Tour de France: Contador recons Pyrenean summit finishes

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Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) has been making the most of his early trip to France by visiting the Tour de France's Pyrenean climbs. After taking victory in the Pyrenean-based Route du Sud ahead of Nairo Quintana (Movistar) last weekend, Contador stayed in the region to take a closer look at the summit finishes of La Pierre Saint Martin, Cauterets and Plateau de Beille.

On Monday, Contador posted a picture of himself in a team car with the caption "Buenos dias a tod@s, ya en marcha, hoy reconocimiento de pirineos. Good morning all, today Pyrenees recosnising [sic] #Tour."

Contador is already familiar with some of the parcours, as he had paid a visit Cauterets ahead of his ride at the Route du Sud. He also claimed victory on the Plateau de Beille en route to winning the 2007 Tour de France, beating Michael Rasmussen in a sprint to the line. The victory on the hors catégorie climb was his first of three stage wins at the Tour de France, with two more to come during the 2009 race.

Following his trip into the high mountains, the Spaniard's thoughts now turn to recovering ahead of the start of the Tour in Utrecht on July 4. "Basically, I am focused on my efforts to recover," Contador told Spanish newspaper AS. "The four days of competition in France were really good to get my legs back up to speed and they were quite demanding. Now what I have to do is rest, with a little bit of training but very gently. The work is done, it is important that the body absorbs it."

He added: "The serious level must be reached in the Tour."

The trip to the Pyrenees completes his Tour de France reconnaissance work, after he visited the Alps immediately following his Giro d'Italia victory. Contador is aiming to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to do the Giro-Tour double and only the eighth in the history of the sport.

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