Contador in the Olimpus of the Champions

victorponf

With just 25 years old, impresive:
1. Merckxs 5 Tour, 5 Giro, 1 Vuelta (11 GT)
2. Hinault 5 Tour, 3 Giro, 2 Vuelta (10 GT)
3. ANQUETIL 5 Tour, 2 Giro, 1 Vuelta (8 GT)
4. Gimondi 1 Tour, 3 Giro, 1 Vuelta (5 GT)
5. CONTADOR 1 Tour, 1 Giro, 1 Vuelta (3 GT)

For me have more merit those riders than others like Amstrong (7 Tour) or Indurain (5 Tour and 2 Giro)....

Patrick1.0

The Tour De France is the biggest one. You think that Contador is ahead of Armstrong and Indurain then? It's like the Olympic medal table, you're judged on how many golds you win. The Tour De France is the gold medal, Giro silver and Vuelta bronze. I think that's a pretty fair way of judging it.

donrhummy

Patrick1.0 wrote:

The Tour De France is the biggest one. You think that Contador is ahead of Armstrong and Indurain then? It's like the Olympic medal table, you're judged on how many golds you win. The Tour De France is the gold medal, Giro silver and Vuelta bronze. I think that's a pretty fair way of judging it.

You're right that the tour is worth more now than the giro but 30 years ago, the giro was contested a lot more by the top guys. Merckx wasn't the only top rider contesting the giro year after year. Now, it's closer to gold, silver, bronze but I'd say 30 years ago when Merckx won, it was more like:

Tour de France = 100
Giro d'Italia = 97-100 (depending on the year)
Vuelta a Espana = 80-95 (depending on the year)

Even Merckx himself said that once he won the giro for the first time, he knew he could win the TDF.

Today, though, the TDF is definitely the only one consistently contested by the top guys. So, while Bertie's reached history here, I'd say his record is more like a single-season record in other sports. It means he reached a level of greatness rarely ever reached but so far, only for a one year (approx) period. For Lance to win SEVEN TDF's, is to be at that level of greatness for seven years. Remember, Lance was not the only top rider contesting only the TDF as a grand tour. Every year, there were plenty of other top riders who also made it their priority and still never beat him. That matters.

mididoctors

his tour win is all fffed up due to rasmussen..

the race was controlled and dictated by the presence of a rider ejected 5 days to go ..

though contador probably would have won the race if rasmussen hadn't started the way a race evolves tactically is all to fffk if someone high on the GC is ejected

the race doesn't make sense if everyone is following a certain set of wheels that never get to Paris..

2008 survived Ricco and the boilermakers because Ricco was chucked out before he got too high up the GC (thank god)

and the team never dictated the race tempo..they just got dragged to the last climb of the day and rode their cera powered bikes to stage infamy..

for me contador is yet to win a tour.. if anything he was robbed in 2007 despite the podium photo..

Arkibal

so now if Contador's team doesn't ride like LA's, that's wrong too?
Ridiculous. Make your mind.

Chapeu to Contador, very impressive from the young guy, winning all 3 GT's is not likely going to happen anytime soon.
ASO actually made him a favor, who would have thought of that?!

JC.152

i think its good hes won other races instead of being one of those riders that focuses only on the tour like Cunego and Evans this year.

gabriel959

In my opinion winning the Vuelta and the Giro on the same year is more of a feat that winning the Tour only in a year.

dulldave

JC.152 wrote:

i think its good hes won other races instead of being one of those riders that focuses only on the tour like Cunego and Evans this year.

Yeah how sad is that? Cunego targetted the tour and still had a mare.

moray_gub

dulldave wrote:

JC.152 wrote:

i think its good hes won other races instead of being one of those riders that focuses only on the tour like Cunego and Evans this year.

Yeah how sad is that? Cunego targetted the tour and still had a mare.

Cunego's days as a GT contendor are over for me. He should stick to what he is good at such as hilly classics.

cheers
MG