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112-589: Stage races One-day races and Classics Other Alberto Contador Velasco ( Spanish pronunciation: [alˈβeɾto kontaˈðoɾ βeˈlasko] ; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist . He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice ( 2007 , 2009 ), the Giro d'Italia twice ( 2008 , 2015 ), and the Vuelta a España three times ( 2008 , 2012 , 2014 ). He

224-661: A Castilla y León , as well as the Tour of the Basque Country by winning the opening stage and the final individual time trial. His next scheduled race and objective was the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré but his team received an invite to the Giro d'Italia one week prior to the start of the race. Contador was on a beach in Spain when he was told he was going to ride the Giro. Despite the lack of preparation, he finished second in

336-463: A España and the 2009 Tour de France . Between 2007 and 2011 he won six consecutive Grand Tours that he entered. This included winning the 2010 Tour de France with Astana, although it later emerged that he had tested positive for clenbuterol during the race. After a long battle in court, he was suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and stripped of his 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro wins. Contador

448-402: A breakaway (as described below). Occasionally, the distinction between medium mountain and mountain in stage classification, decided by race officials, can be controversial. The Giro d'Italia has had a reputation of labeling selective, very difficult stages as merely medium mountain. Lastly, a handful of stages each year are known as being "good for a breakaway"—when one or a few riders attacks

560-459: A climb and shedding the pure sprinters off the leading group. At the end of March, Contador took fourth place in the Volta a Catalunya , where he crashed severely in the penultimate stage. Contador was able to remount and participate in the last stage, securing his general classification placing. At the end of April, and days before the start of the Giro d'Italia, Contador revealed that he was ready for

672-478: A contract extension with his team, Tinkoff , but at the same time announced that 2016 would be his final season in professional cycling. He competed in his first race of the season at the Volta ao Algarve , finishing third overall and winning the final stage of the race. He went on to claim runner-up finishes in Paris–Nice , where he attacked race leader Geraint Thomas from 50 kilometres (31 miles) out and again on

784-408: A fascination for birds, keeping personally bred canaries and goldfinches at home. Contador turned professional in 2003 for ONCE–Eroski . In his first year as a professional he won the eighth stage of the Tour de Pologne , an individual time trial. He deliberately let himself fall back on the morning's road stage and saved energy to deliver the winning effort in the time trial in the afternoon. During

896-514: A final acceleration near the finish line as he took 3 seconds back on Nibali. On the descent of the Petit Ballon in the tenth stage, Contador crashed heavily before he was treated on the side of the road. He tried to ride for nearly 20 kilometres (12 miles) after the crash but he eventually abandoned the Tour. He initially ruled himself out of the Vuelta a España as well but he eventually joined

1008-486: A finishing kick with around 800 metres (2,600 feet) to go, winning the stage and strengthening his hold on the red jersey. The same thing happened on the penultimate stage to Puerto de Ancares where he followed Froome throughout the climb, distancing the other contenders once again before kicking on to take the stage, all but securing the red jersey. On the final stage individual time trial, he rode conservatively in wet conditions to avoid any mishaps and though he lost time to

1120-479: A great Tour[, but] on a personal level [..] I have never admired him and never will", and Armstrong responding that "a champion is also measured on how much he respects his teammates and opponents." The sniping caused others, such as the director of the Tour, to wonder "what it would have been like to have had Contador and Armstrong in different teams." Contador later described the experience as "psychologically tough", likening it to having to compete in two races – one on

1232-405: A group known as the "bus" or "autobus" and ride at a steady pace to the finish. Their only goal is to cross the line within a certain limit—usually the stage winner's time plus 15% – or else they'll be disqualified from the race (at the discretion of the officials; on rare occasions a lead breakaway becomes so large that the entire peloton falls that far back and would normally be allowed to remain in

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1344-400: A large difference in the remainder of the race, for now the onus was on Schleck to attack Contador, and not the other way around. Jered Gruber, writing for VeloNation , argued that Contador was right to attack, defending him on the basis that Schleck did not wait for Contador when he was delayed behind a crash on the cobblestones in stage 3 and lost 1' 13" to Schleck, a crash that cost Schleck

1456-402: A mountain. (If the stage ends at the bottom of a mountain that has just been climbed, riders have the chance to descend aggressively and catch up to anyone who may have beaten them to the summit.) For this reason, the mountain stages are considered the deciding factor in most Tours, and are often attended by hundreds of thousands of spectators. Mountains cause big splits in finishing times due to

