Vuelta a España - Alberto Contador: I paid the price in the last kilometre
Sep 03 2017 12:17 am CET
Photo of Alberto Contador © Mary Cárdenas / CyclingPub.com
Trek-Segafredo's Alberto Contador tried his chances on the final climb of the 14th stage of the Vuelta a España, but ended up paying the price.
The Spaniard attacked with Vincenzo Nibali and spent a few minutes ahead of race leader Chris Froome, but things eventually got back together.
"It was an eventful climb. It was very aggressive, on the other climbs we were all pulling very hard, Astana, Bahrain-Merida and us. Katusha-Alpecin started to pull very hard and made a cut in the peloton, today you had to be very well-placed at all times.
"The last climb was a little more predictable, I was aware of the movements. I saw that (Esteban) Chaves was in front and was strong, and then I saw (Nibali) and I preferred to go with him, but I was waiting for (Chris) Froome. I knew he was going to stay at his pace as usual, he got to us and at the end he attacked, but he couldn't drop us. And then I paid a bit of a price in the last kilometre and that made me lose some seconds in a stage where I shouldn't have lost time."
The Spaniard is feeling strong but realizes that at this level, the margins are extremely small. "The feelings are good, tomorrow we have a difficult day and what is clear is that the strength is very limited.
"If I think about all the small seconds I've been winning and cross them off the paper, I would run out of ink. From the day in Andorra where I was swimming against the current, I recover every day some time and positions, and we will see. There are still seven days of cycling in my legs, seven days till Madrid, and we will wait to see how far I can climb."
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDS