Contador, why dont I like him?

RichN95.

simonaspinall wrote:

Therefore the only solution is to make Contador wear a hat with a feather in and for him to wear the slogan 'Spanish Boys do it better' on his 'ar*e.

Well, this is a step in right direction then....

simonaspinall

The British don't want a successful sportsman...they want an entertainer.

Look at Murray - The best British tennis player for years and all the great British public say is he's a moaning Scottish charisma blackhole!

Now i'm not saying he should be more like Cav who runs his mouth and has something of the petulant teenager about him (albeit some may say he's just straight talking and if you don't like that then you can just f*ck off) but there has to be a happy medium.

He's clearly an amazing bike rider, good looking guy - Maybe some sort of Dali-esque eccentricity would lift him to the pantheons of the great...? Yes that's it! A weird moustache!

sampras38

adukeofkent wrote:

I was hinting at the human condition rather than my own personal thoughts.
I think I dont like the fact that he seems machine like, with little personality.
I wait for replys saying that if this is what is required to be a winner then so be it!

Perhaps we should discuss the definition of being facetious

Personalities off the pitch (so to speak) never bothered me and I'm more interested in what they do on it. For example, being a tennis player too, Sampras was my idol and he wasn't much of a personality on court. He just let his tennis do the talking. I was also a fan of Lendl and again, didn't say a great deal.

I appreciate we all gravitate towards athletes for different reasons though and I think the only athlete I've ever admired for the way they were as people was Muhammed Ali. The rest I couldn't care less whether they never spoke....especially footballers...;-)

antfly

I bet the Spanish find him boring too.
I think he`s sensible to keep his head down in case he gets found out.

jimmythecuckoo

andyp wrote:

He's ridden for ONCE, Discovery and Astana. That tells me all I need to know.

when you put it that way...

simonaspinall

sampras38 wrote:

adukeofkent wrote:

I was hinting at the human condition rather than my own personal thoughts.
I think I dont like the fact that he seems machine like, with little personality.
I wait for replys saying that if this is what is required to be a winner then so be it!

Perhaps we should discuss the definition of being facetious

Personalities off the pitch (so to speak) never bothered me and I'm more interested in what they do on it. For example, being a tennis player too, Sampras was my idol and he wasn't much of a personality on court. He just let his tennis do the talking. I was also a fan of Lendl and again, didn't say a great deal.

I appreciate we all gravitate towards athletes for different reasons though and I think the only athlete I've ever admired for the way they were as people was Muhammed Ali. The rest I couldn't care less whether they never spoke....especially footballers...;-)

Usain Bolt? Clearly a showman and backs it up on the track.

As you mentioned, people appreciate sports people for different reasons. Integrity, performance, charm, 'antics', passion and even humour are what makes a sporting spectacle and the most memorable events in sporting history...well, errr memorable.

Look at Jesse Owens, The Black Panther Salute, Ali & Foreman, Mercx with whatever injury he had at the time, Anquetil (sp.?) for being a bit errr 'special' at home, McEnroe, - doing things that are out of the ordinary and doing it on the pitch/road/track/court.

iainf72

My understanding is he's a pretty popular guy in the peloton.

I don't dislike him, think he's great to watch etc, but given the history of teams and the mind-blowing performances you just tend to think it's going to end in tears.

sampras38

iainf72 wrote:

My understanding is he's a pretty popular guy in the peloton.

I don't dislike him, think he's great to watch etc, but given the history of teams and the mind-blowing performances you just tend to think it's going to end in tears.

And whatever sport it is, when an athlete seems to be so far ahead of everyone else they will always get criticised and I think some people just get bored with the same winners all the time, forgetting perhaps what it actually takes to win that often. Again, I use Sampras as an example and I'm sure Agassi would have swapped all his adulation for as many slams as Sampras got. Agassi's biography certainly painted that picture.

glauciaregina9

pedro118118 wrote:

ShinyHelmut wrote:

I like him cos he beats Armstrong, why would anyone need any more reason than that?

Well, can beat a man 10 or 11 years older than himself, no longer at his peak... does that really count ??

I think Contador's media personality is a bit dull, but there's no doubting the talent

sampras38

glauciaregina9 wrote:

pedro118118 wrote:

ShinyHelmut wrote:

I like him cos he beats Armstrong, why would anyone need any more reason than that?

Well, can beat a man 10 or 11 years older than himself, no longer at his peak... does that really count ??

I think Contador's media personality is a bit dull, but there's no doubting the talent

+1

Makes me laugh when I here the comparisons to Armstrong and I'm hardly an Armstrong fanboy. Let's see what Contador has at the end of his career.

calvjones

sampras38 wrote:

glauciaregina9 wrote:

pedro118118 wrote:

ShinyHelmut wrote:

I like him cos he beats Armstrong, why would anyone need any more reason than that?