1568-405: A scar that runs from one ear to the other over the top of his head. Contador started to train again at the end of November 2004 and eight months after the surgery he won the fifth stage of the 2005 Tour Down Under racing for Liberty Seguros–Würth , as the team previously known as ONCE had become. He subsequently described this win as the greatest of his career. He went on to win the third stage and

1680-417: A single specialized sprinter, and in the final kilometres of a sprint stage, these teams jockey for position at the front of the peloton. In the final few hundred metres, a succession of riders "lead out" their sprinter, riding very hard while he stays in their slipstream. Just before the line—200 metres away is about the maximum—the sprinter launches himself around his final lead-out man in an all-out effort for

1792-513: A single-day race, and he dedicated the event to the memory of Víctor Cabedo , a young professional cyclist who died in a training accident a week prior. In 2013, Contador's only victory was a stage in the Tour de San Luis in January. From then on, his season did not go as expected: though finishing 3rd in Tirreno–Adriatico he became ill during the race. This disrupted his preparations for

1904-594: A strong performance of the opening time trial and stayed in touch with race leader Cadel Evans on the longer time trial. However, the strong ride of compatriot Alejandro Valverde up Mont Ventoux distanced Contador and he rode to help Valverde take the Yellow Jersey while finishing comfortably in third place overall. On 26 June, Contador competed in the Spanish National Time Trial Championships . He stated that he entered

2016-411: A two-year contract with Saxo Bank–SunGard for the 2011 season, to ride under team manager Bjarne Riis , who revealed that he would like Contador to try winning all three Grand Tours in one season, a feat never before accomplished. Contador's agent and brother Fran later countered the statement by saying it was "nothing but a dream". Within two weeks, three of Contador's Spanish teammates signed to make

2128-489: A yellow flag. The top-10 finishers in each of the first two stages are awarded bonus championship points. The points earned are added to a driver/owner's regular season points total, while the winner of the stage receives an additional point that can be carried into the NASCAR playoffs . The stage lengths vary by track, but the first two stages usually combine to equal about half of the race. The final stage (which still pays out

2240-419: Is better than the time in which they actually finish. This avoids sprinters being penalized for accidents that do not accurately reflect their performance on the stage as a whole given that crashes in the final three kilometre can be huge pileups that are hard to avoid for a rider farther back in the peloton. A crashed sprinter inside the final three kilometres will not win the sprint, but avoids being penalised in

2352-577: Is one of only six riders to have won all three Grand Tours of cycling, and one of only two riders to have won all three more than once. He has also won the Vélo d'Or a record 4 times. He was regarded as the natural successor of Lance Armstrong and won the 2007 Tour de France with the Discovery Channel team. During his time at the Astana team, he won the 2008 Giro d'Italia , the 2008 Vuelta

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2464-464: The 2014 UCI World Tour overall classification, as he decided to forego the Tour of Beijing to better prepare for the 2015 season. For 2015, Contador announced that he would attempt to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France , a feat that had not been done since Marco Pantani accomplished it in 1998. His debut race was the Vuelta an Andalucía in February. He took the race lead after

2576-605: The Astana team for 2008. On 13 February 2008, the organiser of the Tour de France, the Amaury Sport Organisation , announced that Astana would not be invited to any of their events in 2008 due to the doping previously perpetrated by Astana, despite the fact that its management and most of its ridership had changed before the 2008 season. Consequently, Contador was unable to defend his Paris–Nice and Tour de France victories. He went on to win his second Vuelta

2688-500: The Mortirolo Pass and put another two minutes into his rival as Mikel Landa became the second-placed rider on the general classification. On Stage 20, Contador lost some time to both Landa and Aru but retained his pink jersey. Eventually, he won the overall classification by 1:53 over Aru. Despite being stripped of his 2011 title for a doping suspension, Contador insisted that this was his third Giro victory, therefore including

2800-475: The Operación Puerto doping case , Contador was without a professional contract until mid-January 2007, when he signed with Discovery Channel . Contador's first major professional victory came with Paris–Nice , which he won on the race's final stage. Discovery Channel effectively wore down the remnants of the race leader Davide Rebellin 's Gerolsteiner team, allowing Contador to launch an attack on

