Alberto Contador

sxt

What are people thoughts on his career?

ednwireland

http://www.albertocontadornotebook.info/palmares.html

the only question marks are liberty seguros and getting involved with bruyneel (although prob a shrewd career move)

prob the best grand tour rider of his generation

sxt

Greg le Mond , a former tour winner, certainly had question marks ,when Contadour sped up a mountain stage for victory and then won a speed time trial the next day in the TDF 2009.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/32116251/ns/sports-tour_de_france/



If Contador can cleanly beat an champion time trial specialist like Fabian Cancellara, specially after powering to a very hard* mountain stage vix
ctory the day before...then Contador is the best cyclist the world has known .No other rider in history could have done that.

sxt

Lets presume that Contador is clean...


Do you think that he will be considered one of the greatest ever by the time his carreer ends?

RobFowl

sxt wrote: »

Lets presume that Contador is clean...


Do you think that he will be considered one of the greatest ever by the time his carreer ends?

I can see him winning 5 tours but I think Schleck has the beating of him.
He's one of the very few to have won all 3 grand tours but his one day results will always stand against him being compared to the true greats (Merckx and Hinault are the 2 best IMO)

I think though history will judge him well.

Bruyneal, Once and liberty teams though don't help !!

DirkVoodoo

I think he is a legend, seems like a decent guy and when he attacks on a climb it can be pretty spectacular.

Pretty scathing comment of the "rivalry" between him and Andy on the eurosport website actually, I think it was under the blazing saddles blog.

stevie_b

never heard of him.... is he a vet?

Inquitus

He's a drug cheat, same as every other Tour winner for 20 ish years.

-Trek-

Have to agree the guy is a legend. I love watching him climb, the way he bounces on the pedals making it look so effortless.

Lumen

I admire his ability and style of riding, but for some reason I can't just can't get excited by him. He never seems to suffer very much. I understand that he's protected by his team and doesn't need to go crazy, but there's no spark there. A bit like Dani Pedrosa, just a quiet little man who gets on with his job.

The doping aspect bothers me, particular the TT performances, but then they're all subject to the same testing regime and from what I understand the opportunities for flagrant abuse are less than they used to be.

As for trying to place him amongst the greats, that doesn't interest me so much. Too much of popular culture attempts to reduce everything to "top 10 best ever"; life is richer than that.

sxt

I really enjoyed that stage up the mountain with Shleck and Contador on their own, the two best cyclists in the world slugging it out...almost in thier own bubble...oblivious to the carnival going on around them... I really hope their rivallary continues and that Shleck can win at least once against Contador in the tour.

Hermy

sxt wrote: »

No other rider in history could have done that.

Lance did.;)

jwshooter

sxt wrote: »

Greg le Mond , a former tour winner, certainly had question marks ,when Contadour sped up a mountain stage for victory and then won a speed time trial the next day in the TDF 2009.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/32116251/ns/sports-tour_de_france/



If Contador can cleanly beat an champion time trial specialist like Fabian Cancellara, specially after powering to a very hard* mountain stage vix
ctory the day before...then Contador is the best cyclist the world has known .No other rider in history could have done that.

i wounder whats le monds game , is he trying to rubbish others achievements to keep his alive .

as kelly once said about vo2max testing "does that yolk measure suffering" .

a grumpy old man ,with a chip on his shoulder .

drogdub

I have liked Contador since his climb of the Angliru in the 2008 Vaulta. Seems like a descent bloke too. One thing I don't like is the all colour gear when he goes ahead on GC. Andy doesn't do that.

petethedrummer

jwshooter wrote: »

i wounder whats le monds game , is he trying to rubbish others achievements to keep his alive .

All he has done is question the drug use and some extra terrestrial performances and everything he has said is turning out to be true.

