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ALBERTO CONTADOR
IVAN BASSO
DANIELE BENNATI
ROMAN KREUZIGER
RAFAL MAJKA
MICHAEL ROGERS
PETER SAGAN
MATTEO TOSATTO
MICHAEL VALGREN
ALBERTO CONTADOR ABANDONS THE TOUR DE FRANCE
July 10, 2016 - Tinkoff leader ill with fever on top of injuries from two crashes
Alberto Contador prepares to step into the team car. His Tour is over. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AP)
Alberto Contador abandoned the 2016 Tour today early in Stage 9. Injured from head to toe in two crashes on the first two days of the race, the onset of fever Saturday night was the last straw. Alberto climbed into the team car on the second climb of the day, the Port del Cantó, at kilometer 84.
Very early in the stage, on the climb of the Bonaigua, Alberto had attacked and was bridging with Alejandro Valverde – who was actively collaborating – to a large escape group when his strength flagged. Teammate Peter Sagan came to his aid, yelling “Steady!”, but Alberto could not stick to his wheel.
Alberto returned to the peloton and sought out his team car, to which he returned several times to speak to director Sean Yates and his mechanic, Faustino Muñoz. Finally he stopped, stepped off the bike, and handed it to a member of team staff. He waved goodbye to the public via a nearby video camera, gave a wan thumbs up and an apologetic shrug as if to say “I’m sorry, I did everything I could.”
Alberto was driven to the team hotel in La Massana. There, he told reporters, “I made the decision. I couldn’t do any more. I’ll undergo tests looking to the future. The fever is on top of the abrasions and bruises. My body has needed to work very hard to recuperate, and the upshot is that it's not working and I haven't been able to give the maximum. It has taken a toll on me. I’ve ridden at a disadvantage since the first stage."
Alberto will now rethink his calendar for the rest of the season, which may or may not include the Olympic Games in Rio and the Vuelta a España. It is rumored that he will sign with a new team tomorrow, although no word can be given until the transfer season officially opens on August 1.
CONTADOR ON THE MEND IN PYRENEES
July 8, 2016 - Injured Tinkoff leader is able to hang on to the favorites' group on Col d'Aspin
Contador flexes his sore shoulder while signing autographs before Stage 7 (Colin Flockton)
Stage 7, Friday July 8: L’Isle-Jourdain – Lac de Payolle, 162.5 km
Alberto Contador was able to hang on to the favorites' group and did not lose time in spite of his injuries as the Tour de France entered the Pyrenees today in Stage 7.
There were no acts of insubordination from Tinkoff domestiques this time. Only Contador's men and the FDJ team stayed out of the massive escape group that catapulted Stephen Cummings to victory and allowed Van Avermaet to strengthen his hold on the maillot jaune.
Both Kreuziger and Majka helped to shelter Alberto in the rear section of a selective pack of GC men so that he could save his energy and stay out of the wind. He finished with a large group containing his most direct rivals at 3:37 off the pace of stage winner Cummings.
RESULTS: Contador in Stage 7, 33rd (3:37 Cummings – 3:48:09). Contador in GC, 23rd (7:18 Van Avermaet – 34:09:44)
TOP FIVE: 1 Van Avermaet, 2 A. Yates (5:50), 3 Alaphilippe (5:51), 4 Valverde (5:53), 6 Rodríguez (5:54)
COMPLETE CLASSIFICATIONS -
RACE ATLAS, STAGE 7
TINKOV: CONTADOR IS ALL BLACK AND BLUE
July 7, 2016 - Tinkoff's "ruso molotov" billionaire boss acknowledges inner struggle to behave rationally
Oleg Tinkov, the owner of the Tinkoff team with a strong bent towards micromanagement, made an appearance in the NBC Sports studio after Stage 6. The Trumpian personality was questioned with deference by Bob Roll and Christian Vande Velde.
NBC: Any idea on how Alberto is recovering from his Stage 1 and Stage 2 crashes?
Tinkov: All the answers will be tomorrow on top of the Col d’Aspin. It’s not such a hard climb – actually I climbed it myself a couple of days ago – but it’s still a 1st-category climb. I think we’ll all see the answers. He’s recovering, but he’s still in pain. That’s at least what the doctors are saying. Were it any other riders he would be an abandon, but Alberto is so strong mentally. He has really impressed me, how he fights. He’s full in pain. He fell on his left side, he fell on his right side. I saw him, basically I saw him nude – he’s all blue. He’s in pain, but…we’ll see tomorrow.
NBC: Oleg, you’re going to leave the sport next year, but you said that if Peter was to win two more stages you would stay in the sport. Is this true?