2912-618: The Volvo Ocean Race , Velux 5 Oceans Race , Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and Global Challenge . Vuelta a Asturias Vuelta Asturias is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in early May each year. The event was first run in 1925 but has not been held consistently until 1968 to present. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour . On 25 April 2014,

3024-438: The Vuelta a España as the main candidate to win. His biggest challenger was likely to be compatriot Carlos Sastre , who had won the Tour de France just a month before. Contador won stage 13 by attacking on the fabled Angliru climb and this resulted in him capturing the golden jersey as the leader of the race. He extended his lead by winning stage 14 to Fuentes de Invierno and maintained his lead in subsequent flat stages and

3136-526: The Vuelta a España . During the 2016 Tour de France it was reported that Contador would race for Trek–Segafredo for the 2017 season, with the deal being confirmed by the team in September, along with the transfer of teammate Jesús Hernández and Tinkoff directeur sportif Steven de Jongh . This would be his final season as a professional cyclist. Race stage In an ordinary stage of road bicycle racing , all riders start simultaneously and share

3248-412: The Vuelta a España . Contador attacked numerous times throughout the mountains in the first sixteen stages of the race, but with no avail, since the race leader Joaquim Rodríguez always countered and finished ahead of him. This proved costly since there were bonus seconds awarded to the first three riders of each stage: twelve seconds for first, eight seconds for second and four seconds for third. Even on

3360-510: The queen stage of the race, finishing atop the Cuitu Negru and featuring slopes with a gradient of more than 20% close to the line, Rodríguez annulled the numerous attacks of Contador and sailed past him to the finish. However, his fortunes turned around during the seventeenth stage ; he attacked in that latter portion of the stage and made a solo effort up the final climb of the day after his breakaway companion Paolo Tiralongo of Astana

3472-407: The 12.7-kilometre (7.9-mile) mountain time-trial to Nevegal. On 29 May, Contador went on to win the race for the second time finishing 6 minutes ahead of second place Scarponi. In addition to winning the general classification, Contador also won the points classification and finished second in the mountains classification . This made the sixth consecutive grand tour that he entered and won. Despite

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3584-506: The 2009 season. Contador later claimed the situation was drastically overblown by the media. Contador decided to miss the Giro d'Italia to focus on winning the Tour de France. Contador started his 2009 season at the Volta ao Algarve race in Portugal, winning the overall classification, placing second on stage 3, and winning the decisive 33-kilometre (21-mile) individual time trial. He was in position to win Paris–Nice again after winning

3696-488: The 2011 race in his count. With his second official Giro title, along with two official Tour de France titles and three Vuelta a España overall wins, Contador joined Bernard Hinault as the only cyclists to have achieved multiple victories at each of the Grand Tours. In preparation for the Tour, Contador chose to ride the four-day Route du Sud , where he won the queen stage and the overall classification. His main rival

3808-488: The Giro and winning it was a really big achievement, bigger than if I'd had a second victory in the Tour de France". At the 2008 Summer Olympics , Contador competed in the road race and the individual road time trial . He did not finish in the road race, in which 53 of the 143 starters did not complete the course in particularly hot and humid conditions. He placed fourth in the individual time trial, eight seconds behind his regular teammate Leipheimer. Contador entered

3920-413: The Giro d'Italia, Contador's Tinkoff–Saxo team performed well in the opening team time trial , finishing 2nd to Orica–GreenEDGE . He gained 6 seconds on Fabio Aru , 12 seconds on Rigoberto Urán , and 20 seconds on Richie Porte . Contador took the maglia rosa on the summit finish on stage 5 to Abetone. However, the next day, Contador dislocated his shoulder after crashing on the finishing straight. He

4032-518: The Giro-Tour double and now I know. I don't think it's impossible to do the double but it's really complicated because nobody has the experience on how to prepare it. However, I prefer having tried than being left with a desire to do it". After the Tour, Contador planned on racing the Clásica de San Sebastián but had to cancel due to sickness, ending his 2015 season. In March 2015, Contador signed

4144-601: The Grand Tour race. His injuries sustained in the Volta a Catalunya were healed and included a micro-fissure in his sacrum. He stated: "I'm going very well, the big blocks of training here in the Canaries are all but finished and I'm now beginning to go through the recovery phase prior to the Giro. I've done a huge amount of climbing rides in these last three weeks and now what we've got to do is ease back before next week." At

