Nairo can't roll and is massively over rated, discuss..

itboffin

Hold your line people this race is far from over

davidof

Joelsim wrote:

hypster wrote:

McStumpy wrote:

Well, no, as walking a mile in cleats would be silly.

As is running up Mont Ventoux

It's a shame it wasn't Porte on Ventoux.

It would've been Run BMC.

walk this way !

pinno

itboffin wrote:

Hold your line people this race is far from over

Mmm it is. Contador had a little dig. Looks like he's found his legs but how much is in the tank and is his deficit insurmountable regardless?
Quintana may be ahead but the TT will loom large in his head.
Froome is looking good and might get stronger in the 3rd week but having won the tdf, he'll be going in to the unknown.

itboffin

I would love to see Contador do something but I cant help feeling he's not arsed to do much whilst still with Tinkoff

pinno

itboffin wrote:

I would love to see Contador do something but I cant help feeling he's not arsed to do much whilst still with Tinkoff

You honestly think it boils down to that? If nothing comes of the Vuelta, then this year has been a write off for him. He looks well patched up, can't have helped.

I'm hoping that he'll be the 'fresher' of the 3 protagonists in the next 8 days or so. Don't know how, without a mammoth effort, he's going to bridge the gap to Quintana.

norvernrob

Contador is done. He isn't going to beat Quintana or Froome in any GT unless something happens to them.

itboffin

noooo say it aint so

I love watching Contador v Froome battles

norvernrob

itboffin wrote:

noooo say it aint so

I love watching Contador v Froome battles

Me too, but I think their 'in prime' crossover was a brief one. Froome's career really took off just as Contadors started fading, and it's only really a close battle now when Froome isn't in peak condition.

joelsim

Yep. Contador is no better than Chaves/Pinot these days. There are 2 riders way above and Bardet and a couple of others closing in on the top group.

pinno

Joelsim wrote:

Yep. Contador is no better than Chaves/Pinot these days. There are 2 riders way above and Bardet and a couple of others closing in on the top group.

I don't think there is much doubt that Contador is at the end of his peak but with the crashes he's had in recent tours, it is difficult to measure exactly what the difference is. Not only that, it was plainly evident from last year's Giro that Tinkoff are not a really strong outfit. Again in this tour the TTT (9th - hopeless for GC contention) was a let down and Contador has been left isolated yet again in critical parts of the race so far.
With a much better team behind him , he might be in a better position. He might also be better protected. A strong squad may offset some frailties.

blazing_saddles

Although he's won GTs since his ban, Contador has looked a shadow of his former self, post 2011.
His fans make much of his 2014 Vuelta win over Froome, but with a question mark as to just how fit and in condition the Sky leader was, that now looks to be an anomaly.
There can be little doubt he is decline and that it began at a relatively young age for the modern era.
In stark contrast to Alejandro Valverde, who's ban seems to have served as a restful break, allowing him to return stronger, more durable and with the cycling life expectancy of a giant tortoise.

joelsim

:shock: Froome's skinsuit.

https://twitter.com/CoshJunningham/stat ... 6751243265

TheBigBean

Contador looked pretty good all year in 2014, but he's finished, like Cavendish.

joelsim

TheBigBean wrote:

Contador looked pretty good all year in 2014, but he's finished, like Cavendish.

You only have to use your eyes to see him struggle, every time he comes up against Froome or Quintana he gets dropped again and again.

ic.

Joelsim wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Contador looked pretty good all year in 2014, but he's finished, like Cavendish.

You only have to use your eyes to see him struggle, every time he comes up against Froome or Quintana he gets dropped again and again.

Yep. Great, isn't it?

RichN95.

Contador's current career status was ably discussed in the film Trainspotting - as seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQD-dXfHrvk


Sick Boy: All I'm trying to do is help you understand that the 2014 Vuelta is merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.

Mark "Rent-boy" Renton: What about the 2015 Giro?

Sick Boy: I don't rate that at all.

Mark "Rent-boy" Renton: Despite Tinkoff's plans for the double?

Sick Boy: That means f*** all. It's a sympathy win.

Mark "Rent-boy" Renton: Right. So we all get old and then we can't hack it anymore. Is that it?

Sick Boy: Yeah.

dennisn

IC. wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Contador looked pretty good all year in 2014, but he's finished, like Cavendish.

You only have to use your eyes to see him struggle, every time he comes up against Froome or Quintana he gets dropped again and again.

Yep. Great, isn't it?

Typical idiotic fans. Oh, you didn't win the TDF this year? What a bum.

joelsim

dennisn wrote:

IC. wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Contador looked pretty good all year in 2014, but he's finished, like Cavendish.

You only have to use your eyes to see him struggle, every time he comes up against Froome or Quintana he gets dropped again and again.

Yep. Great, isn't it?

Typical idiotic fans. Oh, you didn't win the TDF this year? What a bum.