Well, can beat a man 10 or 11 years older than himself, no longer at his peak... does that really count ??

I think Contador's media personality is a bit dull, but there's no doubting the talent

+1

Makes me laugh when I here the comparisons to Armstrong and I'm hardly an Armstrong fanboy. Let's see what Contador has at the end of his career.

Well, one more Giro and one more Vuelta at least.

Mind you I can't see him beating Armstrong's 7 Tours.

avoidingmyphd

Kléber wrote:

Given the way Saiz run the team it is impossible for me, I stress for me, to imagine riders under his management were not on the programme.

I agree, but I take some heart from the fact that the programme, as evidenced in your picture, explicitly provided that one of two options for Contador's share of the dope was "nothing".

Tom Butcher

andyp wrote:

He's ridden for ONCE, Discovery and Astana. That tells me all I need to know.

You could use a similar argument against Cadel Evans - Saeco (wasn't Corti there and was still there when they were involved in oil for drugs), Mapei around the time Garzelli was caught, Telekom where it has since become known doping was common place. This is professional cycling - if you are going to play guilt by association you aren't going to find a clean rider.

Fair play if there is definite proof linking Contador to Puerto - but you can't really argue he's guilty because he rode for those teams - especially the situation he's been in at Astana which was post Vino's doping and as an outsider to Bruyneel's favourites.

sampras38

calvjones wrote:

sampras38 wrote:

glauciaregina9 wrote:

pedro118118 wrote:

ShinyHelmut wrote:

I like him cos he beats Armstrong, why would anyone need any more reason than that?

Well, can beat a man 10 or 11 years older than himself, no longer at his peak... does that really count ??

I think Contador's media personality is a bit dull, but there's no doubting the talent

+1

Makes me laugh when I here the comparisons to Armstrong and I'm hardly an Armstrong fanboy. Let's see what Contador has at the end of his career.

Well, one more Giro and one more Vuelta at least.

Mind you I can't see him beating Armstrong's 7 Tours.

I'm not that convinced a giro or 2, or a Tour of Spain makes much difference and I'm sure if Armstrong decided to sacrifice a few of his tours to have a go at the other GT's it'd be a different story. I mean, Basso's now got 2 Giro's but comparing him to Armstrong is laughable. People like Menchov as well. Where are they when it comes to france, or people such as Di Luca, Garzelli etc?

What I like about Armstrong is his discipline and so many other riders go off the rails or lose focus after a while.

Tom Butcher

I don't see why it's laughable to compare the outstanding GT rider of this generation with the outstanding GT rider of the previous. I doubt Contador will win 7 TdF but he's got every chance of taking say 4 or 5 wins and ending up with a more rounded palmares than Armstrong. In Grand Tours he can climb and TT better than anyone - he probably isn't quite as good a bike handler as Armstrong and maybe doesn't have the personality to keep a team working 100% for him but I reckon his climbing just edges Armstrong at his best.

frenchfighter

Tom Butcher wrote:

he probably isn't quite as good a bike handler as Armstrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVzNFnOx-RA


I agree with most of your post. I agree with guilt by team association is a really ridiculous.

simonaspinall

frenchfighter wrote:

Tom Butcher wrote:

he probably isn't quite as good a bike handler as Armstrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVzNFnOx-RA


I agree with most of your post. I agree with guilt by team association is a really ridiculous.

+1 - That sent shivers...

dulldave

sampras38 wrote:

but comparing him to Armstrong is laughable.

Alberto Contador is 27 and has won 4 grand tours. He would have had 5 if he'd been allowed to ride. He's also won a bag full of smaller stage races.

By this age LA's notable wins were the world champs, Flech Wallone and one Tour de France. Of course he'd been out for a considerable period with cancer.

I don't see anything laughable in the comparison. In fact I'd say Contador was edging Armstrong so far. I think we'll see AC take the world champs and LBL before his career is out as well as any grand tour he chooses to target in any given year. I reckon he's capable of winning the Giro and Tour in the same year.

If he were to devote his career to it, I reckon he could win 8 Tours. But it would just be to compare himself to Lance. In many cycling fans' opinion, there are better cyclists to compare oneself to when you're at Contador's level.

roadiesean

The thing that staggers me the most about this most dullard of people (especially including the wanky gunslinger pose) is this......

ahem......

...........Operacion Puerto anyone ?

Why is it that everyone forgets that he was riding Manolo Saiz, was listed as a key concern in Puerto and then after he'd lost his job and was kicked into touch, he was finally "unimplicated" by the very assiduous Spanish courts (these were the courts that also said that Valverde had no case to answer for)

Remember people he (Contador) refused to undertake a DNA test to prove his blood wasn't in that Puerto raid collection. Hmmm, no smoke without fire.