4256-483: The Kazakhstan owners of the team on one side and Bruyneel on the other, and he was hoping to leave Astana at the end of the year, although his contract did not expire until the end of 2010. However, on 11 August, Contador's teammate and close friend Sérgio Paulinho accepted a two-year contract with Team RadioShack , indicating that Contador might not be able to leave Astana as readily as he and his agent wished. This

4368-477: The Spanish amateur cycling calendar. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 without having finished his Bachillerato and signed with Iberdrola–Loinaz, a youth team run by Manolo Saiz , manager of the professional ONCE–Deutsche Bank team. In 2001, he won the under-23 race at the Spanish National Time Trial Championships . Contador lives with his wife Macarena in the city of Pinto when not competing. He has

4480-542: The Tour after a four-year absence. Contador had won the last four Grand Tour races that he had entered. During the celebration at the podium, the organisers of the Tour wrongly played the Danish national anthem instead of the Spanish Royal March . In the aftermath of the tour, Contador and Armstrong engaged in a war of words, with Contador quoted as saying that, although Armstrong "is a great rider and [..] did

4592-484: The Tour de France, Contador entered the race in much better form. He avoided crashing during the first week but he lost a lot of time in the fifth stage of the race, the stage featuring cobbles as part of the route. He lost around 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 minutes to fellow overall contender, Nibali, as he was unable to bridge the gap to him after mud became stuck in his gears. On the Tour's first summit finish going to Gérardmer , he attacked as Nibali went with him. Contador made

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4704-415: The Tour or the Giro, there is a secondary competition on points (e.g. Points classification in the Tour de France ), which tends to be contested by sprinters. Riders collect points for being one of the first to finish the stage and also for being one of the first three to finish an "intermediate" sprint. Sprinters also can get time bonuses, meaning that good sprinters may lead the general classification during

4816-515: The Tour. Contador started the Dauphiné on good form, finishing second to Froome on the race's short individual time trial before dueling with Froome on the Col du Béal . Unlike in 2013 where he was unable to follow the accelerations of Froome, Contador was able to stay on his rival's wheel, eventually finishing second on the stage after Froome outsprinted him to the line. He had his next duel with Froome on

4928-471: The aid of his best ally in the tour, his brother Fränk Schleck . But of course that was early in the race and neither rider had the yellow jersey at the time. Race commentator Paul Sherwen thought the attack in poor form, whereas his co-commenter Phil Liggett thought not. Schleck said he considered Contador's actions to be unsporting. Hours after the conclusion of the stage, Contador voiced an apology for his behaviour on his YouTube channel. Five days later in

5040-430: The breakaway including Andrew Talansky , who was sitting in third place overall, 39 seconds behind Contador. Contador was left isolated with no teammates around him as he tried to bridge the gap to the leading group but he ran out of steam as Talansky won the race overall. However, Contador dealt a psychological blow to Froome ahead of the Tour as Froome struggled in the stage, eventually dropping to 12th place overall. In

5152-412: The clenbuterol case. He finished second overall in the Tour de San Luis and he won both uphill finishes, only falling short in the time trial stage of the race. On 6 February he was stripped of these early results, as well the 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d'Italia wins and many other victories. He was also suspended until 5 August and his contract with Team Saxo Bank was annulled. On 8 June it

5264-505: The competition to avoid having only a small field still in competition). Meanwhile, the lighter climbers hurl themselves up the slopes at a much higher speed. Usually, the General Classification riders try to stay near the front group, and also try to keep a few teammates with them. These teammates are there to drive the pace—and hopefully "drop" the opposition riders—and to provide moral support to their leader. Typically,

5376-483: The end of the race. He also won the individual time trial of Vuelta a Castilla y León . Contador competed in the Giro d'Italia , his first time racing in the Giro since his victory in 2008 . Contador won the ninth stage on Mount Etna , his first stage win at the Italian Grand Tour. He attacked midway through the climb, dropping his overall rivals and gaining almost a minute on them. That stage gave him

5488-427: The fact that he was scheduled to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in early August, Contador announced in early June he would compete in the Tour de France . The CAS had planned to hear the case in early June but the dates were pushed back to early August. Contador aimed to become the first rider to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year since Marco Pantani accomplished

