Astana Cycling Team

Alberto Contador in Paris-Nice

“I hope the legs will be good tomorrow also”

Alberto Contador crossed the finish line in Aurillac on sixth position, after going to the front in the last little climb, just over a kilometer, but enough to get a handful of seconds at the finish line on almost all favourites.
The day began with a snowstorm that forced the organization to shorten the stage on  50 kilometers, although the hardness of the day was not reduced too. “It was a day marked by the cold”, Contador confirmed. “They have shortened the race on 50 km due to snow, but at the end we could do the stage, but always marked by the cold”.
“There was a small climb on the end, almost anything”, said Contador, “just over a kilometer, but is that the cold hurt and the group has been cut in several parts”. The leader of Astana, however, was ahead, showing that the blow on the left leg is almost forgotten. “The legs responded quite well for now and I hope tomorrow they will be good too”, said Alberto, referring to the finish in Mende.
“Rather than try, was a matter to avoid lost time”, he said about his performance today. “I was able to do, but in the sprint I've touched a columbia’s rider (Tony Martin) and I had to drag the foot along the road until I came back to get it into the pedal. I hope that those seconds were resolved”, he concluded.
After studying the video of the arrival, however, the race judges ruled that there was no reason to change the classification, where Alberto Contador, sixth, lost 2 seconds over the time of the winner and won 4 with respect to the main group. Alberto is now in seventh place overall, 20 seconds behind Jens Voigt, who took the leader over Lars Boom.

(Automatic translation. Forgive inaccuracies).

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Jacinto Vidarte
Jefe de Prensa / Press Officer