Criterium International - The showdown

[theswordsman]

A small point, but the Volta ao Algarve is in Portugal.

I'm not sure how the Radio Shack people decided this was a victory for them. You've got a 27 year old and a 38 year old, one obviously more competitive, with the same fourteen weeks to prepare for the Tour de France. Since Armstrong is starting so far behind Contador, in which week will he catch and surpass him in terms of fitness? Not in my lifetime. But let them have their fun until Armstrong's next race, when they have to find new spin, and he has one less week before he Tour. Then watch Contador's performance at Castilla y Leon.

For people on the fence about Alberto's allergies, I tracked down a few quotes from 2008 and 2009 and put them in the allergy thread. He really does plan his race schedule so that he's off in April and May, and spending part of that time at the beach. Cheers

 

[Publicus]

A small point, but the Volta ao Algarve is in Portugal.

I'm not sure how the Radio Shack people decided this was a victory for them. You've got a 27 year old and a 38 year old, one obviously more competitive, with the same fourteen weeks to prepare for the Tour de France. Since Armstrong is starting so far behind Contador, in which week will he catch and surpass him in terms of fitness? Not in my lifetime. But let them have their fun until Armstrong's next race, when they have to find new spin, and he has one less week before he Tour. Then watch Contador's performance at Castilla y Leon.

For people on the fence about Alberto's allergies, I tracked down a few quotes from 2008 and 2009 and put them in the allergy thread. He really does plan his race schedule so that he's off in April and May, and spending part of that time at the beach. Cheers

With these two sentences you've summed up the issue quite nicely.

 

[rhubroma]

A small point, but the Volta ao Algarve is in Portugal.

Very true, thanks.

 

[kurtinsc]

A small point, but the Volta ao Algarve is in Portugal.

I'm not sure how the Radio Shack people decided this was a victory for them. You've got a 27 year old and a 38 year old, one obviously more competitive, with the same fourteen weeks to prepare for the Tour de France. Since Armstrong is starting so far behind Contador, in which week will he catch and surpass him in terms of fitness? Not in my lifetime. But let them have their fun until Armstrong's next race, when they have to find new spin, and he has one less week before he Tour. Then watch Contador's performance at Castilla y Leon.

For people on the fence about Alberto's allergies, I tracked down a few quotes from 2008 and 2009 and put them in the allergy thread. He really does plan his race schedule so that he's off in April and May, and spending part of that time at the beach. Cheers

Just one question... if Alberto is planning on spending the next 2 months at the beach... then how big an impact does the difference between LA and AC's form now mean?

Not that I think Lance > Alberto by any stretch... but if Lance is riding and AC is sunning himself... I wouldn't be shocked if LA's form surpasses AC's at some point during AC's vacation.

None of that will matter in the slightest come July of course.

 

[Publicus]

Just one question... if Alberto is planning on spending the next 2 months at the beach... then how big an impact does the difference between LA and AC's form now mean?

Not that I think Lance > Alberto by any stretch... but if Lance is riding and AC is sunning himself... I wouldn't be shocked if LA's form surpasses AC's at some point during AC's vacation.

None of that will matter in the slightest come July of course.

But we know AC won't be sunning himself for two months. He's competing, as of now, at Castilla y Leon, then Fleche Wallone (sp) and L-B-L (that's most of April). He may take two weeks off, but then he's out reconning for the Tour and then racing the Dauphine in June.

And from what I can tell, he doesn't really let himself go even when he's not training.

 

[kurtinsc]

But we know AC won't be sunning himself for two months. He's competing, as of now, at Castilla y Leon, then Fleche Wallone (sp) and L-B-L (that's most of April). He may take two weeks off, but then he's out reconning for the Tour and then racing the Dauphine in June.

And from what I can tell, he doesn't really let himself go even when he's not training.

Do we know why he changed a winning formula?

Taking 2 months off through April and May seems to have worked for him the last two times he rode the Tour. Why change now if that was working?

 

[theswordsman]

Just one question... if Alberto is planning on spending the next 2 months at the beach... then how big an impact does the difference between LA and AC's form now mean?

Not that I think Lance > Alberto by any stretch... but if Lance is riding and AC is sunning himself... I wouldn't be shocked if LA's form surpasses AC's at some point during AC's vacation.

None of that will matter in the slightest come July of course.

He doesn't do two months at the beach - sorry if my writing implied that. But when he takes a week or two of vacation, he ends up at the beach, where I imagine the allergies would not be a problem. After the TdF presentation last Fall, he joked that maybe this year he vacations in Belgium. Racing Fleche Wallone and Liege Bastogne Liege delays things a couple of weeks as well. Just think in terms of how Saturday's stage 1 ride would have looked if it was him and Noval or Hernandez on a training ride.

Versus had a poll (which I ruined) asking if Contador could maintain his form until the Tour. It was kind of uninformed, really, because he's looking for the big second peak of the season for the Dauphine and Tour de France. That means some down time and recovery, but it will also include a training camp on the climbs of the Tour, practice on cobbles, and lots of other hard training. He did say he'll be in even better form for July. But the apparent reason for the schedule change was because after the two races, his fitness level was already where he needed it to be for March, so he could continue training hard on his own, but at a lower effort level than racing against Caisse D'Epargne.

Here's a bit more detail on the weekend problem with his allergy, translated by Google.

