First of, yes i have quoted that whole thing
Second of, you are right...for me it's not about this injury in the first place. For me, it about his recovery...of course it's exceptional, but don't you think too exceptional?
P.S.: Was there really strong wind? I did not know that, because the german commentators are a bit too busy telling everyone, that every rider is a great rider...
Do you have any real proof as to how serious the injury really was? because for this to be anything but speculations based on hot air, we all need proof that Contador was as badly injured as the rumors and spin said. Which him being seen as early as end july suggest clearly it wasn´t.
Also is his recovery that exceptional compared to Rodriguez? Froome´s recovery? or a Valverde with a Tour in his legs?
This is after all a 31 year old top rider not a 41 year old
First off...
Contador was injured(i know...it wasn't much, but it was there) and then he rides a great vuelta(that's not the problem)...
And don't start with Horner...
And Contadors recovery is exceptional from Purito, Froome and Valverde, because Valverde and Purito did no major pulling and Froome did just rode a more efficient style, while Contador was pulling quite hard, while the other 2 spaniards saved energy and still cracked today...
deek12345 wrote: We'll mr Valverde and JRod. Should of worked with Bertie yesterday dumb asses
Nice ride from froome as we'll
Hindsight
--
Interesting to see Contador "wheelsuck" the whole way up the climb. I'm surprised to see so much praise for him here, when yesterday people were ripping apart riders who were following Contador up the climb.
valverde321 wrote:
Interesting to see Contador "wheelsuck" the whole way up the climb. I'm surprised to see so much praise for him here, when yesterday people were ripping apart riders who were following Contador up the climb.
Contador is the leader of race. There was no obligation for him to pull yesterday or today. In fact he did work for Valverde and Purito and if they had worked with him, they could have had 30-40 sec and it would not have been this close.
In fact even Froome did not fo much fuss about that today because he knows how cycling works
valverde321 wrote:
Interesting to see Contador "wheelsuck" the whole way up the climb. I'm surprised to see so much praise for him here, when yesterday people were ripping apart riders who were following Contador up the climb.
Contador is the leader of race. There was no obligation for him to pull yesterday or today. In fact he did work for Valverde and Purito and if they had worked with him, they could have had 30-40 sec and it would not have been this close.
In fact even Froome did not fo much fuss about that today because he knows how cycling works
Yes, Contador did what he should do! Maybe he also remembered what happend on Ventoux, where he attacked, and Froome came back and won
deek12345 wrote: We'll mr Valverde and JRod. Should of worked with Bertie yesterday dumb asses
Nice ride from froome as we'll
Hindsight
--
Interesting to see Contador "wheelsuck" the whole way up the climb. I'm surprised to see so much praise for him here, when yesterday people were ripping apart riders who were following Contador up the climb.
One thing you can be sure of and thats Contador dont wheelsuck, i think he proved that enough times.
Today was different and you cannot under any circumstance underestimated the psychological upper hand Froome have had over Contador, not to mention that his "rubberbanding" has made Contador nervous, just look at yesterdays stage where he despite his attacks spent more time looking after Froome then worrying about Valverde and Rodriguez sitting next to him.
So today he had to be almost 100% certain that Froome wasn't going to pull a fast one and speed of and leaving contador unable to follow and lose what time gap there was between them, after all its better to be 2nd and lose no time then try to be 1st and lose a lot of time.
My biggest pet peeve in cycling isn't power meters or wheelsuckign I think.
It's how the fricking cameras are managed! They seem to think after the finish that I want to see Froome scratching his ass, or Contador hugging someone. Or worse, a random heli shot of the mountain. That is completely unneeded. Meanwhile, guys in the top 10 of the GC are still finishing, and I have no idea what the situation is like behind, because we didn't see anybody behind Aru for the entire final climb. In the end, Dan Martin finished 7th, only 6 seconds after Aru, but I didn't even know he was there until the results. They barely got Aru, missed Martin completely to show Froome rubbing his head and having a drink, barely caught Gesink when they brought it back and left again after Sanchez. They should turn the cameras towards celebrations and stuff until after the top 10 at least is complete. This isn't the only race to do it, they all do, and it pisses me off. Rant over.
