Alberto Contador (Astana)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Alberto Contador (Astana)(Image credit: AFP)
Giro d'Italia race director Angelo Zomegnan has confirmed that Alberto Contador will ride the Giro d'Italia in 2011, with the Spaniard possibly trying to emulate Miguel Indurain and win both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in the same season.
This year's Giro begins in Amsterdam in just 11 days but Zomegnan revealed that he reached a deal with Contador at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Last year Zomegnan convinced Lance Armstrong to ride the centenary edition of the Giro d'Italia but faces serious competition this year from the Amgen Tour of California following its date change from February to May.
Ivan Basso, Alexandre Vinokourov, Carlos Sastre, Christian Vande Velde and world champion Cadel Evans will all ride the Giro d'Italia, but Armstrong has opted to ride in California. Fabian Cancellara, Mark Cavendish and Tom Boonen will also ride in the USA in May.
"With the right build-up and training, I think you can ride two Grand Tours and try and win both of them. I'm going to try. Either the Giro and the Tour, or the Tour and the Vuelta," Contador said on Friday.
The 2011 Giro d'Italia will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy and is likely to start in Sicily and end in Turin. In 2012 the race could start in Washington, DC, with four days in North America before a trans-Atlantic transfer to Italy.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
