Contador Interview

frenchfighter

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/alb ... -is-to-win

Good read.

As for the Classics, Contador says he has come to the conclusion that, “they are a lottery for me”, although he adds that he has a huge appreciation of their history and affection for them. For proof of this, recall that in April 2010 he drove more than 1,500 kilometres across Spain and France to race La Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège when a cloud of volcanic ash made air travel impossible. “Contador doing that was the greatest thing about Ardennes Week,” said Bernard Hinault at the time.

“For a Tour route to favour me, it’s got to be a normal route. Last year was different, not that good for the race, where there was a lot of time trialling and that was where the differences [on GC] were all established.

“It reminded me of my first Tour victory back in 2007, when there was 115km of time trialling.” That’s compared to just over 100km in 2012.

“But the difference was that in 2007 there were enough mountain stages to create a balance: Plateau de Beille, Peyresourde, Aubisque. You could attack the time triallists, whereas this year I don’t think the route of the Tour has been the most suitable in all senses: visually, in terms of spectacle and in terms of the race itself because there was nowhere to attack.

“There were really hard stages, lots of climbing, days that people don’t appreciate as being hard unless you were riding a bike in the race. But at the end of the day, if there is no final climb, it’s much harder to create those differences.

“The Vuelta was the complete opposite, though I think having 10 summit finishes as the Vuelta did was over the top. But in that sense, I believe far more in summit finishes than in stages that finish 20 kilometres after a climb.”

frenchfighter

Certified heavyweight, pure racer, complete champion.

ddraver

Forgot doper...




I almost feel bad...

Richmond Racer

almost but not quite, eh, ddraver...

thomthom

Spot on: “The Vuelta was the complete opposite, though I think having 10 summit finishes as the Vuelta did was over the top. But in that sense, I believe far more in summit finishes than in stages that finish 20 kilometres after a climb.”

Richmond Racer

ThomThom wrote:

Spot on: “The Vuelta was the complete opposite, though I think having 10 summit finishes as the Vuelta did was over the top. But in that sense, I believe far more in summit finishes than in stages that finish 20 kilometres after a climb.”

First thing I've ever agreed with him on

mooro

ddraver wrote:

Forgot doper...




I almost feel bad...

A class guy i reckon doper or not. We saw him after the vuelta stage into Jaca this year cycling back up to the hotel. He looks a bit like this photo, very very skinny but with quite a big head - odd! He was great with our kids after a hard stage when he didnt really have to be - his comically fast eating of three bananas in about 5 seconds amused my lad.

Also stopped for some banter with the local police too when all of the other riders scooted past and went straight into the hotel.

twotyred

Certified heavyweight, pure racer, complete champion

People used to think the same of this guy.



Steak-Boy's time will come

jerry3571

twotyred wrote:

Certified heavyweight, pure racer, complete champion

People used to think the same of this guy.



Steak-Boy's time will come

I think you mean Steak Boy's time will come again.

confused@BR

I hate it. I do so want to admire him, he seems such a pleasant, humble , man with so much talent as a cyclist. He has undergone personal trials and tribulations, yet overcome them. Personable, popular, without any apparent 'side', so much to admire. He rides a full programme each year, aggressively looking to win at every opportunity, the best rider in the peloton.

Then you get 'Clen' and all the doubts emerge, dodgy contacts and teams, no unequivocal rebuttal of doping, no longer quite as dominating when he makes a change of pace in the high mountains. Was he on 'the sauce' back in the day? Is he clean now? Or just better prepared?

I hate it.

deejay

frenchfighter wrote:

Certified heavyweight, pure racer, complete Grand Tour champion.

found to be a Miniscule doper.
They really had to dig deep to find anything and the high research cost to do so. (Cancer research perhaps)

twotyred wrote:

People used to think the same of this guy.

Did they the Morons. (I won't do the pic)
Never because I picked him as a Fraud (on some sort of Juice) in July 1999, before your Internet. (Pity that)
It was there before your eyes, which shows how many dumb bastards there are in this cycling world.

twotyred

found to be a Miniscule doper.

Come on. He was blood doping but they could only do him for the clenbuterol- and if it is miniscule that somehow makes it alright? If it was a miniscule quantity why was he taking it? If you were so perceptive about Armstrong why has Contador taken you in?

mooro

twotyred wrote:

found to be a Miniscule doper.

Come on. He was blood doping but they could only do him for the clenbuterol- and if it is miniscule that somehow makes it alright? If it was a miniscule quantity why was he taking it? If you were so perceptive about Armstrong why has Contador taken you in?

I think he just meant he was short. he was when we saw him.

RoadPainter

twotyred wrote:

found to be a Miniscule doper.

Come on. He was blood doping but they could only do him for the clenbuterol- and if it is miniscule that somehow makes it alright? If it was a miniscule quantity why was he taking it? If you were so perceptive about Armstrong why has Contador taken you in?

