'I went for it to try to set up something for the descent'
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Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) finishes stage 12 into Bilbao(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff)
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) on Chris Froome's wheel(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) rides to the start of stage 12 at the Vuelta a Espana
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and Sam Sanchez (BMC) at the start of stage 12 at the Vuelta a Espana
Alberto Contador climbs the final steep pitch before the finish of stage 10 at the Vuelta
A driving attack by Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) on the second category Alto de Vivero proved to be the only major move by any of the Vuelta a Espana's GC candidates on stage 12 to Bilbao.
But as Contador observed afterwards, he is considered too dangerous by his rivals to be allowed any headway, even when he is more than three minutes behind the race leader.
Contador is currently in fifth overall at 3:08 on Nairo Quintana (Movistar). He explained that he had tried to blaze away over the upper part of the four-kilometre climb on the outskirts of Bilbao to try to create a downhill attack. But it was rapidly closed down by the Colombian and his team.
"I went for it to try to set up something for a descent but I don't have any freedom to manouvre," Contador said later.
Contador also explained that although the Tinkoff team had been involved in a minor pile-up some 25 kilometres from the finish and he had to put one foot down, he had not actually fallen.
"It was another really fast day and without a single kilometre of real flat," said Contador, who still sports bandages on his arm and knee from his stage 7 crash. "We've all used up a lot of energy, and there'll be a heavy bill to pay.
"We're going to reach the weekend and the last week of the Vuelta feeling really tired."
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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.
