Ferminal said:On Contador's June form last year he was going to get challenged by Cuddles![]()
zapata said:who? contador? didn't look casual to me. not at all.
Jimmy Riddle said:Some people seem to get peed off by AC's salute. I don't know why. I just think it's a bit of fun.
Though having said that, if a certain other rider had a little signature salute, we'd never hear the end of it.
mightymac12 said:I agree with you, but intuition leads us to believe that last year he had certain advantages he may not this year. Say what you will about what "it" is, but Johan provides an extra something.
FoxxyBrown1111 said:Just finished: 42.11 mins. Contador took today for Alpe d Huez. That´s 4.36 mins. slower than the record of Pantani.
And 21 secs. slower than Luis Herrera in 1986 !!
Plus he lost 1.40+ on the long ITT.
So the Question is: Does a total clean top class rider loose 4 mins. on mountain stages compared to a blood/EPO doped rider. Or is Contador not in shape/form? It looked like he tried everything to get separation (ca. 5 attacks) from Brajkovic. So i don´t think he didn´t gave 100% today...
Tangled Tango said:You´re quoting times from the fastest race in the world. June times are not the same as July.
ScotsBiker said:Headwinds and previous climbs all add to the mix.
Nick
Beech Mtn said:Old, veteran American rider helping new young American rider on his first time up Alpe d'Huez. Horner is just that kind of guy anyway - very cool.
danjo007 said:something ive noticed from this years racing, is that nearly all the riders who have dominated an entire race seem to be human and have lapses.
in previous years, maybe on 1 stage they'd have an excuse-"he bonked that day" - and that was rare.
now we're seeing the top guys all having numerous "bad" days.
are we now seeing a more legitimate playing field?
Riders peak during their season. Contador's peak isn't in June.FoxxyBrown1111 said:I didn´t wanna say that Contador is a rider depending on extra blood only. I just was surprised how much "slower" he was. I expected something like the Giro this year, when the Top-Riders were 1 min. slower than 2008 in the Kronplatz-Stage.
Dave_1 said:Re previous climbs and distance influencing the result...Lance and Ullrich clocked 37 and 38 minutes in the 2004 MTT, as fast as Ullrich climbed it after riding a 100 miles to the base back in 1997, so am not sure distance ridden to the bottom of the climb affects the times so much. maybe we are seeing the bio-passport kick in?
Am 100% sure cycllismag has got the time wrong though...the climb start to the finish line was 41.40 apprx
headwind defo, but cyclismag's calculation of the first 6.5km shows they would have no gone under 40 minutes based on how they rode the first 6.5km
danjo007 said:something ive noticed from this years racing, is that nearly all the riders who have dominated an entire race seem to be human and have lapses.
in previous years, maybe on 1 stage they'd have an excuse-"he bonked that day" - and that was rare.
now we're seeing the top guys all having numerous "bad" days.
are we now seeing a more legitimate playing field?
Sophistic said:The whole "its just june" talk is nonsense, Yeah other TDF champions have had similar form curves in the past...and we all know why.
craig1985 said:I really have tohand it to BPC for not giving up. If at first you don't succeed...
At the beginning I thought that it could not be because of blood extraction, because the results in the TT were not that bad anyway. But what you are saying makes a lot of sense. That means that Bertie even with blood extraction is still strong. Then we should expect a very strong Contador in July.Big Doopie said:+1.
also of note -- contador's two "bad" days were while riding in france (crit international and crit dauphine). i would not be surprised if blood extraction took place then. this way blood bags can remain in france and don't need to be transported over borders/customs.
Escarabajo said:Menchov probably did the same operation. His results were not that good, so the blood extraction theory fits him better.![]()
Escarabajo said:At the beginning I thought that it could not be because of blood extraction, because the results in the TT were not that bad anyway. But what you are saying makes a lot of sense. That means that Bertie even with blood extraction is still strong. Then we should expect a very strong Contador in July.
Menchov probably did the same operation. His results were not that good, so the blood extraction theory fits him better.![]()