5600-467: The feat in 1998. In the opening stage Contador was slowed by a crash and lost more than one minute. He lost additional time in the team time trial at Les Essarts but finished second in the fourth stage up to Mûr-de-Bretagne . Contador suffered four crashes in the opening nine days of the Tour, injuring his right knee before facing the Pyrenees mountain stages. He was dropped in the final kilometre in

5712-412: The final climb of Col d'Èze before Thomas closed the gap on the final descent to the finish line, and the Volta a Catalunya , before taking the general classification and the stage six time trial at the Tour of the Basque Country , subsequently stating to the press that he would postpone his retirement for at least another year. Contador got off to a difficult start to the Tour de France , crashing in

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5824-428: The final climb. With Rebellin leading the chase, Contador held off his competitors in the final kilometres, winning him the race. In the Tour de France , he won a stage at the mountaintop finish of Plateau de Beille , and was second in the general classification to Michael Rasmussen . Upon Rasmussen's removal from the race before stage 17 for lying to his team about his pre-race training whereabouts, Contador assumed

5936-405: The final stage is traditionally non-competitive save for a bunched sprint to the finish line) and it secured Contador his first Tour de France victory. It is the closest the top three finishers in the Tour de France have ever finished to one another. After Discovery Channel announced 2007 would be its final season in professional cycling, Contador announced on 23 October 2007 that he would move to

6048-585: The final time trial, won by Leipheimer by a wide margin. Contador later took some offence to Leipheimer seemingly riding with winning the Vuelta in mind, after it had been established earlier in the race that Contador was Astana's team leader. In the final standings, Contador finished 46 seconds ahead of Leipheimer and more than four minutes ahead of Sastre. The win made him the fifth cyclist, at that point, to win all three Grand Tours, after Jacques Anquetil , Felice Gimondi , Eddy Merckx , and Bernard Hinault . In

6160-535: The first few stages of a big multi-day event. In NASCAR racing, starting with the 2017 season, races in the top three national touring series are completed in three stages, four in the case of the NASCAR Cup Series's longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 . A stage consists of normal green flag racing followed by a stoppage on a designated lap signified by the waving of a green and white checkered flag, then

6272-462: The first individual time trial and took the pink jersey after the 15th stage up to Passo Fedaia. Upon winning the final pink jersey in Milan, he became the first non-Italian to win the Giro d'Italia since Pavel Tonkov in 1996 and also the second Spanish rider to win the Giro after Miguel Induráin won in 1992 and 1993 . He later emphasized the importance of this win by saying that "taking part in

6384-400: The first stage of the 2004 Vuelta a Asturias he started to feel unwell, and after 40 kilometres (25 miles) he fell and went into convulsions. He had been suffering from headaches for several days beforehand and was diagnosed with a cerebral cavernoma , a congenital vascular disorder, for which he underwent risky surgery and a recovery to get back on his bike. As a result of the surgery, he has

6496-420: The gap. By stage's end, he had lost the yellow jersey and 39 seconds to Contador. Contador, who now had an eight-second lead in the race, met with a mixed reception as he received the yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the stage. It is an unusual occurrence in the Tour for the new race leader to be met with whistles and cat calls as he is given the yellow jersey. The yellow jersey changing shoulders made

6608-420: The last 2 mountain stages. Contador finished the Tour de France in fifth place, 9' 48" down on winner Froome. Though he failed to achieve the double in the end, Contador had no regrets over his attempt. "It's true that there are riders that would dream of finishing fifth. For me that was not my objective but I'm glad that I tried. If I hadn't tried then after my career I might have wondered whether I could have done

6720-623: The lead of the race. On the next day, Contador crossed the finish line in Madrid with the race leader's red jersey, earning the second Vuelta victory of his career. Contador participated in the UCI Road World Championships held in Valkenburg in both the road race and the individual time trial. He was ninth in the time trial, after being overtaken by eventual winner Tony Martin , who started two minutes behind him. For

6832-448: The leader will attack very hard when there are only a few kilometres to go, trying to put time into his main rivals. Gaps of two and even three minutes can be created over just a few kilometres by hard attacks. In larger stage races, some stages may be designated as "medium mountain", "hilly" or "intermediate" stages. These stages are more difficult than flat stages, but not as difficult as the mountain stages. They are often well-suited for

