- Jun 27, 2013
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Exactly.
His entire career, whatever form he showed up in at the start of the season ended up being a great indicator of his level. However he has regular bad days. With a time trial and a harder mountain finish to come, we'll know exactly where he stands by the end of the week.
If he doesn't finish with the stage winner on Sunday, you can write him off
LaFlorecita said:Those were pretty good performances, stage 2 was a downhill finish and he only lost a few seconds to Kwiatkowski, in the ITT he finished 4th and while he lost 19s to Kwiatkowski, he lost only 9 seconds to Malori and 7 to Martin. Not bad at all. But okay, perhaps it is too early to draw conclusions. Let's first see what he can do in tomorrow's ITT.SevenTimeTdfChamp said:In the 2014 volta ao Algarve he lost time to Kwiatkowski on th 2. stage and then again on the 3. stage which was a ITT. I think 2014 was a pretty good season for him
Exactly.
His entire career, whatever form he showed up in at the start of the season ended up being a great indicator of his level. However he has regular bad days. With a time trial and a harder mountain finish to come, we'll know exactly where he stands by the end of the week.
If he doesn't finish with the stage winner on Sunday, you can write him off
- Nov 7, 2010
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Or he could have changed his training schedule to be deliberately undercooked at this time of year with the Olympics in mind, or he could just be ill / recovering from illness, or at the end of an extended calorie deficit to become leaner, or lacking focus due to personal reasons, or adjusting to a new position or style on the bike. Or lots of other things.
Way too early to write off any rider based on their performance in the first race of the season. What happened in previous years doesn't really count for much, because he probably has to try a different approach if he wants to really challenge Froome in the TdF.
GuyIncognito said:LaFlorecita said:Those were pretty good performances, stage 2 was a downhill finish and he only lost a few seconds to Kwiatkowski, in the ITT he finished 4th and while he lost 19s to Kwiatkowski, he lost only 9 seconds to Malori and 7 to Martin. Not bad at all. But okay, perhaps it is too early to draw conclusions. Let's first see what he can do in tomorrow's ITT.SevenTimeTdfChamp said:In the 2014 volta ao Algarve he lost time to Kwiatkowski on th 2. stage and then again on the 3. stage which was a ITT. I think 2014 was a pretty good season for him
Exactly.
His entire career, whatever form he showed up in at the start of the season ended up being a great indicator of his level. However he has regular bad days. With a time trial and a harder mountain finish to come, we'll know exactly where he stands by the end of the week.
If he doesn't finish with the stage winner on Sunday, you can write him off
Or he could have changed his training schedule to be deliberately undercooked at this time of year with the Olympics in mind, or he could just be ill / recovering from illness, or at the end of an extended calorie deficit to become leaner, or lacking focus due to personal reasons, or adjusting to a new position or style on the bike. Or lots of other things.
Way too early to write off any rider based on their performance in the first race of the season. What happened in previous years doesn't really count for much, because he probably has to try a different approach if he wants to really challenge Froome in the TdF.
- May 15, 2011
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Honestly would he not have mentioned it if there had been a specific reason for his poor performance?DFA123 said:
LLS has beaten Contador at early season races before, think P-N of 2009. It's probably not a cause for worry yet, Nibali was not great at San Luis and now he's riding superbly at Oman. A lot can change in the 4 months till the TDF for Contador performance wise.
- Jun 27, 2013
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All riders are different. Like I said, Contador has never gone much better later in the season than his early season levels. When LLS beat him it was always in one of his random bad days (that I mentioned before).
For example, the 2009 Paris-Nice that you mention, was a race where Contador beat not just LLS but the entire field in winning both the time trial and the mountain finish, only to have a bad day later on.
By Sunday you'll know if this was a one off. If it wasn't, then his form is bad and improving it during the season would be a career first. Riders don't really have firsts in their mid 30s.
greenedge said:
All riders are different. Like I said, Contador has never gone much better later in the season than his early season levels. When LLS beat him it was always in one of his random bad days (that I mentioned before).
