Diegomayra

Alberto Contador crushes souls
Opinions?

echappist

wrong forum.

i hear they are like *******s: everyone has one

PS. add a spoiler

oneofpr

Saris bike racks have good reviews for cars that have spoilers.

OrionKhan

Contador looks like he's coming into his form from a couple of years ago. I was very impressed with Rujano today. He managed to stay with AC for a long way up that climb. I think that Arroyo, Kreutzinger, Nibali group should have worked more together to try and reel in AC. Of course, that's easy for me to say sitting on my couch.

Bacciagalupe

Yeah, he's looked insanely good the last few days.

However, it is always possible that his form will peak a bit too early; we haven't gotten to the big climbs yet. He's got a big cushion, but if he has a day on stage 14 and Nibali or someone else feels strong, that lead could erode significantly.

AzTallRider

By going for it in the Giro, making a TdF repeat unlikely/unexpected, is AC trying to keep a lower profile while the UCI appeal is pending? I know winning a grand tour isn't exactly being a wall flower, but the Giro doesn't bring quite the same spotlight as the TdF, especially when the UCI is apparently looked on by some people as France-influenced. Just asking - I haven't followed the tours long enough to really understand the political and PR undercurrents - sorry if I'm being clueless.

guadzilla

I think last year's TdF was the outlier for Contador - he wasnt in peak form (as shown by his crappy TT performance compared to Andy Schleck) and still managed to eke out a win. This year, he appears to be back to his usual form.

And it appears that there really is no rider in the peloton today who can challenge him when it comes to GTs - definitely not in this GT. Nibbles and Scarponi werent even close to matching him today. Given that he's won the last 5 GTs he's started, I am pretty sure he knows how to pace himself and barring any unexpected problems, I really dont see anyone coming even close to him for the rosa this year.

What *would* be interesting to see is if he is cleared and DOES take part in the TdF. That should make for an interesting spectacle.

johnny99

Contador used strong solo attacks in the last couple of days, but where was the rest of his team? Can the other teams neutralize him with team tactics? That worked against Cancellara in the spring classics.

OrionKhan

I would agree with guadzilla. It seems that AC may not have been in his best form for last year's TdF. Which is hard to say for a guy that actually won the race.

Teams can't neutralize AC on mountain top finishes. He'll just do what he did yesterday and today. It doesn't matter what the other teams are doing if AC attacks them and they all get dropped. AC showed the accelerations that he had a couple of seasons ago. I was very surprised that Nibali and Kreutinger couldn't minimize the gap. A. Schleck seems to be the only guy who might be able to match him with those bursts. We'll see what happens at the TdF if AC is cleared.

Bacciagalupe

Uh... no. The Giro is one of the biggest cycling events in the world. Contador's plan is to win all 3 Grand Tours in one year, which has never been accomplished.

Bacciagalupe

If you mean "this week" to equal "this year," then I concur. There is no way to know what form he'll be in later this year.

I do agree he has a very good chance of winning, by the way, but there's no way he's locked up two Grand Tours this early.


Except Schleck, Menchov, Sammy Sanchez, etc....

Remember, this is just the start of an exceptionally tough Giro, and a lot of riders planned their training with the intention of peaking in a week or so. While Contador looked great today and built up a huge lead, he now has to defend the Pink Jersey for the next two weeks. He'll need to respond to lots of attacks, and that's going to wear him down a bit.

Even if he aces the Giro, it's going to be tough to recover fully in about a month, while facing what may be a pair of well-rested Schlecks and other rivals in July....

MUZE

If AC can keep the form he has exhibited during the last two stages the best a GC hopeful can try for is second overall and then wait for the decision on the CSI/WADA appeal to be declared the "winner". It was a slap down today.