Tinkov: Let’s see. Let Peter win two more stages and then I will decide.
We have to see how it goes. It’s definitely a very exciting last year for me: We have best team now, we have first and second best rider in the (WorldTour) classification, we have World Champion jersey, we have three days in yellow jersey, we won Tour of Flanders, etcetera. I think it’s a great way to stop, and I believe it’s good to stop on the top.
NBC: You put a lot of energy and time into riders like Sagan and Contador. Do you have any melancholy about leaving the sport of cycling at this point, when the team is racing so well?
Tinkov: Definitely I do, but that’s a business, too, right? It’s a business to be in, to have the team like have, a superteam. Only three or four teams can afford it. It’s a budget of twenty million dollars plus.
Of course I have different sorts of feelings inside of my soul. You know we Russians are famous for this. If you read Dostoyesvsky, you know how we fight inside of ourselves, because we are not as rational as Anglo-Saxons. We are always trying to dig inside our own soul, and I definitely don’t sleep very well with this, but it is rational because I’m paying twenty million euro a year and it’s a lot of money for our bank.
Nevertheless, Tinkoff bank is the biggest online bank in the world, with five million clients, but still we don’t make enough money to support the team. As I said, with this sport there is no sustainable model, there is no other income, so of course I have to leave.
SEAN YATES: KREUZIGER PROBLEM "CLEARED UP"
July 7, 2016 - Tinkoff DS confident that there will be no further acts of insubordination within Tour squad
NBC Sports, who carry the live broadcast of the Tour de France in the USA, interviewed Tinkoff directeur sportif Sean Yates before the start of Stage 7. The purpose of the conversation was to better understand the situation surrounding Roman Kreuziger's defying of team orders and abandoning of Contador, his injured and suffering team leader, during the crucial moments of the finale to Stage 5.
NBC: If Kreuziger was told to wait for Contador the other day and he didn´t do it, how can you be sure he would do it today on an important mountain stage?
Sean Yates: The situation was cleared up. There was a miscommunication. There was a bit of this, a bit of that. It’s been talked about, and it’s been dealt with, so we’re confident that won’t happen again if the order is to wait.
NBC: How was it dealt with?
Yates: Well, that’s within the team. I don’t want to disclose, but you can only imagine yourself in a similar situation.
NBC: Once something like that is dealt with, are there still lingering feelings amongst the riders in the team, or is the unity okay at this point?
Yates: No, the unity´s fine. Obviously we’re all humans, and sometimes there’s disagreements, but life goes on. It’s not the end of the world. You just deal with it and get on with it.
THE LONGEST DAY
July 5, 2016 – Tour de France Stage 4: Contador tallies up the kilometers of rolling recovery, steels himself for the mountains tomorrow
Contador pedals toward an evening of rehab as injury pain persists (Joan Valat)
Stage 4, Tuesday July 5: Saumur – Limoges, 237.5 km
Alberto Contador must have been glad to see the end of another long day today in Stage 4 of the Tour de France, even though there were no mishaps and his team protected him well. “It’s been a very long day, many hours, many kilometers,” said Alberto at the finish line. “But we finished in the front section without any crashes, which is the most important thing.”
The longest stage of this edition finished in a sprint won by Marcel Kittel, with Contador and the other favorites right behind him in the pack.
Contador says that he feels “better than the past two days” but is still having difficulties on the bike. “Pedaling out of the saddle is still an issue, but it’s a question of time.”
What about tomorrow’s foray into the mountains of the Massif Central?
“Tomorrow is a tough day. We’ll have to be very focused for it.”
RESULTS: Contador in Stage 4, 43rd (s.t. Kittel – 5:28:30). Contador in GC, 54th (1:04 Sagan – 20:03:02)
TOP FOUR: 1 Sagan, 2 Alaphilippe (0:12), Kittel (0:14), 4 Barguil (0:18)
COMPLETE CLASSIFICATIONS -
RACE ATLAS, STAGE 4
KREUZIGER: WE ARE WORKING FOR ALBERTO
July 4, 2016 – Czech champion’s overall mission is to see Contador in yellow in Paris
Before the start of Stage 3 on Monday, Todd Schlanger of NBC Sports tried to tempt Roman Kreuziger to disclose any designs the Czech rider might have on the leadership of the Tinkoff Tour de France squad should Contador falter. Contador was battered by crashes in the first two stages.
Kreuziger, Contador’s super domestique who was pressed into service for Sagan on Sunday’s short finishing climb to help him to the stage win and a career-first yellow jersey, refused to be drawn into the topic.
NBC Sports: Roman, how do you manage your own race, if you eventually have to take over the race leadership if Contador continues to lose time?
Kreuziger: “I don’t think it’s the time for that question, because Alberto lost time yesterday after two days that he crashed but the race is still very long. I think that Alberto came in very good shape.
“We are all here for him, but if you have a sprinter like Peter and a stage like yesterday, you have to go for the stage win, so we went for it. But still Alberto is our leader and we are working for him.”
How is your own form right now, just in case?
Kreuziger: “I think I feel well, but as I said, it’s not it’s the moment to speak about me taking the leadership because Alberto is our leader. And if you look in the past at how many grand tours he’s won, we still trust him.”
NBC: What is his mood right now?
Kreuziger: “Of course yesterday was a bit sweet and bitter because Peter won, so some part of the team was happy, some a little bit less because Alberto crashed. I think we have a good mood and it’s good for all of Tinkoff to be in the yellow.”
SIX HOURS OF SUFFERING
July 4, 2016 - Tour de France Stage 3: A long day in the saddle puts Contador's injured calf - and his morale - to the test
Contador tries to take advantage of a piano day to heal (MARCA)
Stage 3, Monday July 4: Granville – Angers, 223.5 km
Alberto Contador got a much-needed day of rolling recovery today as Stage 3 of the Tour de France ambled to the finished line in Angers. With Peter Sagan in the yellow jersey, Tinkoff rode at the front of the peloton to enforce a leisurely, or rather merciful, pace over the 220-plus kilometers on behalf of their scraped and bruised leader. The peloton arrived far later than the latest time predicted by the organizers.
“Yes, in the end it was our turn for a piano stage. In particular, the first part, since in the final kilometers we were flying at 70 kilometers per hour and had to negotiate dangerous roundabouts,” said Contador immediately after crossing the line. “I escaped the day without any more crashes, which is a prize for me. Now it’s off to treatment with the machines (Indiba) and to continue rehabilitation.”
Alberto knows what it is to suffer, and characteristically faces pain philosophically, but today it was clear that the current episode is a bleak one. “The only thing worse would be to have to go home. We’re going to hope. You can’t do the whole race from the ankle,” he said, referring to his bruised calf, the worst of the injuries from the Stage 2 crash.
“The day after tomorrow will be a difficult stage. Therefore I’m going to save every ounce of strength to keep going.”
He rallied when talking about day’s stage, which ended in a sprint won by Mark Cavendish. “I got through a very long day pretty well, and this Tuesday we’ve got another long stretch of road coming up, on the eve of the first point of contact with the mountains. My objective is to get to the Pyrenees in the best way possible, because I find myself in this situation and I’m weighing options.
Alberto continued, “I worked extremely hard for eight months to prepare for the Tour; I’m not going to lose motivation, in spite of the fact that two unlucky incidents in the space of two days puts anybody’s morale to the test. That’s how cycling works, there’s nothing else to do but to accept the accept the accidents, the time loss, and keep going. I want to fight, I’m going to give it all I’ve got for the sake of all those who support me in the social media and on the roadsides.”
Asked whether Sagan’s win damaged his own interests, having been dropped by his own team as they pursued remains of the breakaway, Contador would not be a party to in-fighting or small-mindedness: “We’re talking about a situation that was extremely hard to control. Everything happened at the last moment, and the team didn’t know if there was still anyone out front or not. However, I consider that to be of secondary importance. Tinkoff always like to get the win, and I don’t see that as unbeneficial to me.”
RESULTS: Contador in Stage 3, 77th (s.t. Cavendish – 5:59:54). Contador in GC, 57th (1:02 Sagan – 14:34:36)
TOP THREE: 1 Sagan, 2 Alaphilippe (0:08), 3 Valverde (0:10)
COMPLETE CLASSIFICATIONS -
RACE ATLAS, STAGE 3
TOUR DE FRANCE: FROM BAD TO WORSE
July 3, 2016 - Bad luck threatens to sink Contador after second crash
An onboard camera catches Contador's Stage 2 crash
Bad luck seemed determined to sink Alberto Contador and all his hopes today in the Tour de France when the Tinkoff leader crashed heavily for the second time in as many days. Alberto found himself on his left side at the bottom of a pileup early in the stage after another rider lost control while crossing a speed bump on the wet road.
The new set of left-side injuries plus the day-old road rash on his right made today’s disaster a wicked complement to yesterday’s. Cumulative pain held Alberto back in the finale, where he lost 48 seconds to his most direct rivals. Although his teammate Peter Sagan won the stage and took the yellow jersey, he is now in 61st place, 1:02 off the lead.
Alberto explained the incident after the stage: “Tony Martin, just in front of me, lost hold of his handlebars and I landed directly on the ground,” he said, adding, “At least Peter Sagan’s triumph and yellow jersey is some compensation.”
On the way to the team bus, Contador answered questions to Spanish sports paper as.com:
Your director, Sean Yates, said on live television that you sustained blows to that same right shoulder that was hurt on the first day.
No, it was on the other side, totally opposite. I took it on the left knee, calf and shoulder.
Furthermore, you ceded almost a minute: 48 seconds.
You have to be strong in terms of morale to overcome a Tour start as bad as this one, especially after so much work. Cycling is like that sometimes, and I have to try to be strong, not to lose confidence and to think about the idea that recovering will be feasible when I get to my turf. Although I’ll strive to minimize my losses, I gave up an amount of time that I hadn’t counted on after only two days of competition.
Does it affect your morale much?
Obviously I can’t fall to bits, but my moral is not still intact. I want to fight. If not, I wouldn’t have the motivation to show up at the start line. Nevertheless, I consider that the problem is, more than the time loss, the body blows.
And looking ahead to the upcoming stages?
We’ll see how I evolve. Although I’m still standing, both of my legs feel compromised and I’m not pedaling the way I like. Physically I’ve taken a hit.
RESULTS: Contador in Stage 2, 61st (0:48 Sagan – 4:20:51). Contador in GC, 62nd (1:02 Sagan – 8:34:42)
TOP THREE: 1 Sagan, 2 Alaphilippe (0:08), 3 Valverde (0:10)
COMPLETE CLASSIFICATIONS -
RACE ATLAS, STAGE 2
ACCORDING TO...
Rui Costa, former World Champion riding for Lampre Merida, in a tweet to Contador: “Forgive, @albertocontador. I see now that I was the one that fell on top of you. I’m sorry. I wish you better luck. Hugs.”
Steven De Jongh, Tinkoff DS: “After 55km Alberto had a bad crash again - a rider came down in front of him and he went over and hurt himself, it was just bad luck. That's the reason why in the final he couldn't stand up to climb and he blew his legs. That was the reason that he lost time.”
“The next few days, firstly we will aim to recover - it's a long tour and with Alberto crashing again today we want to support him to let his body recover. We will talk this evening about the plan around defending Peter's yellow jersey.”
Peter Sagan, Contador’s teammate and current World Champion: “Alberto has had a bit of bad luck yesterday and today again. I was very close to him when he came down. It was bad luck and I hope for Alberto that he will heal fast - he will be strong for sure.”
YATES: CONTADOR SORE BUT OKAY TO RACE
July 3, 2016 – After Stage 1 crash, Tinkoff director sportif hopes Contador fully mends before mountain stages
Tinkoff director Sean Yates spoke to letour.com before the start of Tour de France Stage 2 to clarify the team’s plans for its two star riders, Alberto Contador and Peter Sagan.
As the race prepared to depart for Cherbourg, Yates – who won a stage there himself in 1994 – took a moment to say, “Given the characteristics of the finale, it's obviously a stage in which Peter should do well. He's on form, as he showed yesterday, and there is a fair chance to win the stage and take the yellow jersey because I don't think Cavendish or Kittel will be there. Peter was the world champion in similar conditions.
“Our priority is to win stages and to go for the GC with Alberto,” he continued. “Alberto is obviously sore but we hope there are still a number of days before the actual race begins. I hope today he'll be alright with this kind of weather because the 3-km rule won't apply and I expect the leaders to be in the front. I'm convinced Chris Froome will finish in the top ten today and you can't afford to lose a couple of seconds here or there. So it will depend on how Alberto feels, because injury takes a lot of energy for the body to heal.”
TOUR DE FRANCE: CONTADOR CRASHES IN STAGE 1
July 2, 2016 - Momentarily down but not out, Alberto declares, "The Tour de France does not end here!"
Alberto Contador labors to catch the peloton after crashing in Stage 1 of the Tour de France (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP)
Stage 1, Saturday July 2: Mont-Saint-Michel – Utah Beach Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, 188 km
Alberto Contador started the 2016 edition of the notoriously rough-and-tumble Tour de France in kind today by crashing hard in Stage 1. In crosswinds at 77 kilometers to go, his front wheel slipped out from under him going into a curve at tempo, causing him to crash against the curb of a traffic island and land heavily on the ground.
