Alberto Contador waves good-bye to the 2016 Tour de France during stage 9
Alberto Contador climbs into the team car during stage 9, abandoning the 2016 Tour de France
Alberto Contador finishes stage 1 heavily bandaged after his fall(Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)
Alberto Contador finishes stage 2 after ceding another 48 seconds to his overall rivals.
Only a week after abandoning the Tour de France, Contador has returned to training. He posted a video on Instagram and wrote: "First bike ride, very soft and with some discomfort but happy to start riding. @tinkoff_team #pocoapoco #stepbystep"
The Spaniard was involved in crashes in the first two stage of the Tour, and finally left the race during the ninth stage.
Last week, after further medical examinations, it was announced that he would be unable to ride the Olympic Games and that the Vuelta a Espana was still a possibility. The examinations showed that he had suffered "multiple contusions, a hamstring injury grade two on the vastus intermedius muscle in his left thigh, an additional hamstring injury on the same leg, and bruises on the left shoulder and the deltoid right thigh."
Recovery was predicted to take four weeks, with the first two weeks being total rest.
That appears to have been shortened to only one week off the bike with Contador to return to racing at the Clasica San Sebastian and Vuelta a Burgos before the Vuelta a Espana.
