trial between Cognac and Angouleme on Saturday, which Leipheimer won, setting the fourth-fastest average speed in race history over the 34 miles when he recorded 1hr 2min 44sec. Leipheimer came to the race as leader of his team but was forced to help Contador when the Spaniard established himself in the mountains.
Lance Armstrong, the seven-times Tour winner and part owner of the Discovery Channel team, arrived on Saturday to follow Contador in the time trial. It was all the inspiration the baby-faced newcomer needed to force his lightweight body through the most important day of his life."
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...to-Contador-victorious-at-Tour-de-France.html

.. and he did it again in front of LA

It's amazing how many on these threads refuse to give Conadator is rightful dues. He won. He is is the new king of the TdF!

 

[scribe]

I don't think Contador has many friends on that team right now.

He's got the Spanish press thinking he was relegated to sharing a bed with Palinho while Armstrong lived it up on a luxury suite. lol