Giro: Contador back in Pink after TT

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Contador blew Aru away in time trial to go back into the Pink jersey with a lead of over two minutes, Porte disappoints

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Giro: Contador back in Pink after TT

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador blew Aru away on the highly anticipated 59km time trial of Giro d’Italia. The team captain reclaimed the pink jersey and now leads the Giro by 2’28” over Aru after finishing third on the wind-swept parcours.

Contador was very satisfied with his performance saying “I’m really happy. My legs are absolutely killing me as I had pain from the crash. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be today. The wind change was difficult but I’m really happy with today’s performance”.

“The result is a big surprise to me. I gave it all I had, and paced myself carefully all the way. I have to keep my focus. There is still a lot of this Giro ahead of us. The team has been really impressive. Yesterday, just 3.2km from the finish we had the crash. Tosatto was very attentive and quick, giving me the bike and making sure I got across the line as fast as I could to limit my losses. Every day they’ve been working hard and they’re going to continue to do so”.

After losing the jersey on stage 13 due to a crash in the bunch, Alberto Contador was on a mission to take back the lead. He did so by finishing third, 14 seconds behind stage winner Vasil Kiryienka. Team Owner Oleg Tinkov underlines that he had full confidence in his captain and adds that Alberto’s performance could have been a winning ride had it not been for the late shift in wind direction.

“Alberto took back the pink jersey and I was hoping for that to happen. Surprisingly, not many people were expecting a top performance from him today and thought that Porte and Uran would deliver the best times. But I had full confidence in Alberto and his performance didn’t come as a surprise to me. I thought he was going to take the stage win but he lost because of the wind”.

“The wind changed direction in the late afternoon and it wasn’t to his advantage. Without the wind, I’m sure that he would have been the fastest. If you ask me, Alberto is the strongest here. Now we’re back in the pink jersey and that is indeed very good. I hope that he will keep it but it will be very tough”.

Mixed fortunes for Sky as Vasil Kiryienka claimed Team Sky’s second stage victory of the 2015 Giro d’Italia in the time trial while Richie Porte finished over four minutes down on his teammate and his overall challenge is all but over. Twenty four hours after crashing on stage 13, Richie Porte was unable to take back time on his rivals in difficult conditions and now sits 17th overall, 8:52 back on the maglia rosa.

Porte is said to be very disappointed with the ride which he says was down to a bad ride and not bad luck. With injuries from his crash causing him difficulties in the time trial, its now in the balance whether he continues in the race where it seems he’d rather cut his losses and prepare for the Tour de France and get over his injuries.

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Stage
1. Vasil Kiryienka, Team Sky 1:17:52
2. Luis Leon Sanchez, Astana Pro Team 0:00:12
3. Alberto Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:14
4. Patrick Gretsch, AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:23
5. Steven Kruijswijk, Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:09
6. Tanel Kangert, Astana Pro Team 0:01:17
7. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Lotto Soudal 0:01:25
8. Fabio Felline, TrekRacing 0:01:26
9. Tobias Ludvigsson, Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:27
10. Luke Durbridge, Orica GreenEdge 0:01:36

13. Leopold Konig, Team Sky 0:01:44
23. Rigoberto Uran, Etixx – Quick-Step 0:02:45
29. Fabio Aru, Astana Pro Team 0:03:01
55. Richie Porte, Team Sky 0:04:20

OVERALL
1. Alberto Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo 55:39:00
2. Fabio Aru, Astana Pro Team 0:02:28
3. Andrey Amador, Movistar Team 0:03:36
4. Rigoberto Uran, Etixx – Quick-Step 0:04:14
5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Lotto Soudal 0:04:17
6. Dario Cataldo, Astana Pro Team 0:04:50
7. Mikel Landa Meana, Astana Pro Team 0:04:55
8. Damiano Caruso, BMC Racing Team 0:04:56
9. Roman Kreuziger, Tinkoff-Saxo 0:04:57
10. Leopold Konig, Team Sky 0:05:35

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