Contador visits Brazil before working in the Specialized wind tunnel
Spaniard begins his 2014 season with a trip to the Americas
Alberto Contador began training for the 2014 season last week but will visit Brazil at the start of this week before travelling on to California to work in on his position and test new equipment in the Specialized wind tunnel.
Contador arrived in Rio de Janeiro early on Monday and will then spend two days in São Paulo, opening a new bike shop and the new headquarters of Specialized in Brazil. Contador’s Saxo Bank team uses Specialized bikes and the Spaniard has a lucrative personal sponsorship agreement with the US bike brand.
Contador revealed his travel plans via Twitter, saying he would be in Brazil and then go on to “test new things” in the wind tunnel.
Specialized unveiled its in-house cycling-specific wind tunnel in the spring. Contador will likely work on his time trial position as he prepares to take on Chris Froome at the 2014 Tour de France.
Contador started training for 2014 last Monday with teammates Jesus Hernandez and Sergio Paulinho. He mixed rides on the road with a day of mountain biking in the hills above Lugano, Switzerland, where he now lives for much of the year.
Contador has already confirmed he will ride the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España in 2014, with a more gradual start to his season compared to 2013. He won just one race –a stage at the Tour de San Luis in February, and was a disappointing fourth in the Tour de France.
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.