Indeed. Isn't it true that he'd have been done for blood doping, but they couldn't start as he was already being done from Clen (only allowed one doping violation per event)

His lawyers did a fantastic job at CAS - preventing evidence that would've pretty much proved blood doping - yet he still got done. Unlucky!

jerry3571

twotyred wrote:

found to be a Miniscule doper.

Come on. He was blood doping but they could only do him for the clenbuterol- and if it is miniscule that somehow makes it alright? If it was a miniscule quantity why was he taking it? If you were so perceptive about Armstrong why has Contador taken you in?

Don't forget Plasticisers too; probably from Doping Blood Bags. I read that Ferrari thought AC was a bit of a plonker using this type of bag as he had bags which were undetectable from any tests. See, AC should have stuck it out with Ferrari then he wouldn't have got himself in the mess he ended up in. Well.. unless he was spotted with Ferarri then he'd be in the poop by being seen with him. It's tricky being a bike rider like AC; a doper.

Jerry

chrisday

confused@BR wrote:

I hate it. I do so want to admire him, he seems such a pleasant, humble , man with so much talent as a cyclist. He has undergone personal trials and tribulations, yet overcome them. Personable, popular, without any apparent 'side', so much to admire. He rides a full programme each year, aggressively looking to win at every opportunity, the best rider in the peloton.

Then you get 'Clen' and all the doubts emerge, dodgy contacts and teams, no unequivocal rebuttal of doping, no longer quite as dominating when he makes a change of pace in the high mountains. Was he on 'the sauce' back in the day? Is he clean now? Or just better prepared?

I hate it.

+1

frenchfighter

Gee wiz, some of you are so up-tight. I feel sorry for you. I will just take huge enjoyment out of being a Contador fan as do those that are...the rest of you are missing out.

bompington

frenchfighter wrote:

Gee wiz, some of you are so up-tight. I feel sorry for you. I will just take huge enjoyment out of being a Contador fan as do those that are...the rest of you are missing out.

Don't worry, you can be assured that we all take huge enjoyment out of you being a Contador fan too.

jerry3571

frenchfighter wrote:

Gee wiz, some of you are so up-tight. I feel sorry for you. I will just take huge enjoyment out of being a Contador fan as do those that are...the rest of you are missing out.

Beleiving in Contador is like beleiving in a Husband or Wife who can't help shagging other people. At some point the word "Trust" comes in to the equation. Once the bond of trust has been broken then it's hard to rebuild.

I must say that it's hard enough to beleive in anyone in bike racing, let alone a rider who has been proven to have had a chemical in his body which has no place being there. Clenbuterol should not have been found in anyone's blood, let alone Contadors. Any amounts of Clenbuterol is a straight ban as there is no excuse for it being there.
The detection tests for Clenbuterol were improved and he got caught.

Jerry

PS- Just a small thought; if Bruyneel/ LA had anything to do with AC's dope testing then they could have had a hand in AC's positive result, like with our freind Mr Frank Shrek (quoted as "being poisoned"). LA did have a lot of people on the inside and most ex Postal/Discovery/Astana riders; have seemed to have been caught for doping after exiting the Team. Bit fishy!! :roll:

PPS- I do realise I may have contradicted myself there.

frenchfighter

I'm not reading these posts so dont bother replying.

I'm unsubscribing.

You guys are a joke.

Vino'sGhost

frenchfighter wrote:

Gee wiz, some of you are so up-tight. I feel sorry for you. I will just take huge enjoyment out of being a Contador fan as do those that are...the rest of you are missing out.

a +1 moment

pollys_bott

confused@BR wrote:

I hate it. I do so want to admire him, he seems such a pleasant, humble , man with so much talent as a cyclist. He has undergone personal trials and tribulations, yet overcome them. Personable, popular, without any apparent 'side', so much to admire. He rides a full programme each year, aggressively looking to win at every opportunity, the best rider in the peloton.

Then you get 'Clen' and all the doubts emerge, dodgy contacts and teams, no unequivocal rebuttal of doping, no longer quite as dominating when he makes a change of pace in the high mountains. Was he on 'the sauce' back in the day? Is he clean now? Or just better prepared?

I hate it.

Well put sir...

pollys_bott

frenchfighter wrote:

Gee wiz, some of you are so up-tight. I feel sorry for you. I will just take huge enjoyment out of being a Contador fan as do those that are...the rest of you are missing out.

I'm a fan of his attacking style. WRT whether he's fuelled by pasta or stuff you wouldn't get over the counter at Boots, I took the blinkers off a long time ago...

slim_boy_fat

frenchfighter wrote:

I'm not reading these posts so dont bother replying.

I'm unsubscribing.

You guys are a joke.