IMHO he is a cheat that seems to have been forgotten about.

But then there is a lot of that going on !

Lets think, Basso, back in the fold, Scarponi, Vinokourov, Garzelli (now thats a top ten in the Giro you can believe in), Ricco is back but Rasmussen (who never even failed a test) can't get a ticket in a raffle. Whats that all about ?

Its getting to look a bit ridiculous up there in the stratosphere of pro cycling.

But also it doesn't help that Contador is also just such a boring rider (again, in my opinion) and he does make the worst ads ever, all of them, telly and magazines. I hope and pray that he gets hammered on the cobbles and never comes back this year. But, I'm a Cadel fan (now there is another really interesting guy) and I would love to see him do something this year !

iainf72

roadiesean wrote:

Remember people he (Contador) refused to undertake a DNA test to prove his blood wasn't in that Puerto raid collection. Hmmm, no smoke without fire.

No he didn't. He said he would be prepared to offer DNA if required.

roadiesean wrote:

But, I'm a Cadel fan (now there is another really interesting guy) and I would love to see him do something this year !

Ummm - He's done loads this year?

andyp

Guilt by association isn't necessarily ridiculous, especially when all the teams he's ridden for are known to have run team wide doping programs.

I love how Evans always gets cited as proof that this is a poor line of argument when he seems to be considered clean because of what exactly? He's Australian? Seems like a nice fella?

To think Contador is clean is ridiculous, open your eyes and look at what he does. How can a 61kg climber wipe the floor with the field in a TT? His power to weight ratio must be off the scale!

sampras38

Tom Butcher wrote:

I don't see why it's laughable to compare the outstanding GT rider of this generation with the outstanding GT rider of the previous. I doubt Contador will win 7 TdF but he's got every chance of taking say 4 or 5 wins and ending up with a more rounded palmares than Armstrong. In Grand Tours he can climb and TT better than anyone - he probably isn't quite as good a bike handler as Armstrong and maybe doesn't have the personality to keep a team working 100% for him but I reckon his climbing just edges Armstrong at his best.

There's a big difference between having every chance and actually doing it. Loads of athletes have the potential in all sorts of sports but not all of them do it. Only time will tell.

timoid.

sampras38 wrote:

I mean, Basso's now got 2 Giro's but comparing him to Armstrong is laughable.

Laughable indeed. Basso probably has proven he can win GT clean. Armstrong certainly couldn't.

What you think of as Armstrong's greatness is the his amazing ability to respond to PEDs. When Basso was on the same programme he won the Giro by over ten minutes and would certainly have won the tour had he not been rumbled for Puerto.

sampras38

Timoid. wrote:

sampras38 wrote:

I mean, Basso's now got 2 Giro's but comparing him to Armstrong is laughable.

Laughable indeed. Basso probably has proven he can win GT clean. Armstrong certainly couldn't.

What you think of as Armstrong's greatness is the his amazing ability to respond to PEDs. When Basso was on the same programme he won the Giro by over ten minutes and would certainly have won the tour had he not been rumbled for Puerto.

Do we have to have this boring old debate again?

sampras38

sampras38 wrote:

Timoid. wrote:

sampras38 wrote:

I mean, Basso's now got 2 Giro's but comparing him to Armstrong is laughable.

Laughable indeed. Basso probably has proven he can win GT clean. Armstrong certainly couldn't.

What you think of as Armstrong's greatness is the his amazing ability to respond to PEDs. When Basso was on the same programme he won the Giro by over ten minutes and would certainly have won the tour had he not been rumbled for Puerto.

Do we have to have this boring old debate again?

And all these what if's mean nothing.

dulldave

dulldave wrote:

Alberto Contador is 27 and has won 4 grand tours. He would have had 5 if he'd been allowed to ride.

Have to correct myself there. Doubt he'd have won all 3 GTs in the one year.

nickwill

I was having the same discussion about Contador over the weekend. I think I prefer cyclists with rough edges. I would far rather cheer on Evans or Cavendish partly for that reason.I also have doubts about any Spanish sportsman at present, particularly thos linked to Puerto.

dennisn

adukeofkent wrote:

He is amazing, I will give you that. Why dont I like him then?

I think there is something about the underdog, sometimes even the 'baddies' that I find more appealing. I find myself admiring Evans and Vinoukarov (baddy who will be supporting Contador) more after the giro.

Discuss

My theory has always been that you will learn more about a person by sitting down with them for a few beers than you will ever learn by simply reading what is printed. Might even change your opinion of said person. In fact I'm sure it would. Sort of like the Johnny Cash song ".... and I come away with a different point of view."(Boy Named Sue)

antfly

OK. What`s his local?

dennisn

antfly wrote:

OK. What`s his local?

You're sounding like a stalker.