Re: The official debate: Should Contador have waited for Sch
Gigs_98 said:
The Hitch said:
To continue the discussions from another thread
Gigs_98 said:
So you can say that AC is a cyclist who doesn't always act polite and that he shouldn't complain when astana or sky set a high pace.
I never said anything of the sort. On the contrary I said AC has no right to complain if it happens.
Its really annoying when people assume they know what someone else thinks about something, based on what they said about something completely different.
The thing about chaingate is, Contador did the exact same thing to Schleck, that Schleck did to him earlier.
If I steal £100 from you, I cannot complain if you then steal £100 from me later.
It is a matter of principle. I was 100% behind Schleck in that TDF as I wanted someone else to win the Tour for a change, but right is right.
I just wanted to stop the discussion with this comment. However its a little bit unfair from you to say my comment doesn´t have anything to do with what you wrote before and support that with a quote which only shoes half of my original comment. I just didn't want to post two replies about one and the same topic, so half of my post was not a direct answer to what you wrote.
To come back to the main question, I don't think Contador attacked because Andy did the same to him earlier. Schleck had the defect and Contador was out of the saddle immediately after that. I doubt that these one or two seconds were enough time for Alberto to think if andy deserves that or not. He just attacked because he saw the chance to pull back some time
Fair enough. Sorry if I misrepresented your position. I had said in the thread that I didn't think AC's rivals would do anything wrong if they attacked him, and I thought you were suggesting I had said otherwise.
Anyway I am not arguing that Contador's motivation was revenge on Andy. You are probably right that that thought never came into Contador's head, he attacked just to get time.
I don't think Contador is some great sportsman nor am I trying to present him as such. I've criticised him for lying or playing unfair dozens of times.
For lying post chaingate about not knowing Andy had mech.
For continuing to celebrate Armstrong as a champion even after LA punked him.
For lying about that thing that won't be named.
For lying about his form in 2013 and claiming he only cared about the win and would attack every day in the mountains while doing nothing of the sort and blatantly trying to follow wheels for a podium.
For wheelsucking Chris Froome on the final Vuelta stage, then taking the stage win (he had the race wrapped up, in my opinion should have given Chris the stage if he was going to ws him.)
The last 2 have gotten me unlimited abuse from certain sections of the Contador fanbase here.
However re chaingate, it doens't matter what his motivation was, what matters is the result. Andy took the time in an unsportsmanlike manner. Contador had the right to take back the time in an unpleasant manner, whether he knew he was doing it or not.
2ndly its important to remember Sanchez and Menchov were with Contador and also pushed the pace. Contador could not let them fly off while he waited for Andy. They were rivals too, Menchov finishing only 1 minute behind Contador in the end. They had also lost time in Arenberg. Contador had to stay with them.