Astana Cycling Team

Alberto Contador in Pyrenees: “We've seen the stages that will decide the Tour”

Photo Jacinto Vidarte

Alberto Contador finished today the recognition of four Pyrenean stages of the Tour 2010, where he spent four days training in the company of seven teammates: Fofonov, Tiralongo, Noval, Navarro, De la Fuente, Hernandez and Pereiro, all included in the Tour pre-selection.
After this stage, Contador plans to ride the Dauphiné Libéré and then recognizing the two Alpine stages of the Tour. A little less than a month before starting on the French race, the leader of Astana is confident and satisfied with his preparation, but he has not reached his best level yet. “Feelings are good, but still they are not the same of the Tour”, he says.

Photo Jacinto Vidarte

Contador has been studied in detail the stages of the Pyrenees and has his conclusions. “These four days in the Pyrenees have been hard, because we've seen the stages that will decide the Tour. All offer many possibilities. The fist one has the final at Ax 3 Domaines climb after a demanding climb, Palhieres;  the next day we will have other very hard climb at the end, Bales, with the finish line after 20 kilometers of descent. On the third day they appear legendary climbs like Tourmalet and L'Aubisque, where can crack a lot of people but the goal is far away. And last day is the main course with the finish on Tourmalet top, the last chance of victory for the climbers, but probably the overall will be almost clarified”.

Photo Jacinto Vidarte

Contador meet on Monday with the Schleck brothers on top of the Tourmalet, where he arrived after Aspin climb. After a warm greeting, the Saxo Bank leaders, who came from the opposite side, after scaling the Soulor, told Alberto that L'Aubisque was closed to traffic and, jokingly, were cited in this same place for next July.

Photo Jacinto Vidarte

Before go to Alps stages, Contador confirms that in the 2010 Tour “Pyrenees will be the judges of the race and, of course, this tour is harder than that of 2009”. He, meanwhile, is already facing the last phase of preparation, which has had no setbacks. “I'm doing the preparation as I wanted”, he says. “After a serious stop after the Classics (about 10 days without bike) was hard to start again, but everything goes as planned. I’ll do the Dauphiné without pressure, seeking the set-up, because the preparation is perfect”, he said. Like his sensations on the the bike. “They are good, yes, but not yet like those of the Tour, because there are still three and a half weeks before the start and this is not a good time, it is still time of allergies, and that limits me a little”, concludes Alberto Contador.

(Automatic translation. Forgive inaccuracies).

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Jacinto Vidarte