You state your opinion as though it's fact in the first two posts with the childish 'heavyweight' comment and then get pissed off when others express a different opinion. I don't get it.

jerry3571

I think if you were posting 20-30 years ago then you'd get an easier time. It's not a critisism of yourself more that you'll get a good duffing over from beleiving in people too much. It's the sport that's got the issues.

Someone once told me about they worked on a "Make over programme" for TV, where they had a set short period of time to make someone's house look great. The reality was that it looked great on the TV but in reality it was all held together with Masking Tape and glue and a was a total mess. I think Pro Cycling is like that; it tries to appear that it is a pure test of an athlete against the elements (as Henri Desgrange would have liked it) but in reality it's all about money and winning at all costs; legal or not.

Cycling is a funny sport, only coming in to being to sell Newspapers and products. Most other sports (UK based) like cricket, rugby, football, tennis, golf, crown green bowls were sports for the Well Heeled Amateur where good sportmanship was key. It was an invention for the Rich to fill their time and amuse themselves.
Bike racing is totally different and it's main purpose is to be a moving advertisement hoarding. The riders win to shift product and nothing else. Winning (and not getting caught for cheating) are the two major factors. Sponsors are the unmentioned demigods of the sport and dictate which races they would like to win depending on their Company's needs and nothing else. It's a cycnical sport and has always had doping because winning is a great advert. The early days, individual riders use to take huge risks to their health by taking drug cocktails to make them win as prize money; as it was their only way of an income. This sometimes short life was a better option than working in Agriculture or the Mines.

Another tricky point was that Religion was heavily involved in cycling and cheating was said to be permitted by the Church as the riders were seen to suffer (passing in to hell for a heavenly cause and all that). Religion is small beer in the UK but decades ago, the Church had a big Moral Shadow over the sport of Cycling and even now the Giro has it's own Preist to which riders can go to. Many races are blessed by Preists and even the Pope. I have got the opinion that the problems in Cycling stem from the clash of the Protestant (God fearing) english speaking world, meeting the old Catholic world of cycling where the culture of suffering and cheating go hand in hand. The Protestant opinion would be cheating is bad and if you get caught then your barred for eternity. English speaking people don't necessarily have the religion but they certainly have the morality of the old Protestant Church.
No one really talks about this side of things but the clash of cultures is interesting. This attitude even in the EU where the northern countries think the southern states are lazy and wasteful.

SOOOOO... don't get too involved in having Poster Boys as they'll let you down in the end. Cycling is a tricky sport to love; especially these days.

Jerry

PS- Sorry, I may have gone off on one. :roll:

PPS- I think you're really ok FF. Your'e a good one but a little too trusting.

bompington

too Many random Capitals

disgruntledgoat

So you post an unequivical love letter to a guy who divides opinion, other people have different opinions to you and explain why, without abuse and some cases quite eloquently) then you get all huffy and take your ball home?

ddraver

Wow Jerry!

FWIW I agree with confused@BR - I want to get all frenchie over good riders but it's not like Contador just does nt do anything to earn our trust, he actively says and does things that make him look as dodgy as...and then get's caught

Oh and I think as a personality he's as dull as dishwater too, but so a re many pro sports people and I don't have problems supporting them

jerry3571

bompington wrote:

too Many random Capitals

Sorry about that; just Googled "Nouns" and "Proper Nouns" and I haven't got a clue. I use capitals to highlight Rich as a noun but not as an adjective. Sorry, I blame the Thatcher Goverment for my lack of eductaion and in proper use of nouns and capital letters.

Jerry

PS- Still like FF though; if she was a bird then I'd say she was cute; as a bloke then...I dunno?? Still likeable though.

PPS- Can someone tell Procycling Magazine to not start sentences with an "and" or a "but"; sure that's bad english.

RichN95.

jerry3571 wrote:

I use capitals to highlight Rich as a noun but not as an adjective.

It should be underlined and in a different font too if you don't mind.

nathancom

jerry3571 wrote:

bompington wrote:

too Many random Capitals

Sorry about that; just Googled "Nouns" and "Proper Nouns" and I haven't got a clue. I use capitals to highlight Rich as a noun but not as an adjective. Sorry, I blame the Thatcher Goverment for my lack of eductaion and in proper use of nouns and capital letters.

Jerry

PS- Still like FF though; if she was a bird then I'd say she was cute; as a bloke then...I dunno?? Still likeable though.

PPS- Can someone tell Procycling Magazine to not start sentences with an "and" or a "but"; sure that's bad english.

Jerry you should read The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, classic account of effects of religious ethics in wider secular society. I definitely think you are on to something in your analysis of Catholic vs Protestant responses to cheating. Protestants don't have the same relationship to sin as Catholics.

I can't take Clenbutador seriously after the Rasmussen duel, too much rocket fuel in his legs for my taste...but then how many sportsmen can you take seriously these days.

However, I can understand the Contador love as he has that old school lightness on a bike compared to the LA era dopers. Still you have got to expect some stick for eulogising someone who is/was clearly juiced.