Contador is a class act
07-25-09, 10:00 AM
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Contador is a class act
Despite all the flack that the English-speaking media is giving him, Contador is a great champion. He is also a great sportsman and showed it today.
07-25-09, 10:02 AM
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Watching Alberto match up with the Schleck boys in the coming years will be interesting for sure.
07-25-09, 10:18 AM
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He may or may not be. Its easy to be a sportsman when the race is in the bag. I tend to look how they react when its not and well, lets face it this tour he has had some questionable moves.
Not taking a thing away from him and his abilities, hes the best on the planet right now, no question.
Not taking a thing away from him and his abilities, hes the best on the planet right now, no question.
07-25-09, 10:26 AM
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He may or may not be. Its easy to be a sportsman when the race is in the bag. I tend to look how they react when its not and well, lets face it this tour he has had some questionable moves.
Not taking a thing away from him and his abilities, hes the best on the planet right now, no question.
Not taking a thing away from him and his abilities, hes the best on the planet right now, no question.
ed rader
07-25-09, 10:42 AM
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If Contador took off and tried to win the stage today, everyone would have let him go. Many people were picking Contador to win the stage; even some Astana teammates (see Levi's blog).
Instead, he spent the whole day pulling Armstrong up to Andy or countering Andy's moves to let Armstrong catch back up. Without Contador's help, Armstrong could easily have lost his podium spot.
Instead, he spent the whole day pulling Armstrong up to Andy or countering Andy's moves to let Armstrong catch back up. Without Contador's help, Armstrong could easily have lost his podium spot.
07-25-09, 10:47 AM
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The only problem with you logic is he wasn't fighting Andy for third place.
LA did well for himself today, but AC held back just to make everything was square. I wish he would have flown the coup and won the stage. He will regret that.
Maybe he is going to Radioshack afterall.
Richard
LA did well for himself today, but AC held back just to make everything was square. I wish he would have flown the coup and won the stage. He will regret that.
Maybe he is going to Radioshack afterall.
Richard
If Contador took off and tried to win the stage today, everyone would have let him go. Many people were picking Contador to win the stage; even some Astana teammates (see Levi's blog).
Instead, he spent the whole day pulling Armstrong up to Andy or countering Andy's moves to let Armstrong catch back up. Without Contador's help, Armstrong could easily have lost his podium spot.
Instead, he spent the whole day pulling Armstrong up to Andy or countering Andy's moves to let Armstrong catch back up. Without Contador's help, Armstrong could easily have lost his podium spot.
07-25-09, 10:48 AM
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If someone would tell him that the pistol shot salute is cheesy to the point of being painful to watch.
Apperantly gifting stage 18 to the Schlecks after they did all the work dropping KlOden. Yeah, magnanimous.
Yes, he can ride, but I'm not much of a fan.
Apperantly gifting stage 18 to the Schlecks after they did all the work dropping KlOden. Yeah, magnanimous.
Yes, he can ride, but I'm not much of a fan.
07-25-09, 10:51 AM
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Give the kid a break for pete's sake. He is trying to win a race not run a day care center. He discussed the attack with Kloden, so I doubt Kloden has any problems with what he did. I am sure he feels badly about dropping Kloden, and putting more time on Lance, but this is a race not a no drop group ride.
Richard
Richard
07-25-09, 10:57 AM
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Give the kid a break for pete's sake. He is trying to win a race not run a day care center. He discussed the attack with Kloden, so I doubt Kloden has any problems with what he did. I am sure he feels badly about dropping Kloden, and putting more time on Lance, but this is a race not a no drop group ride.
Richard
Richard
It'll fall on deaf ears though.
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07-25-09, 11:07 AM
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.ed rader
07-25-09, 11:10 AM
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The only problem with you logic is he wasn't fighting Andy for third place.
LA did well for himself today, but AC held back just to make everything was square. I wish he would have flown the coup and won the stage. He will regret that.
Maybe he is going to Radioshack afterall.
Richard
LA did well for himself today, but AC held back just to make everything was square. I wish he would have flown the coup and won the stage. He will regret that.
Maybe he is going to Radioshack afterall.
Richard
"no gifts".
i guess that only applies to giving, not receiving.
what a boring, politically correct stage.
ed rader
07-25-09, 11:18 AM
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I think the problem with some people and Contador is they want him to micro manage every kilometer of a race like Lance did. I don't think that is how AC operates. He wants to race. Here is a stroy I am stealing from running back John Riggins. I think his high school or college coach told him this to motivate him. The response from Riggins is AC like to me.
Coach says John if you want to win you have to be like player A. Player A always gets plenty of rest while player B is out partying and having a good time. Player A always eats properly while player B is eating pizza and drinking beer. Player A trains properly and understands the entire field. Player B is hitting on girls. Then during the race at the finish line player A stretches to nose player B at this line. Riggins replies that player B sure is talented.