ROK ON

For me his obvious talent takes a backseat to his lack of panache, character, suffering.
He is the schumaker or steve davis of cycling.

blorg

Personally I was not happy that he took adavantage of Schlek's chain drop. And I used to like him before that. Thing was, I thought, he could have done it without that. Although of course not for sure. After that I was cheering for Schleck the whole way.

jwshooter

blorg wrote: »

Personally I was not happy that he took adavantage of Schlek's chain drop. And I used to like him before that. Thing was, I thought, he could have done it without that. Although of course not for sure. After that I was cheering for Schleck the whole way.

i think there is more to it than just that ,there was not two of them on the mountain . i do think contador regrets what happened . so was he to let them men off .(no)
why did the others not pull up ? . hindsight is a great thing .

if shcleck is beaten by 34 seconds it would be terrible for both men .

contador slowed the race today for a crash . i would be a fan of schleck ,it had been a interesting tour with these two men .they have been playing mind games ,total respect between them .

lets hope there not team mates next year .

blorg

He didn't slow up though, he pushed the pace. Legal, yes. Good sportsmanship, No. Following other riders would be fine but he pushed on ahead himself.

BostonB

I know very little about cycling but watched the last tour and this one. From that narrow viewpoint, Contador seems to be in a different league to everyone else. He seems to have lots in reserve, but does just just enough to win.

ednwireland

blorg wrote: »

Personally I was not happy that he took adavantage of Schlek's chain drop. And I used to like him before that. Thing was, I thought, he could have done it without that. Although of course not for sure. After that I was cheering for Schleck the whole way.

its a freaking race get over it

Slideshowbob

I like Contador

Riding on during chaingate showed he wanted the Tour more than Schleck.

Schleck has not demonstrated the same hunger. He talks a good talk thats all

petethedrummer

Of Schleck and Contador I would prefer Contador. Not that I particularly like either. Did i miss something or has Schleck just turned up at the tour and is the second best climber in the world, without any results during the year? At least contador podiumed in the Dauphine and LBL.

kennyb3

petethedrummer wrote: »

Of Schleck and Contador I would prefer Contador. Not that I particularly like either. Did i miss something or has Schleck just turned up at the tour and is the second best climber in the world, without any results during the year? At least contador podiumed in the Dauphine and LBL.

I think thats what you call training and peaking. its not like he didnt finish 2nd last year. its not like he's come out of the blue in fairness

sxt

Is Contador no worse than any rider in the tour de france ?

CianRyan

There's a lot of bad press around Berty but I can't help but like the guy. He's interesting in the tour and seems to be a nice guy when I watch him in interviews.

I may have this come back at me next month but for now at least, I'm a Contador fan.

SurferDude41

Look lads, Contrador is a drugs cheat plain and simple!

The last clean winner of the Tour was Greg Lemond

Indurain, Riis ,Ullrich, Pantani,Armstrong, Landis...and Contrador all drug cheats...Wouldn't be entirely sure about Carlos Sastre either?

Are you guys just naive or plain stupid?

iregk

SurferDude41 wrote: »

Indurain, Riis ,Ullrich, Pantani,Armstrong, Landis...and Contrador all drug cheats...Wouldn't be entirely sure about Carlos Sastre either?

Are you guys just naive or plain stupid?

Gets popcorn

Captain Havoc

SurferDude41 wrote: »

Are you guys just naive or plain stupid?

Neither, I think you need to take reading lessons and read the charter. I will lift your ban when you can PM me the piece of the charter that does not allow drug speculation here.

Sundy

SurferDude41 wrote: »

Look lads, Contrador is a drugs cheat plain and simple!

The last clean winner of the Tour was Greg Lemond

Indurain, Riis ,Ullrich, Pantani,Armstrong, Landis...and Contrador all drug cheats...Wouldn't be entirely sure about Carlos Sastre either?

Are you guys just naive or plain stupid?

Hard to know about any of them!

Jawgap

I think ROK ON was spot on.

Bertie is talented, capable and in terms of performance the best there is at the moment...........but he's boring as f&ck in terms of personailty!!

Same as Schleck - nice guy, but the response to chaingate said it all. I think some of them are so worried about sponsors and their profile they won't say anything remotely controversial.

Can't see him doing this*




*I haven't posted it in a while, so I figured this was as good an excuse as any:)