Despite his sixty kilos scrapings, Alberto Contador felt heavy Saturday night. The allergy had filled the body of liquid. Had also lost his options this evening in the Critérium International and thought only of some reward for his gregarious manner. "I wanted to compensate me. Especially for my teammates, for the work they did on the mountain stage, "he said. Fluid retention made him sleep in pain, tingling of fatigue in the legs. On rising yesterday knew well that it was impossible to recover the time lost to eventual winner Fedrigo-test, but wanted a prize for Astana. La etapa. The stage. Almost. "I got off to winning and I found a great specialist Millar. The Scot was the only one who has beaten him in the 7.7 miles from the time of Porto Vecchio on Corsica's tourist corner. "Even today I have been limited by allergy, but it was a tour explosive, short, and I could pay. For two seconds I could Millar.
"Now I'll take a few days off. I ended up squeezed by allergy. I will take the Tour of Castilla and León (mid April) and then go to get experience in the classic, "said Contador, fifteenth overall in the first race that does not win this year. It hurts to lose. It comforts him or have passed to Armstrong. Yesterday, he returned to get something more than two seconds per mile: the American finished fifteenth, 19 seconds behind Millar's and 17 Timer. "That is not important," Madrid's settled. It stung that he lacked the breath to 'recover' yesterday, the day I breathe again after asphyxiation allergic Saturday.

Sorry, here's the link for that
http://translate.googleusercontent....&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhhVkm4RHaBuwfiIn4JepeaxeVWeUA

 

[Publicus]

Do we know why he changed a winning formula?

Taking 2 months off through April and May seems to have worked for him the last two times he rode the Tour. Why change now if that was working?

I honestly think it has more to do with the other team's strategy/tactics against him more than anything. The goal seems to be to force Astana to do all of the work where AC is participating. That's a lot of pressure on a young team and will also exhaust AC in a way that he didn't experience last year. If you recall, Astana did a ton of work at Algarve and Paris-Nice. If he continued on his originally scheduled program both he and his domestiques would have been toast by May.

Obviously this is just a guesstimate on my part.

 

[theswordsman]

Do we know why he changed a winning formula?

Taking 2 months off through April and May seems to have worked for him the last two times he rode the Tour. Why change now if that was working?

He changed for several reasons. One, he and Yvon Sanquer were happy enough with his fitness that he didn't need the long hard race days of Catalunya and Pais Vasco. His teammates killed themselves in Paris-Nice, and would have repeated that if Alberto was in Catalunya last week. Instead, they rode with no pressure or media attention, and have the physical benefits from the racing plus have spent more time riding together as teammates. Plus, he's one of the top riders in the world, and wants to "honor" the classics by competing even though he hasn't had success there before, and the races themselves are better suited to (my terms) strong men or hard men. I think the fact that he's willing to step away from a "template" at age 27 rather than stay locked into routine for the next decade is a good sign, and one that he trusts Sanquer and Martinelli.

 

[theswordsman]

But we know AC won't be sunning himself for two months. He's competing, as of now, at Castilla y Leon, then Fleche Wallone (sp) and L-B-L (that's most of April). He may take two weeks off, but then he's out reconning for the Tour and then racing the Dauphine in June.

And from what I can tell, he doesn't really let himself go even when he's not training.

I just happened across some articles about his famous pre-Giro vacation while looking for articles mentioning the allergy. One said that he did take his bike along to the beach even though he wasn't ordered to, and that he did ride for three of the days or something. But the body doesn't get fitter and stronger after an effort, it does so after recovery from that effort. So, he spends months building up to a certain fitness level, takes a week or two to let his mind and body refresh without losing that much of the fitness, then starts the gradual build-up to the Tour de France.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I like the way it is assumed that because he isn't riding an actually competitive race, Contador must be at the beach.

Yet, on the other hand, when Armstrong isn't riding one of his training races for weeks, it is assumed he must be somehow getting fitter, leaner and more "match" fit.

Nobody ever saw the need to question his level of fitness, when his formula was to climb off his bike after Flanders and climb back on at the Dauphine.

 

[kurtinsc]

I like the way it is assumed that because he isn't riding an actually competitive race, Contador must be at the beach.

Yet, on the other hand, when Armstrong isn't riding one of his training races for weeks, it is assumed he must be somehow getting fitter, leaner and more "match" fit.

Nobody ever saw the need to question his level of fitness, when his formula was to climb off his bike after Flanders and climb back on at the Dauphine.

I think the assumption in both cases is a bit more... chemical. Nobody knows what Lance did in his May break... but he always came back tan and a lot fitter.

As it is, I just question the fact that Contador seemed to be following the Lance model for the most part in past years (big break before Dauphine Libere). He maybe even took it further then Lance did, stopping racing in late March or early April, rather then late April like Lance did when he was winning Tours.

Now he seems to be riding further into April then he has in the past... perhaps even into may? I'm not sure I understand why he'd change a schedule that has been proven to leave him in dominant form come July. In a way I hope it doesn't work as well so that he'll be more vulnerable so that the Tour has a bit more excitement.

 

[flicker]

I think the assumption in both cases is a bit more... chemical. Nobody knows what Lance did in his May break... but he always came back tan and a lot fitter.

As it is, I just question the fact that Contador seemed to be following the Lance model for the most part in past years (big break before Dauphine Libere). He maybe even took it further then Lance did, stopping racing in late March or early April, rather then late April like Lance did when he was winning Tours.

Now he seems to be riding further into April then he has in the past... perhaps even into may? I'm not sure I understand why he'd change a schedule that has been proven to leave him in dominant form come July. In a way I hope it doesn't work as well so that he'll be more vulnerable so that the Tour has a bit more excitement.

I think Alberto has changed his schedule to #1 extend his career and #2 let his team catch up to his fitness and let them recuperate and train into form for the big one.