I personally wasn't saying that at all Dennis. I like Contador and enjoy watching him race. But he isn't the rider he once was. That is a fact whether you like it or not.

TheBigBean

Joelsim wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Contador looked pretty good all year in 2014, but he's finished, like Cavendish.

You only have to use your eyes to see him struggle, every time he comes up against Froome or Quintana he gets dropped again and again.

So he is currently slower than Froome and Quintana as he no doubt would have been if both riders were around throughout his career at their peaks.

Contador has won one GT by more than 2 mins. (Two if you include his 2011 ghost performance at the Giro). Froome has won two GTs by more than 4 mins. Contador never really dominated races, and he still doesn't.

yorkshireraw

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Although he's won GTs since his ban, Contador has looked a shadow of his former self, post 2011.
His fans make much of his 2014 Vuelta win over Froome, but with a question mark as to just how fit and in condition the Sky leader was, that now looks to be an anomaly.
There can be little doubt he is decline and that it began at a relatively young age for the modern era.
In stark contrast to Alejandro Valverde, who's ban seems to have served as a restful break, allowing him to return stronger, more durable and with the cycling life expectancy of a giant tortoise.

Valverde claimed to have ridden 48,000km during his ban in 2011. Putting that level of volume in, without the physical stress of racing, plus not travelling, not crashing etc. could serve as a great training base for the latter part of his career. He's certainly been one of, if not the, best all round (and year round) riders since his return in 2012.

joelsim

TheBigBean wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Contador looked pretty good all year in 2014, but he's finished, like Cavendish.

You only have to use your eyes to see him struggle, every time he comes up against Froome or Quintana he gets dropped again and again.

So he is currently slower than Froome and Quintana as he no doubt would have been if both riders were around throughout his career at their peaks.

Contador has won one GT by more than 2 mins. (Two if you include his 2011 ghost performance at the Giro). Froome has won two GTs by more than 4 mins. Contador never really dominated races, and he still doesn't.

Although he put in what was probably the best ever climbing performance up Verbier in 2009.

TheBigBean

That would be in the one GT he won by more than 2 mins.

fat daddy

It would be nice if Contador could swallow his pride and take on a number 2 role in a team. He is still very powerful and dangerous.

Imagine him as your number 2, pacing you up a climb, going for a beak and waiting 2 mins up the road for when you want to bridge across, spending half the day on the the front of a line dragging your arse along.

Him as a number 2 would make a fapping awesome beginning of a decent team

Edit: well it would be great until he crashed each tour and left your team a man down relying on the weaker riders.

bobmcstuff

Potentially he wouldn't crash so much if he wasn't in the team leader's role. Maybe.

TheBigBean

...and Cavendish needs to become a lead out man.

Richmond Racer 2

Get out, Bean


As for Bert, he will never go 2nd man. We knows this.

salsiccia1

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Get out, Bean


As for Bert, he will never go 2nd man. We knows this.

And nor should he. He didn't fluke last year's Giro, and he's just been falling off his bike a lot lately. If he stays upright he's still a major contendah

TheBigBean

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Get out, Bean


As for Bert, he will never go 2nd man. We knows this.

In case it wasn't obvious, I think that Cavendish should not become a lead out man and that Contador should not become a domestique. Not yet anyway.

pinno

TheBigBean wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Contador looked pretty good all year in 2014, but he's finished, like Cavendish.

You only have to use your eyes to see him struggle, every time he comes up against Froome or Quintana he gets dropped again and again.

So he is currently slower than Froome and Quintana as he no doubt would have been if both riders were around throughout his career at their peaks.

Contador has won one GT by more than 2 mins. (Two if you include his 2011 ghost performance at the Giro). Froome has won two GTs by more than 4 mins. Contador never really dominated races, and he still doesn't.

Referee !

That is a totally disingenuous post and not only that, totally flawed.

First of all, Froome has had one of the strongest teams around him, pacing him almost every step of the way.
Second, you can only beat who's in front of you - whether its by 8 seconds or 8 minutes is irrelevant.
Thirdly, it's like saying "Would a Mohammed Ali beat a Mike Tyson in their prime?". A hypothetical question which is impossible to answer and any conclusion drawn is erroneous.

For the other posters (particularly the holier than thou brigade), who seem to be taking some sort of pleasure out of the apparent demise of a man* who has lit up previous tours is plain sh1t really.

*..and that goes for Cav too.

No_Ta_Doctor

Pinno wrote:

For the other posters (particularly the holier than thou brigade), who seem to be taking some sort of pleasure out of the apparent demise of a man* who has lit up previous tours is plain sh1t really.

*..and that goes for Cav too.

Sorry, but I regard Contador as part of the dark recent past of cycling and the sooner he's gone the better. He doesn't get a let-off from me for being an entertaining rider that has "lit up tours" (are you sure that's not "been lit up on tours"), but then neither do Rasmussen, Ricco, Pantani or a host of others.