Spaniard promises more attacks on final mountain stage
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Alberto Contador riding away from his GC rivals(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tinkoff's Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador (L), Movistar's Colombian cyclist Nairo Quintana (C) and Sky's British cyclist Christopher Froome compete to reach the finish line of the 17th stage of the 71st edition of 'La Vuelta'
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) speaks to the press after stage 17 at the Vuelta a Espana
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) has promised that he will stay on the attack during the Vuelta a Espana’s final mountain stage after moving into third overall in the time trial stage at Calpe.
The Spanish veteran started strongly on the technical 37 kilometre time trial course before falling off the pace a little at the end and finishing eighth, nearly two minutes down on winner Chris Froome (Team Sky).
What was a 25 second deficit to Froome has now ballooned to over two minutes, whilst his gap to race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar), 19 seconds down on Contador in the time trial, now stands at 3:43.
But with the third place overall looking increasingly certain after Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) lost more than a minute on Contador and slipped to fourth on GC, far from riding defensively - as Nairo Quintana has said he will do - Contador says he is now looking to go on the attack again on the Aitana stage.
“It’s a real shame that things went so badly early on in the Vuelta,” Contador said, “but in any case, there’s no point in having any regrets.
“My time trial went well today, particularly the first part” - and this despite getting blasted by a wave of sand thrown up by the wind as he rocketed along the coastline.
“Then I started to feel the distance and I didn’t keep a steady pace, I was changing my rhythm constantly and I paid for that,” he recognised.
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“In any case, on Aitana I’ll try something, that’s for sure.”
As for whether Froome can win the Vuelta, Contador said, “He’s done a great time trial. Maybe he’s still got a chance, but it’s clear he’ll have to shake things up a lot on Saturday’s stage.”
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
