Contador NEVER race Giro again

[maxmartin]

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011...to-return-to-tour-de-france-and-win-it_186156

Good news for Basso and Nibali, LOL
Perhaps will also made giro more interesting to watch, like this year without Contador dominance, GC would be much more intense battale

 

[El Pistolero]

Good news for the Vuelta.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Andy Schleck just crapped his diaper.

 

[No_Balls]

BAD news for the competition. Kinda sad that he says he will never race the Giro again, though. I have somewhat loved the way he tackled the all-around program of his.

Bang!

 

[I Watch Cycling In July]

Interesting. I guess that means that Bert thinks it's too improbably to be worth risking the rest of his career on. Wonder if he will give the Tour/Vuelta double a nudge at some stage. That seems more possible and would be good for the Vuelta.

 

[maxmartin]

I am more worried about Giro, more people focus on tour, Giro will become an italian national race, it is pity Italy has so many beautiful and interesting mountains

 

[No_Balls]

I am more worried about Giro, more people focus on tour, Giro will become an italian national race, it is pity Italy has so many beautiful and interesting mountains

You shall never say never. He might give it a shot in the future. This was probably said with a hunger of revenge. But that means he will not defend his title in May at least.

 

[ManInFull]

You shall never say never. He might give it a shot in the future. This was probably said with a hunger of revenge. But that means he will not defend his title in May at least.

I only hope that we will see him in the 2012 TdF and not have to wait until 2013. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that next month doesn't bring him more bad news.

 

[No_Balls]

I only hope that we will see him in the 2012 TdF and not have to wait until 2013. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that next month doesn't bring him more bad news.

Me too. Although you have a feeling that he will be cleared (the confident talk of "next year", SBS extends their partnership etc.) we must prepare ourselves for the worst.

I cant, right now, after his beautiful Tour, possibly thinking about a year without our gunman in competition.

 

[taiwan]

Another reason Andy should ride the Giro.

Don't you love how quotes sound when they're translated to English?

&#8220]

 

[Polish]

Add Angelo Zomegnan to the long list of people who think Alberto is a jerk.
Boo Boo Bang Bang Boo.

 

[The Hitch]

BAD news for the competition. Kinda sad that he says he will never race the Giro again, though. I have somewhat loved the way he tackled the all-around program of his.

Bang!

This.

I would say though that this is not the first time ive heard Contador say "Jamas" and i personaly dont think he was telling the truth the first time so maybe theres hope yet.

I am more worried about Giro, more people focus on tour, Giro will become an italian national race, it is pity Italy has so many beautiful and interesting mountains

You should take into account that Italians rank 2nd only to Spaniards and far ahead of anyone else as far as countries with best GC contenders goes. In fact if you make a list of top 10 contneders for a random grand tour, about 20% if not more would be italian, which means that having mostly Italians at the Grand tour would still make it quite good.

Also out of 10 active grand tour winners in the peloton 5 are italian 3 are spanish one is Russian and one is Australian just crowned. Ok Garzelli won his a decade ago and 3 of the other 4 italians did it in the Giro but then all of them beat a foreigner to win it.

If anything The Giro is becoming far less an italian national race as in the early 2000s it was Garzelli Falco and Gibo fighting it out every year.

Actually today the Giro seems to be attracting more stars than ever. This year had both the active Tour winners - Contador and Sastre, 2 time Vuelta winner Menchov, UCI reigning world number 1 Joaquim Rodriguez, Giro find John Gadret and proven high mountain specialists Igor Anton and Jose Rujano an amazing gt lineup in its own right, to add to the pantheon of Italians from whome Ivan Basso, Damiano Cunego (Tour) and Ricardo Ricco were the only names lacking.

In previous years Evans, Sastre, Vinokourov 2010, Sastre Menchov, Leipheimer 2009 and Contador Menchov 2008 are examples of top grand tour foreign riders (only LL with 2 podiums is not a Grand Tour winner, Cali jokes aside) who have not just taken part but actively targeted the Giro.

Finally i would point out that this year 8 out of the top 10 finishers were not Italians. I would guess that this is the highest in Giro history

So to conclude, the Giro seems to be very much moving away from being a Italian race to being a international race, which many GT contenders increasingly see as a way of making there careers special, rather than a distraction from that July race.

