Contadors program

iainf72

Some details announced

Tour of the Algarve
Paris-Nice
Castille-Leon
Pais Vasco
Dauphine Libere

I know who my pound coin is on for P-N then....

dave_1

iainf72 wrote:

Some details announced

Tour of the Algarve
Paris-Nice
Castille-Leon
Pais Vasco
Dauphine Libere

I know who my pound coin is on for P-N then....

LA is in Paris Nice...Contador will not treat it as training IMO...he will want to make it clear he is stronger....aside from Astana producing a winner ...what a brilliant rivalry Paris Nice has in store!!!

blazing_saddles

iainf72 wrote:

Some details announced

Tour of the Algarve
Paris-Nice
Castille-Leon
Pais Vasco
Dauphine Libere

I know who my pound coin is on for P-N then....

Davide Rebellin?
I hope it snows.

iainf72

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Davide Rebellin?
I hope it snows.

Do you think Savio's mob will be invited? I'd expect they'd go to Tirreno?

FJS

iainf72 wrote:

Some details announced

Tour of the Algarve
Paris-Nice
Castille-Leon
Pais Vasco
Dauphine Libere

I know who my pound coin is on for P-N then....

According to Flemish media that's it for him, just those 5 races, his whole complete pre-tour program. Just one race between 11 April and 5 July.....

blazing_saddles

iainf72 wrote:

Do you think Savio's mob will be invited? I'd expect they'd go to Tirreno?

Tirreno for them, but the P-N wildcards will soon become a thing of interest.

As already pointed out. Bertie appears to be following the tried and tested Armstrong/Bruyneel preparation programme.

Arkibal

according to his website,
http://www.albertocontador.es/prensa.detalle.php?id=72
his aim is at the Castilla y León, not sure if he'll go for P-N overall.

Lance and Contador won't race together until the TdF.

dave_1

Arkibal wrote:

according to his website,
http://www.albertocontador.es/prensa.detalle.php?id=72
his aim is at the Castilla y León, not sure if he'll go for P-N overall.

Lance and Contador won't race together until the TdF.

LA said he is doing Paris Nice didn't he? :?

skavanagh.bikeradar

Yes he did.

edhornby

Blazing Saddles wrote:

As already pointed out. Bertie appears to be following the tried and tested Armstrong/Bruyneel preparation programme.

:twisted:

Chapeau Sir !

calvjones

Arkibal wrote:

according to his website,
http://www.albertocontador.es/prensa.detalle.php?id=72
his aim is at the Castilla y León, not sure if he'll go for P-N overall.

Lance and Contador won't race together until the TdF.

He's nearly cooked himself winning the Dauphine in the past. Can't see him looking to peak in March, especially as he'd have to win it on a mountain with no significant ITT (assuming they don't bring back Eze :?:)

calvjones

Sorry, meant LA not 'AC'

dave_1

Contador willl never win the vuelta or Giro again...it willl be TDF every year with suspect looking breaks from racing like LA which leads one to wonder if the rider and his support staff are merely trying to reduce the odds of being tested and caught while putting in brutal training blocks no human body can handle naturally...

calvjones

"The remainder of April and start of May will be spent training. "I will do reconnaissance rides of Tour stages and will do specific training to get better in the mountains and time trials."

Contador will then participate in his final race before the Tour, in the Dauphiné Libéré (June 7-14)"

So between mid-May and the Dauphine he will be... putting his feet up?

Kléber

In past years some riders have arrived a little bit (maybe just 1%) short of form and used the first week to ease themselves into top shape. The Tour is different this year, a rider will need to be in form from the beginning, for the hilly prologue, for the TTT and for the Pyrenees which arrive very quickly.

Still, thanks to the SRM system, many riders can now replicate racing scenarios in their training, it is a lot less hit and miss.

cswebbo

Last yeat Contador spent the end of April/early May on the beach (allegedly)...looks like its the same 'training plan' as 2008.
Every picture i've seen of him from the Astana 2008 Winter training camp shows a very nervous and uneasy look about him, guess he knows who the big boss is now.

Judging from this months Pro Cycling mag, Iain seems to have upset LA big time with his questions.
In it, LA virtually confirms a blacklist of mags/journo's did/does exist?

RichN95.

