Why is Contador never the story?

[saganftw]

being the best ever stage racer

ever?

i doubt that

 

[c&cfan]

if you eve doubts or not isn't really important.

win a giro without preparition when there are riders that only target the giro, the same with vuelta..
then 3 tours..
some paris-nice..
and a lot of others..
at 27.

 

[saganftw]

if you eve doubts or not isn't really important.

win a giro without preparition when there are riders that only target the giro, the same with vuelta..
then 3 tours..
some paris-nice..
and a lot of others..
at 27.

ok, you base your claim only on number of wins by the age of 27 ...now you may wanna check eddy merckxs palmares

 

[c&cfan]

that's something stupid to do.

today's cycling is much diferent, much more specialized, much more technical etc.

in merckx's era, to win everything, since the begining of the season until the end, it was enough to be the best.

today it is very diferent. to win, you have to be the best, the smartest, with a strong team, and train hard only for one or two goal per season. not only that, in merck's era, a person was able to win a sprint and then the tourmalet and GC. today that thing is ABSURD.

do you think that merckx was better than pantani in the mountains?
or better than cancellara and bonnen at the cobbles?or cancellare at TT?
or better than cavendish?

that is absurd. if you win 2flat stages, you can't win the tour. this is cannon.

so, yes. contador is the best stage racer ever at 27.

 

[saganftw]

today's cycling is much diferent, much more specialized, much more technical etc.

...so how can you say contador is best ever if todays cycling is much different?

in merck's era, a person was able to win a sprint and then the tourmalet and GC.

...which would constitutes the best stage racer ever wouldnt it

 

[hrotha]

contador made the last 4seasons boring by winning a lot of stage races and being the best ever stage racer at 27.

Of those GTs he won, he only dominated the 2009 TdF. He ended up winning the 2008 Giro with a comfortable 1:57 lead, but other than that, he won the 2007 TdF by 23 seconds, the 2008 Vuelta by 46 and the 2010 TdF by 39. That doesn't sound boring to me.

 

[c&cfan]

...so how can you say contador is best ever if todays cycling is much different?




...which would constitutes the best stage racer ever wouldnt it

1- because to be able to win what he already won when cycling is much more technical, specialized, etc, he is the best. no one is able to win a today's tour\giro\vuelta without being at 100per cent. no one but contador.

2-no. it only shows how things are different, how you can't see who was the best cyclist ever anymore. you can only say who was the best sprinter, or the best stage racer, etc. and contador is the best stage-racer. merck's wasn't faster then petachi.. or pantani in the mountains etc.

however i am not stupid. he was the best all-rounder. but the all-rounder times are over. no one can chalenge the 3 Cs anymore. Cavendish Cancelara Contador. if you wanna win, you have to chose.

hrotha: i was being sarcastic.

 

[saganftw]

1- because to be able to win what he already won when cycling is much more technical, specialized, etc, he is the best. no one is able to win a today's tour\giro\vuelta without being at 100per cent. no one but contador.

2-no. it only shows how things are different, how you can't see who was the best cyclist ever anymore. you can only say who was the best sprinter, or the best stage racer, etc. and contador is the best stage-racer. merck's wasn't faster then petachi.. or pantani in the mountains etc.

however i am not stupid. he was the best all-rounder. but the all-rounder times are over. no one can chalenge the 3 Cs anymore. Cavendish Cancelara Contador. if you wanna win, you have to chose.

hrotha: i was being sarcastic.

oh i ve always thought to be the best you have to achieve something that nobody has ever done or will ever do again

 

[Angliru]

So what?? Spaniards are 1/6 of the peloton at the TdF, and French the same or even more. Sum up the Italians and the ones coming from East Europe and you do not get an anglo-dominated sport.

Contador has to pedal faster than the rest. That is all about it. English is not needed for him, it is just a plus in case he wants to get even more money or media attention. I doubt it is a priority for Contador.

