Team News – Contador Suffers in the Alps

2015_CONTI_Banner_TourSeries

“It was a day where I had to survive”, says Albert Contador (Tinoff Saxo) of stage 19

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Team News – Contador Suffers in the Alps

Team Release
Alberto Contador had his eyes on getting through the challenging stage 19 to La Toussuire, as cramps throughout the intensive day took its toll. “It was a day where I had to survive”, says Contador, who retained his fifth place in the GC of Tour de France after strong support from his teammates.

After crossing the line 2’26” down on stage winner Vincenzo Nibali, Tinkoff-Saxo’s captain explained that the stage turned out quite well despite bad sensations during the day.

“It was a day where I had to survive” Contador explained. “I started with bad sensations and cramps all day so I had to save energy as much as I could. I sent Majka to pull at the front and he set the pace and it calmed a bit down. Things turned out quite well. Nibali is now ahead in the GC and I congratulate him for that”.

“It’s true he did a very good job today. In what regards me, I think it deserves more merit to have reached this point than previous victories. I had strong cramps throughout the day and I was praying to make it through. Tomorrow will be another day”, comments Alberto Contador, who finished 9th in the group of GC riders.

“We will see how I will feel tomorrow. The most important thing right now is to have a very good massage and recover. My muscles and tendons suffered a lot because of the extreme heat dehydrated me. The most important aspect is to recover for tomorrow”.

Rafal Majka: “I tried to help Alberto as much as possible during the stage and surely on the final climb. But it was difficult because there were some flat parts on the climb, which made it difficult to keep the rhythm. I like the steep climbs but in the end, it is what it is and we are going to try our best again tomorrow for sure. It’s a shame that Valgren had to abandon today but if you are very sick it’s not possible to go on”.

“The body spends so much energy and in the end it’s better to stop otherwise you kill yourself completely. He has done a big job for the team but he’s a young rider so he will come back again”, adds Rafal Majka.

The green jersey of Peter Sagan got one step closer to claiming the jersey in Paris as he leads the classification by 104 points. However, Sagan notes that he has to make it through the Alps before turning his attention to the sprinters’ battle on the Champs-Élysées. “I hope that I feel good tomorrow and that I will make it to Paris as fresh as possible” says Peter Sagan.

“Now I’m thinking about resting and that tomorrow will be really, really hard and then I can start focusing on Paris and the Champs-Élysées. Today I felt a bit better than yesterday and I hope that I will be fresh again tomorrow. If I can finish within the time limit tomorrow, the green jersey is just one day away in Paris, which is more like a celebration race before the finale. But on the Champs-Élysées, everybody of course wants to win and I will try if I’m there”, finishes Peter Sagan.

Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: