Contador wins Algarve stage atop Alto do Malhao

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Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) claimed his first win in over a year when he soloed to victory atop the Alto do Malhao at the end of stage 4 of the Volta ao Algarve. Coming just hours after Chris Froome had opened his 2014 account at the Tour of Oman, the victory was an important statement of intent for the new campaign from Contador, who has designs on regaining his status as the world’s top stage race rider.

Aided by a well-drilled Tinkoff-Saxo team, Contador approached the foot of the short, sharp climb near the head of the peloton, and he ripped clear in the final kilometre to claim the win, three seconds ahead of local favourite and world champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and ten seconds up on overall leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

“It’s a finish that suits my characteristics,” Contador said of the 2.5km climb, which has an average gradient of almost 9%. “The team worked hard at the front for me and there's no better way to repay them for that job than with a win victory. The climb was too short to make big differences, but ten seconds [over Kwiatkowski] is still a lot of time.”

Contador’s focus on the final climb was on Kwiatkowski, and he tested the Pole out with a brace of probing attacks before landing the decisive blow underneath the red kite. “I launched two accelerations and I saw that Kwiatkowski was in the limit, so I kept going and I was able to finish alone,” he said.

He admitted, however, that overall victory was beyond him, acknowledging that the time lost to Kwiatkowski in Friday’s time trial had left him with too much to do on the Malhao. Even so, Contador will be pleased with his form in his first race of the season, and relieved to have met his own expectations on one of his favourite test sites. Contador won the stage to the Alto do Malhao in 2010, and was second in 2009.

“Of course, everyone would like to win the overall, but Kwiatkowski is very strong and the terrain here is what it is,” Contador said. “But my physical condition is better each day and the work I've done in the winter is well on track.”

Kwiatkowski was happy to defend his advantage over Contador, and said that the pace on the Malhao had been tougher than it was twelve months ago, when he finished 10th behind Sergio Henao (Sky) en route to second place overall. “It was harder than last year, but I worked very well to defend the jersey from Contador and Rui Costa,” Kwiatkowski said. “I think the hardest part is done and tomorrow we just have to be careful not to have an accident.”

Saturday’s stage was animated first by an early break featuring Pablo Lastras (Movistar) and then by an attack from Chris Horner (Lampre-Merida) on the first ascent of the Malhao with over 50 kilometres to race. Although the American was reeled in on the descent, his move did have the residual effect of leaving Kwiatkowski with just one teammate – Tony Martin – for company for the remainder of the stage.

A move including Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Bjorn Thurau (Europcar) and Oscar Pujol (Skydive-Dubai) forced its way clear in the final 20 kilometres, but they were swept up by Tinkoff-Saxo on the approach to the base of the Malhao. Once on the climb, Ricardo Vilela was the first man on the offensive, but his move soon fizzled out and Contador took over command at the head of the race.

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