Contador likely realizes that with Specialized as one of his sponsors, he has to improve his English speaking skills. We will likely see a steady progression in his improvement over the next few years.

I agree with one of the previous posts, in that what really matters is what he does on the bike. If one is a fan and with the advances in technology available to the fans, all riders interviews and profiles are available. although the translations often aren't exactly as accurate as one would like. If you let the way in which someone attempts to make a real effort in communicating in your language be a detriment to whether or not you root for the rider, then maybe you have some underlying issues that you need to address.

 

[c&cfan]

oh i ve always thought to be the best you have to achieve something that nobody has ever done or will ever do again

you have to look tothe circunstances.

 

[nicholaaaas]

So what?? Spaniards are 1/6 of the peloton at the TdF, and French the same or even more. Sum up the Italians and the ones coming from East Europe and you do not get an anglo-dominated sport.

Contador has to pedal faster than the rest. That is all about it. English is not needed for him, it is just a plus in case he wants to get even more money or media attention. I doubt it is a priority for Contador.

my point is like it or not english is the official language of major international sports

 

[El Pistolero]

^ Not in cycling. Dutch is a far more important language to learn in cycling than English. As is French.

If you want to win big classics races like the ronde van Vlaanderen, Luik-Bastenaken-Luik, Ghent-Wevelgem, Paris-Roubaix, etc then you will have to train on courses like that a lot. So that means many cyclists move to Belgium to start a life there.
Climbers will want to go to Spain and France for training. Italy has too much snow in their mountains, so not a preferable place to train the entire year.

 

[ak-zaaf]

my point is like it or not english is the official language of major international sports

There is only one major sport that's almost globally loved and it's official language is French.

In cycling's peloton it's said to be a mix of basic French/Italian/Dutch, dpeneding on wheer the race is. Spaniards usually only mix with other Spaniards so they don't really have to make an effort to learn another language. Unless they become really big, English might not be the language of the sport it is the language of the big sponsors.

 

[Ramira]

In an attempt to get back to the original topic I'll throw in my two cents.

First off I think there's quite a bit of attention for Contador in most of the cycling world at least in the Netherlands and Belgium there was (and still is) a hell of a lot of attention for him, which makes sense considering what he's been able to do the last 3 years, when he decided to ride the Ardennes classics this year it was pretty big news in Belgium.

But at the same time there's the fact that he won this years tour without much flair (mostly because he wasn't 100% I reckon) and he's already won 3 now while AS is the young pretender, and more then not when a situation like that arises two camps form those that hope the champion keeps winning and those that hope the challenger will dethrone him, which is a bit more exciting.

In the end the simple fact is Contador winning the tour wasn't big news, Schlecklet finishing within a minute and staying relatively close in the ITT was, and that's why generally there was a lot of attention on Schlek this year and I expect this to continue until either Schleck wins a tour or Contador reaches the magical 5 or maybe does something like the Giro-Tour double which should get him great accolades, I for one would applaud him for it and respect him to no end, and I'm a Schleck brothers fan but I have nothing against Contador (apart from for about 30 minutes after the chain incident but that was more due to disappointment for the potential lost excitement in the tour then anything else, and like AS I got over it quickly), he's a great cyclist and from what I know a pretty damn good person too, just a bit reserved, I just happen to like the Schleck's a bit more. That being said the reason I'm an AS fan kinda comes back to the reason I think there's more attention to him right now, and that's because he's the young challenger while Contador has been there and done that.

Now I don't live in the US so I have little clue about versus but it does seem that there's an AC is an enemy of LA so we have to hate him, but honestly in many ways, as has been said before, that's just smart marketing as AC doesn't sell in the US (heck any non-LA cycling doesn't sell really).

 

[ultimobici]

Really think C-pistol will win more than Lance with Andy on the rise? I am doubting this. Contador has never faced adversity in a tour. He's never had a bad crash or incident where he had to recover in a difficult part of the stage. That will be the true test of champion.

