xtrout1

Every race I can remember, I see Alberto Contador safely tucked behind one of his competitors sucking his wheel saving himself until the end where he sprints past all rested thanks to them.

bruin11

Obviously you don't watch many races. It's not up to Contador to take the lead when riding up the climb with Froome. He's the race leader. It's up to Froome to try and drop him if he wants to make up time.

Thulsadoom

please....

paperbackwriter

I assume you've only watched about 3 racing days in your life. I can help you with your problem though:

Tour 2009. Contador attacks on Verbier >5 kms from the finish line (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibVr481vCIk). For the whole Tour he has little team support thanks to Armstrong and quite a few times you can see him cooperating at the front - for example with Andy and Frank.

Giro 2011. He not only attacks all the time; on Etna >6 kms from the finish, on other MTFs as well, he even paces Tiralongo on one stage (who's not his teammate, simply his friend).

Tour 2011. He attacks on stages which finish after a descent at least 2 times - cooperates with Sanchez (and Evans on one of those), takes many pulls at the front and is the one who initiated an attack. Attacks 100 km from the finish on Alpe d'Huez stage.

Vuelta 2012. Attacks pretty much on every mountain stage; Rodriguez keeps outsprinting him at the finish line. Attacks on Fuente De stage very far from the finish (I don't know how far exactly as the race wasn't even live yet), wins the race with a very daring and unconventional move.

Tour 2014. Attacks Nibali on the only mountain stage that he rode.

There was also this Paris-Nice stage (I suppose it was 2009, the year that in which he lost the GC because of bonking) during which he took a turn at the front. At that time there were only favourites left. His turn was so strong he simply rode everyone off his wheel.

Also Tour 2007. Sure, he didn't attack Rasmussen a single time, only stayed on his wheel.

And Tirreno-Adriatico 2014. He attacked 40 kms from the finish, didn't he?


I could give more examples but I've already spent too much time on it - even those who dislike him would have to admit Contador is the most aggresive stage racer.
And holding yesterday's ride against him is pretty... laughable. Did Froome even ask him to come to the front? I doubt his main goal was to drop Rodriguez/Valverde, he's an ex-Tour winner, he's already finished 2nd in the Vuelta and everyone's aware he only cares about winning - he put in few accelerations to drop Contador. As for Contador, he came back from a broken tibia and still he was aggresive on pretty much every mountain stage. Even yesterday he didn't really wait to outsprint Froome (which guys like Rodriguez tend to do), he countered about a km from the finish. Also why should he give pulls and risk blowing up? He's the leader, he covered his main rival's attack and prevented him from taking bonus seconds. Blame guys like Valverde or Rodriguez who never put everything on the line and settle for podium.

Leinster

This.

Even last year in the Tour, when it was clear that he didn't have the legs to stay with Froome or Quintana in the mountains, he was trying to attack on the road to Memnoz. He could have sat in, but chose to go all out and it ended up costing him a podium spot. I dont' think there's any question who the most attack-minded GC contender in the peloton is currently, and his ride yesterday was tactically and athletically perfect.

xtrout1

This is how he always wins.


Alberto Contador (Astana) inherited a yellow jersey that will be marked with controversy. The two-time Tour champ bristled at the boos when he slipped on the maillot jaune, but by the time the dust settled in Bagneres-de-Luchon, he traded a 31-second deficit to Schleck to an 8-second advantage.
Read more at Great chain debate: Contador inherits yellow jersey - VeloNews.com

xtrout1

I can buy some of that. its just that for alot of the races I have seen him in. its the same story.

1. Wheel suck
2. Attack during mechanical
3. The worst... that stupid ****** shoot at the finish line.
Reminds me of shooter in Happy Gilmor.


He is no Eddie Merckx
But some like to think he is.

paperbackwriter

He's not Eddy Merckx and Eddy Merckx is not him. Who knows - perhaps Contador still wouldn't have been a great all-rounder had he been riding in the Merckx era. But it's just as possible that if Merckx was riding in the era of specialization - he would've been a mediocre rider.

Tell me which of the GC contenders wheelsucks in less races you watch... If Contador is a wheelsucker, everyone is.
As for the mechanical - yeah, it happened SO MANY TIMES. It has been said about 34 509 times already but in the same race, the Tour de France 2010, Andy Schleck built his 31-second advantage over Contador because he took advantage of his brother's crash that stopped AC. And he did that a day after Contador agreed to neutralize the stage because Andy crashed.