For example, the 2009 Paris-Nice that you mention, was a race where Contador beat not just LLS but the entire field in winning both the time trial and the mountain finish, only to have a bad day later on.
By Sunday you'll know if this was a one off. If it wasn't, then his form is bad and improving it during the season would be a career first. Riders don't really have firsts in their mid 30s.
- May 15, 2011
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About Nibali, he clearly possesses the ability to increase his form tremendously between races, he's shown it in the past too. Also look at Thomas who went from crap to fabulous in less than a month. However, Contador has never shown he possesses this quality so it seems unlikely he will manage it all of a sudden.
But okay , let's wait and see what he does in the ITT. He won't have the excuse of being in the wind too much.
Edit: what GuyIncognito wrote, basically
In Paris-Nice, Contador showed incredible shape on the first mountain stage. He lost the race due to a bonk, and anyway, this time it wasn't just Sanchez who beat him, it was Sanchez + 20 other riders.greenedge said:
About Nibali, he clearly possesses the ability to increase his form tremendously between races, he's shown it in the past too. Also look at Thomas who went from crap to fabulous in less than a month. However, Contador has never shown he possesses this quality so it seems unlikely he will manage it all of a sudden.
But okay , let's wait and see what he does in the ITT. He won't have the excuse of being in the wind too much.
Edit: what GuyIncognito wrote, basically
- Nov 7, 2010
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Maybe. But perhaps he doesn't want to be disrespectful to the race organizers by saying its a glorified training ride for him. Or perhaps he's playing a psychological game, not showing his cards too early to Sky, making them wonder what's going on. Or it could be something he doesn't want to disclose, e.g. some personal problem.
Of course, it could just be that he has messed up and is in for a poor season, but I still think its way too early to conclude anything until at least May or June.
LaFlorecita said:
Maybe. But perhaps he doesn't want to be disrespectful to the race organizers by saying its a glorified training ride for him. Or perhaps he's playing a psychological game, not showing his cards too early to Sky, making them wonder what's going on. Or it could be something he doesn't want to disclose, e.g. some personal problem.
Of course, it could just be that he has messed up and is in for a poor season, but I still think its way too early to conclude anything until at least May or June.
- Apr 14, 2014
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Maybe the wind affects him even more now that he is basically a skeleton... Mind you, Contador never was a guy who would flourish in strong head wind. Just look at the 2010 Tour TT, where there was a strong headwind... He was absolute cr*p. So todays TT result depends majorly on that as well. If the wind (that I hear will be strong again) is mostly tailwind, he will do fine, in other case, not so much unfortunately...
- May 9, 2010
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I'm disappointed. From the most hyped version of Contador ever to the least hyped Contador ever in one day
- Sep 2, 2011
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But honestly there's really nothing to worry about. I think he'll be good in the ITT.
What's not to love about this? Contador fans are the bestHugo Koblet said:I'm disappointed. From the most hyped version of Contador ever to the least hyped Contador ever in one day
But honestly there's really nothing to worry about. I think he'll be good in the ITT.
- Aug 12, 2012
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Re:
There are guys here with 4 races alreadu, as Luis León, and Contador has been since July, more than 6 months without a race.
Today if Contador lose 1 minute with Luis León would be normal.
But Contador is OK, he said he is very good phisically and mentally.
Hugo Koblet said:I'm disappointed. From the most hyped version of Contador ever to the least hyped Contador ever in one day
There are guys here with 4 races alreadu, as Luis León, and Contador has been since July, more than 6 months without a race.
Today if Contador lose 1 minute with Luis León would be normal.
But Contador is OK, he said he is very good phisically and mentally.
Re: Re:
normal? for who? either way, there won't obviously be so much time between them.Taxus4a said:
Re: Re:
hm, quite a strange assessment. if that was a talk about martin and bertie 1 min would be within realm of possibilities, im not sure though. but lulu... well, we shall see.Taxus4a said:
- May 15, 2011
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I have to agree with Taxus. Normally in a flat windy ITT of this length I think Berto should lose at most 20-25s to Sanchez. But right now he is not in good shape so 1 minute is to be expected. I expect Luisle to be around the same time as Tony.
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