damian13ster said:
I would agree with you if not for two things:
1. The poster that rhubroma replied to used the word drafting and not wheelsucking for a reason. Riding on someone's wheel is very much drafting because it does decrease force of wind resistance. Thats the very definition so drafting = riding someone's wheel. Now, drafting is not necessary a wheelsucking. Wheelsucking is always a drafting, but drafting is not always a wheelsucking (well, depends by whose definition and which rider is being judged). So that part of the post was pretty much a monologue.
2. This Vuelta didn't exactly show that AC is the stronger climber. the difference was mainly made by the TT, I think all of those MTF's amount to around 30 seconds so that isnt much and could be just from amount of energy conserved by drafting (which was possible thanks to TT).
So Contador did ride a better race overall, but he won it in TT, not in MTFs.
Anyway, the point I agree on is that this thread is pointless because the win is fair, so if that was the only purpose of it then it might as well be closed.
Contador gained, without bonus seconds, 22+1+7+15+16 seconds on Froome, which sums up to 1.01 in the mountain stages. Contador lost 12+7 seconds on two occasions, Castrove and Camperona. How he managed losing those 12 seconds on Castrove is still a mystery to me considering the superiority he displayed on La Farrapona and Ancares.
Assuming those seconds was not an indicator of real strength, they shouldn't be subtracted from the time gained, 1.01. In other words Contador gained 1.01-7=54 seconds in the mountains, while he gained 42 seconds if you also count his tactical errors on stage 18 as a strength display. The 54 seconds, that displays the pure
strength difference in the mountains, exceeds the time gained in the ITT by 1 second.
Bearing in mind that Contador did NOT have to gain time on Froome in the mountains after his great ITT, and the fact that he still did so, whether it be 42 or 54 seconds, suggest that he was just the better climber.