Alberto, ripped and bloodied, was able to continue on teammate Kiserlovski’s bike and was ridden back in by his teammates, but only after a considerable rigmarole that involved changing into a mismatched shoe and being extensively taped and bandaged by the race doctor, all while rolling.
Contador managed to skirt another crash in the final three kilometers that caused more bloodshed in the final approach to Utah Beach. He finished in the pack behind the sprint, with the same time as winner Mark Cavendish.
“It’s not the best way to start. The entire right side of my body is scraped up, from the knee to the shoulder,” Contador said after the stage. “We already know what cycling is like: months of preparation, then you end up on the ground on day one. Fortunately I don’t have to go home, and I’ll try to tackle these next few days in the best way possible in order to get to the mountains in good shape.”
Alberto verbally painted the picture of the incident after the stage. “There was a lot of tension because we were fighting to be in the front to avoid the wind. We were in a good position and paying close attention, but on a curve I corrected too late and my front wheel slipped sideways out from under me – I also think that that was the case with some others. We went to the ground and skidded. In addition, another rider (Luke Rowe) fell on top of me and hit my shoulder. It was a real piece of bad luck.”
Word had it that Contador had abrasions only, no fractures. He continued, “I don’t know if I’ll need an x-ray. Right now I’m going to the hotel and then we’ll see what I do next. I do have some reservations about the shoulder, depending on its position. Of course in the next few hours it’s going to hurt more, but I want to wait a little so that I can put ice on it and use the Indiba machine.”
Note: The Indiba machine that Contador refers to delivers an “active cell therapy,” which, according to Cyclingnews, “stimulates microcirculation and metabolic hyper-activation. It is a legal form of treatment that does not change cell physiology.”
Contador faced the incident and its possible impact with optimism. “The Tour de France does not end here,” he declared. “I want to be optimistic, and think about taking full advantage of the hours that remain between now and tomorrow’s start, to recover.”
RESULTS: Contador in Stage 1, 85th (0:55 Cavendish – 4:14:05). Contador in GC, 86th (0:10 Cavendish – 4:13:55)
TOP FOUR: 1 Cavendish, 2 Kittel (0:04), 3 Sagan (0:06), 4 Greipel (0:10)
COMPLETE CLASSIFICATIONS -
RACE ATLAS, STAGE 1
ACCORDING TO…
Michael Valgren Andersen, Contador’s Danish teammate, to NBC Sports: “Just before (the crash), there was this crosswind section, so we were very alert, you know, and in front, and were actually in the top five when it happened, and it’s like a left-, right-hand corner, and in the right-hand corner there was this intersection (traffic island) in the middle, and he didn’t see that and then he just touched the rear brake a bit too much and the bike slid under him.”
“He was fine. Of course he lost some skin, but I think he’s pretty alright. He got a quick bike change and we got him back pretty easily, but of course it was a big stress at the time.”
Valgren said that, given their position and attentiveness, they could not have expected the crash. “No, especially in the front. You know, in the back it happens. I was already thinking this Tour de France is over with the GC because it was a nasty crash that came fast, but luckily I think he’s pretty alright. His elbow is a bit swollen up, but he should be fine.”
Sean Yates, Tinkoff DS: “Alberto’s crash was the only real stress point today, but got back okay quickly with the help of the team and we will now see how he recovers. He’s cut up on the upper shoulder and upper back, which will be uncomfortable, but he’s being checked out for any damage. It’s not a great way to start but other than that it wasn’t a bad day. We had no other incidents, and the other guys kept out of trouble. Hopefully no long lasting after effects – the body takes time to recover from a crash and this is energy that you need in the race.”
Christian Vande Velde, ex-rider and NBC Sports commentator, about Tinkoff’s mishap: “Sometimes it’s unavoidable...They were doing everything right. They were at the front in the crosswind, that was hairy. You saw some guys getting dropped before that, a couple of crashes... They’re up at the front, completely protected, it’s just some things happen, especially with those traffic islands, and especially in the north here. The same things could be happening tomorrow.”
Geraint Thomas, Sky rider who was nearly caught up in the crash, to NBC Sports: “There was a crash on a corner just after a bit of a crosswind section, and a lot of stress. Contador and one of our boys came down, Luke Rowe, and I just came up to it fast and went on the left, trying to jump over the curb and clipped my back wheel and punctured. Contador seemed okay. He was pretty cut up though, so I’m sure he’ll feel that for a while. It was just, like I say, a lot of stress and we kind of went into that roundabout really quick, and I think he must have just hit gravel or something and slid out.”
Web design by Nicky Orr and Modem Operandi. Masthead photo credits: (1) bbc.co.uk (2) Liz Kreutz, kreutzphotography.com.