Team News: Contador Happy with TTT

Alberto Contador’s team Trek Segafredo finish 4th in Team Time Trial in the Volta a Catalunya

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Team News: Contador Happy with TTT

Team Press Release

Note: After the press release was published, the jury have penalised the whole of the Movistar team and so the result changes (see below)

Original Press Release before the relegation

The team time trial heightens the importance of a strong and well-rounded team when searching for the overall win, and the TTT in stage two at the Volta a Catalunya, arguably one of the most decisive in years at a lengthy 41.3 kilometers, demonstrated its prominence in the week long race.

While Movistar eked out the win over pre-race favorite BMC Racing by two seconds and 46 seconds over Team Sky, Trek-Segafredo put in a sound ride to finish fourth (+1’15”) – still suffering significant time gaps to some rivals, but avoiding complete disaster, which, in a tricky team test of this length, is always possible.

“I am happy, we have given everything, we were quite organized, and we have made a good TTT,” said Alberto Contador. “In the race, I felt well, and the team has also done very well, but we must congratulate the other teams who have ridden stronger than us.”

I am happy, we have given everything, we were quite organized, and we have made a good TTT.
“It was still a big difference with the first teams, so it was not what we were hoping for, for sure,” added Bauke Mollema. “We gave the maximum; there were just three teams faster. It was technical in the first 15 kilometers, and after that, we gave everything. We did a good tactic to save Matthias (Brändle) for the last flat part.

“When we passed the finish line I had a good feeling. We had worked well together. We lost two guys in the first 10-kilometers, I think, but after we stayed together with six until the finish. We saw the parcours five times, so there was nothing we did wrong.”

Two weeks ago, Trek-Segafredo raced perhaps the worst team time trial of their existence in Tirreno-Adriatico that left Bauke Mollema little to no chance at the overall podium, but the team rebounded today with a worthy effort that kept both Mollema and Contador in the GC game.

Now the stage has been set for the rest of the week. Opponents Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and BMC Racing’s Rohan Dennis and Tejay van Garderen have a clear upper hand, but the race is young with many GC battles ahead – the war will not be won in a day.

“Certainly,” Mollema replied when asked if the race is still open. “Tomorrow is already an uphill finish, maybe not so hard, but the finish of Friday is really hard, a really steep climb, and that suits Alberto and myself, and so we will keep fighting for it. I have felt good yesterday and today and let’s see what it brings the next days.” … continued after advert

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“The last few years the Volta has been decided by five or seven seconds,” pointed out Contador. “Then, these differences [today] are very big to be trimmed, but there are still five stages, and we will have to try. We have to look at the stages that come, first at La Molina, which is not very hard and where perhaps the biggest differences will be for the bonuses.”

“We are far from direct rivals: 1:15 from Valverde, which is a lot of time. The race gets more complicated because both Van Garderen, and Sky with Thomas and Froome, are ahead. Now we have to go day by day and see what can be done.”

Trek-Segafredo’s head of performance, Josu Larrazabal, summed up the race, content with the performance, especially when considering the team rode most of the challenging parcours with six men.

“We are satisfied,” agreed Larrazabal. “When you see with 28kms to go that we were only six riders, then you realize the great performance they did. The first part was challenging with climbs, and so it was not easy to keep the balance of the team, and we lost two a little earlier than expected. But overall, we are satisfied because we saw how strong our leaders are: Alberto, Bauke, and Jarlinson. And also how strong the team, in general, is for the coming week. This gives us motivation for the stages ahead, and, of course, the race is not finished; we are ready to give our maximum.”

Stage TTT

1 BMC Racing Team
2 Team Sky @44
3 Movistar Team @58
4 Trek – Segafredo @1.13
5 ORICA-Scott @1.22
6 FDJ @1.42

Overall
1. Ben Hermans, BMC Racing Team85:17:18
8. Geraint Thomas, Team Sky 0:44
9. Peter Kennaugh, Team Sky
13. Chris Froome, Team Sky
15. Alejandro Valverde, Movistar Team 0:58
22. Alberto Contador Trek – Segafredo 1.13
23. Bauke Mollema Trek – Segafredo
27. Adam Yates, ORICA-Scott 1.22

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