By way of contrast Schleck 2 (AC's main rival in my opinion) is going to be a lot busier:

"I start in Tour of California, then Paris-Nice," he told Cyclingnews. "I will do Milan San Remo, and also Criterium International. Next will be the Tour du Pays Basques, then the main goal in the first part of the season, [namely] Amstel, Fleche and Liège."

As regards his preparations for the July race, he is likely to follow a similar route to last year. "Normally I will do things like I do every year. I am going to take a week off after Liège, not do Romandie, then I think [it will be] the Tour of Luxembourg, the Tour de Suisse and then the Tour de France," he said. "We have a lot of training camps mixed in, too…I will do those main races, and there will be a load of training too."

blazing_saddles

The contrast in programmes is stark. It is, indeed, a key reason why a lot of folks don't like Bruyneel's boys.
Odd though it may sound to some, there are people out there who prefer to see riders racing throughout the season, not read about them training extensively, only to appear for few weeks in June and July.

What concerns me about Contador's "programme" is, that he is still a young rider. "
2009 could be as extensive as it gets. IF and it's a big if, he rides the Vuelta, this will probably for the last time.

If he follow's LA's path, the racing will continue to get "trimmed".

FJS

It's not a pretty prospect, but you're probably correct.
Didn't Merckx just state that Bertie wasn't the best current rider, because of his non-existant classics palmares? Let's hope there's more similar prominent criticism of the only-the-tour-counts approach.

This isn't something specfic to Bruyneel though. Indurain also masterded the art of only being bothered about the Tour de France (didn't win a single Vuelta, as a Spaniard, for crying out loud).
And I remember Lemond getting quite some criticism for only focusing on the Tour de France and World Championship double in his post-87 career.

calvjones

FJS wrote:

It's not a pretty prospect, but you're probably correct.
Didn't Merckx just state that Bertie wasn't the best current rider, because of his non-existant classics palmares? Let's hope there's more similar prominent criticism of the only-the-tour-counts approach.

This isn't something specfic to Bruyneel though. Indurain also masterded the art of only being bothered about the Tour de France (didn't win a single Vuelta, as a Spaniard, for crying out loud).
And I remember Lemond getting quite some criticism for only focusing on the Tour de France and World Championship double in his post-87 career.

Good points, although in the latter case, without having been shot half to death (& without the birth of EPO) we would have seen a very different LeMond.

timoid.

FJS wrote:

It's not a pretty prospect, but you're probably correct.
Didn't Merckx just state that Bertie wasn't the best current rider, because of his non-existant classics palmares? Let's hope there's more similar prominent criticism of the only-the-tour-counts approach.

This isn't something specfic to Bruyneel though. Indurain also masterded the art of only being bothered about the Tour de France (didn't win a single Vuelta, as a Spaniard, for crying out loud).
And I remember Lemond getting quite some criticism for only focusing on the Tour de France and World Championship double in his post-87 career.

Indurain did achieve the small matter of back to back Giro Tour doubles, so you can forgive him ignoring the Vuelta. He also won San Sebastian I think and was second in the World Championships.

Lemond rode anything and everything before being shot. Focusing on the Tour and World Championships was an act of necessity not choice.

I don't blame Contador for his approach. He wants to mazimise his profile and earnings and to do so means wearing yellow in Paris. Nothing else comes close.

teagar

RichN95 wrote:

By way of contrast Schleck 2 (AC's main rival in my opinion) is going to be a lot busier:

"I start in Tour of California, then Paris-Nice," he told Cyclingnews. "I will do Milan San Remo, and also Criterium International. Next will be the Tour du Pays Basques, then the main goal in the first part of the season, [namely] Amstel, Fleche and Liège."

As regards his preparations for the July race, he is likely to follow a similar route to last year. "Normally I will do things like I do every year. I am going to take a week off after Liège, not do Romandie, then I think [it will be] the Tour of Luxembourg, the Tour de Suisse and then the Tour de France," he said. "We have a lot of training camps mixed in, too…I will do those main races, and there will be a load of training too."

Sounds similar to Gesink's. Can't wait for their showdown in a few years...

I always got the impression Contador, a bit like Freire, picked his form up very quickly, without the need of much racing, (Giro anyone?) which also might explain his short list of races.

Shame though. Would be nice to see Contador give the classics a good go. At least we have Schleck to watch. Can't see him winning a classic either - not enough zip...