Richard
Coach says John if you want to win you have to be like player A. Player A always gets plenty of rest while player B is out partying and having a good time. Player A always eats properly while player B is eating pizza and drinking beer. Player A trains properly and understands the entire field. Player B is hitting on girls. Then during the race at the finish line player A stretches to nose player B at this line. Riggins replies that player B sure is talented.
Richard
07-25-09, 11:24 AM
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I think the problem with some people and Contador is they want him to micro manage every kilometer of a race like Lance did. I don't think that is how AC operates. He wants to race. Here is a stroy I am stealing from running back John Riggins. I think his high school or college coach told him this to motivate him. The response from Riggins is AC like to me.
Coach says John if you want to win you have to be like player A. Player A always gets plenty of rest while player B is out partying and having a good time. Player A always eats properly while player B is eating pizza and drinking beer. Player A trains properly and understands the entire field. Player B is hitting on girls. Then during the race at the finish line player A stretches to nose player B at this line. Riggins replies that player B sure is talented.
Richard
Coach says John if you want to win you have to be like player A. Player A always gets plenty of rest while player B is out partying and having a good time. Player A always eats properly while player B is eating pizza and drinking beer. Player A trains properly and understands the entire field. Player B is hitting on girls. Then during the race at the finish line player A stretches to nose player B at this line. Riggins replies that player B sure is talented.
Richard
i've never seen a situation where the yellow jersey was so maligned by his own team.
contador should have fired the pistol today atop ventoux.
ed rader
07-25-09, 11:26 AM
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Contador was great today. You can't keep firing bullets day after day durng a GT. You also have to play the team game. He deserves this victory and I congratulate him. Far and away the best rider.
07-25-09, 11:35 AM
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have we seen any celebrating from team astana? do they mob alberto like columbia does cav after a stage win? hell no. many of the astana guys will be getting their checks signed by lance next year. even horner has badmouthed contador.
i've never seen a situation where the yellow jersey was so maligned by his own team.
contador should have fired the pistol today atop ventoux.
ed rader
i've never seen a situation where the yellow jersey was so maligned by his own team.
contador should have fired the pistol today atop ventoux.
ed rader
Lance should have sucked it up and threw all of his support behind AC. That would have been true team leadership. They had the yellow jersey, the most dominant rider in the race, but they were bent because AC wasn't following their "team" tactics. Tactics that weren't the best strategy for AC to dominate the race. Contador should have had well over a 5 minute lead going into the ITT. But he'd been reigned in on the pyrenees.
07-25-09, 11:40 AM
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That was a whole different ballgame. Did Armstrong have a team mate to protect that year from slipping off the podium?
07-25-09, 11:41 AM
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Yes.
Lance should have sucked it up and threw all of his support behind AC. That would have been true team leadership. They had the yellow jersey, the most dominant rider in the race, but they were bent because AC wasn't following their "team" tactics. Tactics that weren't the best strategy for AC to dominate the race. Contador should have had well over a 5 minute lead going into the ITT. But he'd been reigned in on the pyrenees.
Lance should have sucked it up and threw all of his support behind AC. That would have been true team leadership. They had the yellow jersey, the most dominant rider in the race, but they were bent because AC wasn't following their "team" tactics. Tactics that weren't the best strategy for AC to dominate the race. Contador should have had well over a 5 minute lead going into the ITT. But he'd been reigned in on the pyrenees.
07-25-09, 11:41 AM
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So what's the problem with that? I always thought that's how cycling teams were supposed to operate?
And it certainly wasn't boring. If I could find lines of type on a screen exciting, the stage wasn't boring.
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07-25-09, 11:43 AM
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Unfortunately, I'm at work so I've only been able to follow the race on the Velonews feed, rather than actually watching it on Versus, but it appears that Contador did a good job towards getting the maximum possible finish for Astana, him in first, Lance in third.
So what's the problem with that? I always thought that's how cycling teams were supposed to operate?
And it certainly wasn't boring. If I could find lines of type on a screen exciting, the stage wasn't boring.
So what's the problem with that? I always thought that's how cycling teams were supposed to operate?
And it certainly wasn't boring. If I could find lines of type on a screen exciting, the stage wasn't boring.
07-25-09, 11:57 AM
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Unfortunately, I'm at work so I've only been able to follow the race on the Velonews feed, rather than actually watching it on Versus, but it appears that Contador did a good job towards getting the maximum possible finish for Astana, him in first, Lance in third.
So what's the problem with that? I always thought that's how cycling teams were supposed to operate?
And it certainly wasn't boring. If I could find lines of type on a screen exciting, the stage wasn't boring.
So what's the problem with that? I always thought that's how cycling teams were supposed to operate?
And it certainly wasn't boring. If I could find lines of type on a screen exciting, the stage wasn't boring.
since when has a stage win on a finish like ventoux been a bad thing for the yellow jersey on the penultimate stage of the tour de france?
only in 2009.......
like you said, you haven't seen the race yet........................
ed rader
07-25-09, 12:00 PM
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07-25-09, 12:02 PM
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