Keith99

Heck the OP would probably say Merckx sucked the wheel of Martin Van Den Bossche for most of stage 17 in 1969.

diphthong

now if this was a thread about the whiner andy schleck dropping his chain
while attacking then complaining about it or contador riding too fast for andy's
comfort on a sketchy descent, i'd be all for it. otherwise, it's trolling.

DLBroox

So basically after everyone seems to have proven he is not a wheel sucker you dig up some ancient history to keep the Contador hate you have alive.

Boring.

mprelaw

Which he eventually gave back when karma, in the form of "Spanish beef", bit him in the ass.

chasm54

Tell me, what do you think is the objective when racing your bike? To work as hard as possible, or to win?

paperbackwriter

I'm not sure this logic would resonate with some Contador's fans. Of course a win is a win but many people have their reasons for prefering Contador over riders like Evans/Valverde/Leipheimer and those lie precisely in the different styles of racing. Heck, people even prefer Contador over Froome because Froome is pretty much a one trick pony. Even though the Sky rider at the same time is pretty aggresive, many would take Contador's old school style over Froome constantly checking his numbers. Because that's what gave us Fuente De and Alpe d'Huez 2011 and this awesome Tirreno stage this year.
Vino once said that he views himself as an actor who's out there to create a spectacle - and I'd guess that's something Contador could agree with to an extent, which is why as the years pass he keeps gaining new supporters and even those who started off rooting for Schleck or someone else often change their minds.

That said, while it's entirely up to Contador how he wins and entirely up to cycling fans how they evaluate his performance, obviously it's easy to be too judgemental from the sofa. The facts are he just came back from a serious injury and a major psychological blow, and the way he handles himself in this Vuelta is admirable in itself; and you can't really say he's riding conservatively either.

bauhaus92

He may not be a wheel sucker but he is a frickin hypocrite. He whined big time when Valverde did the same thing to him the stage before. He said if Velverde would have worked together with him they could have eliminated Froome instead Valverde wheelsucked and dropped Alberto at the end. The very next day Contador finds himself in the same exact position where he could have worked with Froome and completely destroyed Valverde but instead he sat behind him wheelsucking, as he implied the day before, and dropped Froome at the end just like Valverde did to him.

Sixty Fiver

Doubtful... his performance in '69 has yet to be matched by any other rider and that level of domination has never been matched.

Zinger

I like Contador. He animates the race when it needs it.

And yeah all the red jersey wearer has to do in this race is to mark his nearest competitors. Nothing new about that. Winning bike races is largely about saving it for when you need it.

cthenn

Obvious troll is obvious. How this even got to 17 replies is beyond me.

diphthong

perhaps all of us, deep down inside, want to believe that alberto, has indeed, sucked quality wheel at some point.
i'm not willing to admit it in mixed company but on an interminable climb during a bf forum group ride-maybe.

dahoss2002

Andy, you should be the most grateful. How would you have ever won a race otherwise?

paperbackwriter

"Whined big time" is a bit exaggerated, isn't it? He simply said he asked others to work and they weren't interested, which is a shame considering Froome is the strongest rider he's faced in his career.

And the situation on Farrapona was different because Froome didn't want to work together and didn't ask Contador to take pulls. Read his interview - he clearly states his goal was to drop Contador, he accelerated as many times as he could but he simply couldn't do it. Also, have in mind, that AC didn't say that there was anything wrong with the fact that Valverde and Purito wanted to ride their own race - apart from the fact that it was most likely a tactical mistake they'll pay for. And guess what? Rodriguez is not on the same time as Froome any longer and Valverde only has 3" advantage. He read the race correctly when he said Froome may prove to be the biggest threat. Therefore on Monday he chose to work towards bigger margin on Chris. I doubt it was a mistake - a close-to-top-shape Froome can make up close to two minutes but Valverde/Rodriguez? When was the last time they did smth like that?

roadwarrior

Wow. I've read some less than stellar threads before, but this is a Hall of Famer.

xtrout1

Well written. Your a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for avoiding the personal insults.

Keith99

Hinault did, sort of, meaning he won everything in the TDF that Merckx did in 1969 over the course of his entire career.

No one has even sort of matched what Merckx did in the 1968 Giro.

If you take the 3 Grand Tours, The Worlds Championships and the 5 monuments no rider besides Merckx has ever won 3 or more in one year more than once. Only Coppi has won 4 in one year.

Merckx won 3 or more 7 years in a row, including 4 twice and 5 twice.

If careers were bike races only Hinault and Coppi are close enough to see Merckx going over the top of the last climb.

1748357

To me, this just says Contador sees Froome as more of a threat than Valverde. I believe he stated as much.