OrionKhan

Today's stage was a worst case scenario for the other GC contenders. Contador will not be worn down by their attacks. All he has to do is mark them. They have to attack AND drop AC. Something which none of them have exhibited the ability to do so in the past. Yesterday probably caught them off guard given the twisty narrow finish. But today, Scarponi was the only one that tried to hang. AC attacked again and dumped him. No way the others were thinking about conserving for the stages later on and thinking "AC will wear down from having to defend from our attacks." AC has won several grand tours in the past. Defending will not be a problem for him. There's a greater chance of AC building his lead by counter attacking with one of his big accelerations. AC is one guy they did not want to get a big lead. Plus, the TTs are still ahead. Something that AC excels at. Today's stage reminded me of last years Paris - Roubaix where Cancellara attacked and but Thor let him go. It was like everyone just rolled over and conceded the win. They need unforeseen (puncture, chain drop, crash, positive test, etc.) incidents to happen to get time back.

I agree the Giro/TdF is by no means a lock. Recovery time in addition to the chief rival of Andy Schleck will be factors. And AC might reach peak fitness to early in the season.

Dubbayoo

I would just race for second from the start and bank on AC winning the race but getting his ban reinstated afterwards.

OrionKhan

Yep. The race for second could be for all the marbles in the end.

Caretaker

The Giro and the Vuelta were held virtually on top of each other until the Vuelta was moved to September in 1995. Then of course we had the Armstrong era and LA was a TdF specialist who ignored the other GTs.

This could be the year and Alberto Contador the rider if he wins and is allowed to ride the TdF.

DXchulo

What? Schleck is the only guy who has ever come close, and as mentioned above that's mainly because Contador wasn't as strong as usual last year. I like Menchov, but there's no way he can accelerate with Alberto on steep climbs. As for Sanchez, where was he in the TDF last year? The whole thing was the Alberto and Andy show.

He may not admit it, but deep down Alberto knows he won't be able to ride the TDF and I'm guessing he trained accordingly. Best case scenario is for him to kill it at the Giro, serve a year, and be ready for the TDF in 2012.

Homebrew01

Where's the beef ?

HigherGround

If the CAS upholds the ban, when would it effectively start: at the time they make their decision, or would it be back dated? I always thought Contador was gunning for this Giro, because it's questionable whether or not he will be allowed to race in July.

Diegomayra

Very possible, however the UCI is treading a fine line between what they do and the teams/riders. Any controversy may cripple the sport that has been severely tainted by sports dishonesty. I doubt the UCI will throw down a ban unless its undeniably conclusive and not suspect to interpretation.
It is a banned* substance period, however there does exist a record of athletes getting contamination from food sources in the last Olympics, its a very difficult haze to make clear.



While I didn't explicitly spoil the stage results, I gaffed bad, not proper etiquette, apologies. I was up since 3am watching the Giro and jacked on tons of caffeine. Sorry.

Dubbayoo

I believe he loses every result from the Tour up to the re-banning, since he would have been ineligible to race those events. I could be wrong since the ban never started.

collegeskier

Even if CAS clears him, does that mean he will be racing the TDF. I would not be surprised if ASO does not invite SaxoBank. Did ASO agree to let in all pro-tour teams with the UCI?

kabex

Absolutely amazing stage, and excellent form by Contador.

I believe he's got the rosa locked as long as nothing extraordinary happens(accident,etc) since so far no climber has shown such good form and we still have 2 time-trials left, in the climbing TT he will definitely gain a decent lead on any opponent(in case his maglia rosa gets taken away) and "just in case" he has the final "flat" TT.

It's gonna be hard to compete, and if he doesn't get banned he might go for the triple GT. I doubt there will be any super strong contenders at the Vuelta.

FogVilleLad

In addition to his superior physical ability, Contador is a superb, spontaneous tactician - impossible to predict. IMO Andy Schleck is the only rider who stands a chance against him in a tour.

Kind of Blued

Cancellara is an unstoppable juggernaut, doing 30mph over cobbles, pavement, curbs, children, dogs, etc. It's alot easier to stick with him in his big draft than it is to stick with Contador going 10-15mph up a mountain, especially when Contador executes his usual "attack in spurts" style as well as he did today.