FJS

Timoid. wrote:

Indurain did achieve the small matter of back to back Giro Tour doubles, so you can forgive him ignoring the Vuelta. He also won San Sebastian I think and was second in the World Championships.

Lemond rode anything and everything before being shot. Focusing on the Tour and World Championships was an act of necessity not choice.

I don't disagree that Bruyneel has taken the focus on the Tour de France to another level, but it's not new. I remember Indurain's Giro wins well, and they were purely ridden in function of his TdF preparation, he just happened to be faster than other even in preparation. Lance won the Tour de Suisse during one of his TdF-win years, doesn't mean he took that race actually seriously. Indurain's San Sebastian win was before his Tour de France win years.
Lemond definitely had special circumstances, but than Contador, and LA before, would probably say they 'have no choice' either if they want to win the TdF...

micron

But they do have a choice, don't they? Stop working with Bruyneel, since he's the only DS employing the 'race little, prepare a lot' ethos.

padonbike

At least we have Schleck to watch. Can't see him winning a classic either - not enough zip...

I presum you mean Andy?
Why not? His brother Frank has similar style/characteristics as a rider and has previously won Amstel.

FJS

padonbike wrote:

At least we have Schleck to watch. Can't see him winning a classic either - not enough zip...

I presum you mean Andy?
Why not? His brother Frank has similar style/characteristics as a rider and has previously won Amstel.

Hope he proves otherwise, but I feel teagar is right; Frank has a mean sprint that Andy doesn't.

dave_1

Maybe Contador is worried about the unknown quantity that is LA...Contador perhaps can't be on the form he was in 08...he needs to be where he was in 2007...where he dominated the TDF and right up to the end in the final TT. I think that may be a factor for AC...Ac of 08 could not have followed Rasmussen on the peyresourde...or tunr in such a good final TT as he did in the 07 TDF. This is perhaps why AC is choosing the prep he is...and also sadly we must wonder what window of opportunity such big breaks from racing and testing give

blazing_saddles

FJS wrote:

I don't disagree that Bruyneel has taken the focus on the Tour de France to another level, but it's not new. I remember Indurain's Giro wins well, and they were purely ridden in function of his TdF preparation, he just happened to be faster than other even in preparation. Lance won the Tour de Suisse during one of his TdF-win years, doesn't mean he took that race actually seriously. Indurain's San Sebastian win was before his Tour de France win years.
Lemond definitely had special circumstances, but than Contador, and LA before, would probably say they 'have no choice' either if they want to win the TdF...

I think there's a fair bit of difference between Indurain just winning a couple of Giro's, indeed, in 1992 wearing pink for all but 2 days and Armstrong's 2001 Swiss win.
He simply took the 25km ITT, by 1 and a half minutes from........Gilberto Simoni! :shock:
(Twin Tyler 3rd)
I'd say Indurain was certainly riding more seriously than Armstrong..

afx237vi

FJS wrote:

padonbike wrote:

At least we have Schleck to watch. Can't see him winning a classic either - not enough zip...

I presum you mean Andy?
Why not? His brother Frank has similar style/characteristics as a rider and has previously won Amstel.

Hope he proves otherwise, but I feel teagar is right; Frank has a mean sprint that Andy doesn't.

He could have won Liege-Bastogne-Liege last year if him and his bro had used their heads. Both of the Schlecks in a winning 4 man break and they end up 3rd and 4th!

teagar

afx237vi wrote:

FJS wrote:

padonbike wrote:

At least we have Schleck to watch. Can't see him winning a classic either - not enough zip...

I presum you mean Andy?
Why not? His brother Frank has similar style/characteristics as a rider and has previously won Amstel.

Hope he proves otherwise, but I feel teagar is right; Frank has a mean sprint that Andy doesn't.

He could have won Liege-Bastogne-Liege last year if him and his bro had used their heads. Both of the Schlecks in a winning 4 man break and they end up 3rd and 4th!

I'm not so sure. Andy shot his last bolt on the climb beforehand, so he could barely accelerate, let alone make a move for Frank, and Valvarde had more zip and energy than both of them...

No-one nowadays can match Valvarde in an uphill sprint, not even Cunego.

dave_1

I see Contador putting a brave face on the Lance arrival at Astana...Contador is being far too nice to LA...think it is time he starts explainin he is the team leader.