Anyway, I was very surprised to see Gesink and Martin up there at the end. Both of them were dropped before the attacks were made and looked to be having a pretty off day. I guess the other 2nd and 3rd tier contenders just over extended themselves and those guy were able to keep going. Obviously having Hesjedal as someone to help Martin on the final climb was crucial for Garmin. They have a great climbing team but no one is ever there. Glad Hesjedal finally was able to put in a "GC day" even with his GC over.
In fact, part of the reason I'm so stunned over Martin and Gesink is the fact that we didn't see them at all. yesterday Froome was back there so we got footage. But who even knows what went on 100 meters back from the Valverde group on that climb. but I covered that already.
Interesting stage for sure. I got to see Froome out of the saddle for the first time since the 2011 Vuelta I think. Contador asserted his dominance, and we saw big gaps between the top 5 for really the first time. Glad it happened that way. And to close...
Dan martin 6th on GC bitches.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
I completely agree on the part about the cameras. Im not sure about if they do it to this extent in the Tour (I dont think they do), but today was kinda too much. Much of the entertainment of a mountain stage for me is to look at the secondary GC-guys struggling to limit time losses at the finish line, especially since we only got pictures from 2 groups the whole way up and as you say, had no idea of how the rest of the race panned out.
The part about Froome, I am pretty sure he did that a couple of times in the Dauphine 2014 at the stage he won where he tried to distance Contador. Many times. Or maybe, it was his Mont Ventoux-attack all over again, I do not quite remember
Edited by Riis123 on 08-09-2014 21:59
deek12345 wrote: We'll mr Valverde and JRod. Should of worked with Bertie yesterday dumb asses
Nice ride from froome as we'll
Hindsight
--
Interesting to see Contador "wheelsuck" the whole way up the climb. I'm surprised to see so much praise for him here, when yesterday people were ripping apart riders who were following Contador up the climb.
One thing you can be sure of and thats Contador dont wheelsuck, i think he proved that enough times.
Today was different and you cannot under any circumstance underestimated the psychological upper hand Froome have had over Contador, not to mention that his "rubberbanding" has made Contador nervous, just look at yesterdays stage where he despite his attacks spent more time looking after Froome then worrying about Valverde and Rodriguez sitting next to him.
So today he had to be almost 100% certain that Froome wasn't going to pull a fast one and speed of and leaving contador unable to follow and lose what time gap there was between them, after all its better to be 2nd and lose no time then try to be 1st and lose a lot of time.
Has Froome ever had the psychological upper hand really though? Sure, over the other two, but not over Contador imo, not during this Vuelta.
The final statement you make is exactly what Valverde and Purito were doing yesterday. Everyone knows they aren't as strong as Contador.
In response to all this Piti and Purito bashing - what would happen if they worked with Pistolero yesterday? Certainly they would not get those 5 secs on him. Would they get more on Froome? I dare to doubt. Maybe few secs, but they would have a lot harder fight for bonus seconds so that kinda levels. And they would go into today stage more tired, losing even more oin the end.
Whatever you think Piti is leading Froome only thanks to his wheelsucking and final metres attack yesterday. Without those bonus seconds he would have been third now.
Once again this comes down to race strategy. And to winning attitude. Working with Bertie yesterday would mean they are ok with him winning the Vuelta and not fighting for it. That's another factor to consider.
Didn't Contador put time into Froome, how can experts say Froome has the upperhand in that case, and how can you be agreeing with that opinion.
Once again, hindsight. Maybe they should have attacked from the start of the stage. We wont ever really know.
Yes Froome took 7 and then Contador took them back the next day and now he took a bit more.
But before today Froomes rubberbanding and his way of never being gone for long and you saw Contador yesterday how he looked after froome constantly, have you ever seen contador do that without there be a very good reason? i haven´t. Same with today, Contador would have attacked anyone else and rode contra the instant the had a hole.
