Hilly TT of 40 km: Contador or Froome?

[Cimber]

Contador did a good TT in the enecotour and he has already been training on the TT parcour so I expect a very good TT from him but based on the Tour and Olympic TT I would say Froome will beat him by a small margin.

More important, how much will Rodriguez lose and can Valverde limit his losses in the TT compared to Contador and Froome but also to Gesink?

Ye will be interesting to see how Jrod will do.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Contador is pretty good in downhills if he's into it, don't know though if the descent is technical but if it's true he reckoned it 8 times then i'm assuming it was a technical descent.

I know.

 

[Miburo]

What, no choice for Gesink?

Wanna vote for him? Crazy man

 

[The Hitch]

I see a hill, i see contador did a good itt on stage 1 and i think he is coming into form.

The Great One

 

[Miburo]

This battle will be also a reference for tour '13.

I really can't wait to see how this will turn out. I might be more interested in this than the cuiti negru, although...last 4km 17 % hmmm lol

Anyway I voted for Contador aswell, in a hilly TT I still have a lot of faith in him.

I even think he might become this year WC TT so yeah

And he must have tested a lot with the specialized people, right?

 

[icefire]

The map in the vuelta site is a piece of shit. I zoomed to the max on google maps and there is no road along the depicted course. However, the actual roads on the area connecting the villages listed in the detailed course show a few hairpins after the summit on the way to the finish, so it is a technical descent.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

In Spanish forum people talks about something like this: Chris Froome » 2' Alberto Contador We are Froomie's fans.

 

[Afrank]

I'd have to go with Froome, I'd rate his time trialing just slightly better than Contador's. I think Froome will be the better of the two but I don't think Contador will be too far back.

 

[luckyboy]

Froome will get it but the time difference won't be important.

 

[ferryman]

Not sure which way it will go. One thing I can guarantee is that it will be Froome's swan song in this race.

 

[Cyivel]

Brother Berto

 

[msjett]

I am going for Alberto on this one.

 

[pedaling squares]

The answer lies just below the Games and Fantasy Cycling sub-forum.

 

[orangerider]

It's a Contador suited course.

If Froome wins, especially by large margins, I'm tuning off for good.

 

[BillytheKid]

Froome and aero? Wait? What?

Allthough this looks pretty aero, but when you see his weird O-legs on a normal bike I couldn't imagine this position by him on a TT bike.

Pretty good as well.

Both don't have perfect TT positions like Martin and Wiggins, bur pretty good.

after further study..thanks for the photos..agreed, not much difference except a lower head/helmet position on Froome in this photo. Note that when the head drops with the Sky helmet is not draging the tail fin like a sail through the air.

Froome's legs do have an O bow.

I think Froome still might have an edge, having done more ITTs in competition this year, but he could be fading. I am surpirse I got caught up in a prediction.

 

[maxmartin]

Froom for sure but not much against AC

I am more interested to see if alien CF can gain more than 2:30 against JR?

 

[ElChingon]

I guess I should of looked at this before voting:

Route:

Profile:

But this is basically becoming the Stage 11 preView thread isn't it?

The climb doesn't look at bad as it could be

Name__Start (km)__Max. alt.___Vert. gain____Dist.____Ave gradient _Cat
Alto _____23,5_____490 m._____447 m._____10 km._____4,40%_____3
Monte
Castrove

Its going to be close but maybe in favor of TT boy Froome, not that I like that but based on previous TT's and that this climb isn't too bad or hard for those two.

 

[LaFlorecita]

In Spanish forum people talks about something like this: Chris Froome » 2' Alberto Contador We are Froomie's fans.

I don't understand. What are they talking about?

 

[S2Sturges]

If he's anywhere around his Tour form, Froomey has a clear advantage.
But I, as many others, have the feeling is running out of gas.

The TT will be close enough not to matter much, but yes, Froom is going to have to deal with a trifecta of Spaniards and their teams to torture Sky... I reckon he'll crack sooner than later, a result of that heavy racing calendar and relentless pressure from every Spaniard in the peleton lobbing in...

 

[Sophistic]

when Contador rode his great TTs, he was in "ridiculing everyone on the climbs" shape, havent seen that so far.
Froome was on par with Conti on 10% slopes and he is like 7-8kg heavier, and there is only ~4km of "real" climbing in the TT, the rest is 3-4% stuff.
So...Froome bout a minute ahead of Contador, 2:30 ahead of Valv and JR.

 

[LaFlorecita]

when Contador rode his great TTs, he was in "ridiculing everyone on the climbs" shape

I stopped reading after this part. Fail... Was he in "ridiculing everyone on the climbs" shape in last year's Tour?

 

[spalco]

The TT will be close enough not to matter much, but yes, Froom is going to have to deal with a trifecta of Spaniards and their teams to torture Sky... I reckon he'll crack sooner than later, a result of that heavy racing calendar and relentless pressure from every Spaniard in the peleton lobbing in...

I don't know. Spaniards are often very patriotic and stick together, but tactics-wise, it wouldn't make sense for any rider who wants to win to gang up on Froome imo. If you're riding for the podium, ok, but if you're Rodriguez and you want to use this once-in-a-lifetime chance, why would you play into Contador's hands like that? I'm sure he has an ego too.

 

[ILovecycling]

Contador was the master of Hilly ITTs, but if Froome maintains his form from the Olympics, he should beat AC by around 20-30 Seconds.
Has Valverde done any ITT which he cared about after his return. How he will perform will be interesting.

He has done this http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-suisse-2012/stage-7/results
But it was a bit more hilly than on Wednesday and 34,3km.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I stopped reading after this part. Fail... Was he in "ridiculing everyone on the climbs" shape in last year's Tour?

No, but he wasn't riding one of his best ITTs ever, either.
True, he was 3rd, but a minute slower than Cuddles.

Not sure how Wednesday will pan out.

What I suspect from the weekend stages is that Bertie is still short of optimum race conditioning, while Froome may be starting to struggle to hold his.

They don't call the ITT the race of truth for nothing.
All will be revealed.

Froome by 20-30" is my best guess.

 

[LaFlorecita]

No, but he wasn't riding one of his best ITTs ever, either.
True, he was 3rd, but a minute slower than Cuddles.
.

He did ride a very good TT though considering the circumstances.