 

[El Pistolero]

When was the last time anyone defended his Giro title? Not that many people seem to care or they think they can win the Tour after winning the Giro.

 

[The Hitch]

When was the last time anyone defended his Giro title? Not that many people seem to care or they think they can win the Tour after winning the Giro.

Its the latter. People win the Giro so they think theyll go for the Tour next time. Last person was Di Luca in 08 though.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Let us hope that Contador reconsiders after he wins the Tour again.

 

[El Pistolero]

I hope not, I'd rather see him do the Vuelta. At least he can ride a GT there without getting booed all the time...

 

[The Hitch]

I hope not, I'd rather see him do the Vuelta. At least he can ride a GT there without getting booed all the time...

You do realize he was booed in france?

 

[Granville57]

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Thanks, Maxiton!

Cadel and his secret wingman: the punisher of rivals


Huh. Interesting article.

I have to wonder if something got lost in translation though. Considering that Contador could conceivably win at least a few more TdFs, one would have to ask, How many is enough?

I would think that there would still be an allure to the Giro-Tour double. I still think he's capable of it. This year's Giro was exceptionally hard, and that won't always be the case necessarily. Contador also suffered from early mishaps at this year's Tour that also won't necessarily present themselves in years to come.

With the right conditioning, a good solid team and only just a bit of luck, I could see him pulling it off one day.

Time will tell.

 

[movingtarget]

I think it's good news for the Giro as the race will be more competetive and the race will be closer. Also an Italian has a chance of winning and the Contador protesters can quit. Probably won't happen but I would love to see a Giro with the same top contenders as this year plus BMC and the Schlecks but then Contador won't have any opposition in July and this year's TDF podium won't ride the Giro next year I doubt. Evans has had a taste and the Schlecks are still hungry for a TDF win.

 

[The Hitch]

Ok in this interview, admitadly with an italian so he might try to be more polite
http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/tourdefrance/24-07-2011/evans-sfila-giallo-parigi-802166637378.shtml

Contador says that he looks at his season as Giro Tour, is very happy that he won the Giro and wouldnt change it for the world.

More like the Contador i saw during Tour interviews. Far more upbeat. Says he did it for the fans. Adds a few jokes.

 

[Ragerod]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm sure the only thought going through his head right now is about winning the tour next year but he's shown a desire to do the Giro-Tour double and when Bjarne & Bertie sit down and analyse the tour they'll realise he wasn't far off.

I'm sure he'll take another shot at it when he gets the right pieces together and favourable parcours.

 

[danjo007]

he wont be riding tdf either if he gets banned

 

[Polish]

Ok in this interview, admitadly with an italian so he might try to be more polite
http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/tourdefrance/24-07-2011/evans-sfila-giallo-parigi-802166637378.shtml

Contador says that he looks at his season as Giro Tour, is very happy that he won the Giro and wouldnt change it for the world.

More like the Contador i saw during Tour interviews. Far more upbeat. Says he did it for the fans. Adds a few jokes.

No one has ever accused Alberto of not being duplicitous lol.
Changes his story. Depends who he is talking to.

"Astana, you're a great team"
And negotiating behind their backs at the Tour.

And him impicitly using the Giro as the reason he was not his usual self in the Tour is bogus. Don't believe it.

Expect Alberto to stop racing from now until March 2012 as he gets back to his old Tour Prep schedule.

Heck, maybe Alberto will not race again until 2013.
We will see, we will see.

 

[Parrulo]

not the end of the world. besides this way we will get him racing the ardennes in top shape as he already admitted he wanted to give them a go. should be more interesting the watching the schlecks towing gilbert to the finish line again.

 

[Maxiton]

No one has ever accused Alberto of not being duplicitous lol.
Changes his story. Depends who he is talking to.

"Astana, you're a great team"
And negotiating behind their backs at the Tour.

And him impicitly using the Giro as the reason he was not his usual self in the Tour is bogus. Don't believe it.

Expect Alberto to stop racing from now until March 2012 as he gets back to his old Tour Prep schedule.

Heck, maybe Alberto will not race again until 2013.
We will see, we will see.

Polish, I like you and I'm glad we're forum friends, so I hope you won't take it amiss when I tell you that your post here is idiotic. I mean, get a grip.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see what happens with Contador's apparent decision about the Giro as time goes by. It'll also be interesting to see what happens with the Giro after the departure of Zomegnan.