Alberto Contador exclusive: My only intention is to win

Immediately on his return from a ban for doping Alberto Contador delivered a searing win in the Vuelta a España thanks to a devastating ambush. El Pistolero is back with a vengeance… Or is he? As Procycling discovers, Contador envies the lower pressure on those less successful, has wanted to quit the sport altogether and, despite winning it twice, refuses to put the Tour de France on a pedestal. He may not even race it next year. Yet ambition still burns brightly for the Madrileño: “If I go to a race, my only intention is to win it,” is how he puts it. But where, exactly, will that ambition take him now?

When we ask Alberto Contador if he has ever thought of quitting cycling, he answers without a moment’s hesitation.

The Return

The Tour de France

 

Alberto Contador and Joaquim Rodriguez (left) lock horns at the Vuelta. Roberto Bettini

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did he surprise himself at how deep he was willing to go that day? “Not really but there were points where I had no idea if I could keep up the same pace all the way to the finish. It was a long ‘time trial’ and from the first point that I got across to the break, I was working on the front, first with [team-mate Sérgio] Paulinho then with Paolo Tiralongo [Astana] and finally alone.”

This feature appeared in the December issue of Procyclinig. To subscribe to the magazine click here.


 

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.