And LA did? LA had a scare in the Pyrenees when they waited for him. His response was to attack as soon as he rejoined. AC was gapped by the HTC train and LA took advantage. They both have had obstacles to overcome. How do we know AS won't end up as a Poulidor or Ullrich?

 

[ultimobici]

I know FIFA, the english language version of the rules is the "official" official version. Go to a F1 race... everyone in the paddock will be speaking english

Of course they use English! Football's rules were codified in England and F1 has been dominated by British constructors for decades. Whereas cycling, and roadracing in particular, has been a predominantly Continental affair. French, Italian, Dutch & Flemish were used depending on the location of the race. It was only with the influx of English speaking riders initially in the early 80's and then with greater numbers in the 90's that English has come to be used in the sport.

 

[El Pistolero]

Of course they use English! Football's rules were codified in England and F1 has been dominated by British constructors for decades. Whereas cycling, and roadracing in particular, has been a predominantly Continental affair. French, Italian, Dutch & Flemish were used depending on the location of the race. It was only with the influx of English speaking riders initially in the early 80's and then with greater numbers in the 90's that English has come to be used in the sport.

Since when is Flemish a language?

 

[ultimobici]

Since when is Flemish a language?

Are you being serious?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belguim#Languages
Suppose it is like referring to the language used in the US as American as opposed to English. Sounds the same in the main, but usage & spelling differ occasionally.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Phil and Paul seem to have a real problem with Carlos whilst being totally head over heels with Andy and Frank. This is out of character for the dynamic duo – they always seemed fairly even-handed in the past.
And things get real messy in in the commentary box when "Cav" wins a sprint.

I thought that Phil and Paul's favourite had always been "Big George" Hincapie!

They like Voight too.

 

[Hugh Januss]

I thought that Phil and Paul's favourite had always been "Big George" Hincapie!

They like Voight too.

Oh man, I love Jon Voight. Deliverance was a very dark but awesome film, personally I liked him in Catch 22 the best.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Nice correction on my bad spelling!

 

[Hugh Januss]

Nice correction on my bad spelling!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[El Pistolero]

Are you being serious?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belguim#Languages
Suppose it is like referring to the language used in the US as American as opposed to English. Sounds the same in the main, but usage & spelling differ occasionally.

It's not a language. It's a collective name of regional dialects in the region Flanders. Every country has its dialects, including the Netherlands(Fries IS a different language tho). Flemish is not a language, it's not even a single dialect. Everybody who speaks Dutch can easily understand a Flemish regional dialect.

We speak Dutch here. And we write in Dutch as well. Just because someone speaks a dialect doesn't mean they can't speak or write the language properly.

--------------

Anyway, Contador gets more attention here in Belgium than the Schleck brothers I think. Or at least as much.

And Luxemburg used to be Belgian(1830-1839), and still is for very large parts( our province of Luxembourg is bigger than the country of Luxembourg). So, there should actually be a bias for the Schlecks here, but there isn't one as far as I know.

 

[JohnNordin]

Been a lot of interesting things pointed out here; thanks for all your thoughts.

I wanted to bring back up the question of "audience" for Verses. Others have made this point, but there are two audiences here.

First, it does seem safe to say that most watching are not TdF experts. I wasn't when I started. So Roll being nuts was fun to watch, some of the simple explanations were useful. Etc. So if the audience is not hard-core fans, then some of the LA fanboy stuff can make sense. Go USA and all that.

But there is a different angle on 'audience', as some here have said. The audience is the sponsors. So the motivation for the coverage is not "what do the great unwashed want" but rather "what makes the most money for our sponsors." And Lance is a business in a way that AC or AS are not, as far as I know. Or at least not in the US.

 

[Muerdago11]

can you imagine hailing someone as golf's new superstar after his 6th or 7th major?

Yes, Clearly.