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6944-405: The line. Top speeds can be in excess of 72 km/h (about 45 mph). Sprint stages rarely result in big time differences between riders (see above), but contenders for the General Classification tend to stay near the front of the peloton to avoid crashes. Mountain stages, on the other hand, often do cause big "splits" in the finishing times, especially when the stage actually ends at the top of

7056-468: The most championship points) usually equals the other half. The first driver to win a National Series race under the stage race format was GMS Racing Camping World Truck Series driver Kaz Grala who won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February 2017 after holding off Austin Wayne Self . Round-the-world sailing races are sometimes held over stages. Notable examples are

7168-584: The mountaintop finish of the Alto de l'Angliru . Contador was born on 6 December 1982 in Pinto in the Community of Madrid , the third of four children. He has an older brother and sister and a younger brother, who has cerebral palsy . Having previously taken part in other sports, such as football and athletics, Contador discovered cycling at the age of 14 thanks to his elder brother Francisco Javier. When Contador

7280-595: The next mountain stage to Valdelinares , attacking with around 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) to go while dropping Froome and Valverde among others as he sat 3 seconds behind red jersey holder Quintana before the individual time trial. He took the red jersey on the individual time trial as he finished fourth. He showed he could defend the red jersey by staying with his fellow overall contenders. On the race's queen stage to La Farrapona , he followed Froome's attack with 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) to go while distancing other overall contenders. He stayed in his rival's wheel before putting on

7392-423: The next stage to Pinerolo but unable to win time to the other favourites besides Thomas Voeckler and Ivan Basso . In the stage to the Col du Galibier he lost time to the other favourites after Schleck launched a solo attack 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the finish and Contador was later unable to follow the pace set by Evans. Contador launched an early attack on the last mountain stage to Alpe d'Huez , reaching

7504-463: The next two Pyrenean stages staying in contact with his big rivals where he also remained 6th overall. His chances faded after he crashed on the descent of the Colle d'Allos on stage 17. Despite a hard effort on the finishing climb after, he lost over 2 minutes to Froome and Quintana. He was unable to recover from his crash on stage 17 and his efforts in the Giro which made him unable to match his rivals on

7616-407: The nose cone of time trial bikes, Contador did not use his Shiv time trial bike, and instead used the standard red Specialized time trial bike. On 14 March, Contador won his second Paris–Nice , finishing ahead of other pre-race favorites like Alejandro Valverde and Luis León Sánchez . His main attack came in the hilltop finish to Mende, where he crossed the finish line alone and successfully secured

7728-401: The occasional struggling rider dropping behind. In mountainous stages the peloton is likely to become fragmented, but in flat stages a split is rare. Where a group of riders reach the finish line together, they do not race each other for a few seconds of improvement to their finishing time. There is a rule that if one rider finishes less than three seconds behind another then he is credited with

7840-506: The opening stages and losing time to his rivals. He was in 20th place on the general classification with a deficit of 3 minutes 12 seconds to leader Chris Froome before the ninth stage, where after attempting to make the breakaway at the start of the day, he withdrew from the race, citing a fever which had developed overnight. In August, Contador won the overall classification of the Vuelta a Burgos , beating both Ben Hermans and Sergio Pardilla by just one second. He went on to finish fourth at

7952-457: The other favourites, he had more than enough time in hand to win his third Vuelta. During the Vuelta, Contador announced he would not contest the UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada , saying the course did not fit his characteristics at all. Contador suffered a crash in the Giro di Lombardia , injuring the knee that he had hurt in the Tour de France and ending his chances of winning

8064-491: The overall classification of the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme , thus winning his first stage race as a professional. He also won an individual time trial during the Tour of the Basque Country , where he finished third, and the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie , where he finished fourth overall. In 2006, he won stages at the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse in preparation for the Tour de France . Prior to

8176-421: The overall classification. Ordinary stages can be further classified as "sprinters' stages" or "climbers' stages". The former tend to be raced on relatively flat terrain, which makes it difficult for small groups or individual cyclists to break away from the peloton—there are no big hills to slow it down. So more often than not, the entire peloton approaches the finish line en masse. Some teams are organized around

8288-406: The overall lead and the yellow jersey, though he did not don it until after the stage. In the stage 19 individual time trial, he managed to defy expectations and keep hold of the yellow jersey by a margin of only 23 seconds over challenger Cadel Evans and 31 seconds over teammate Levi Leipheimer . As this was the Tour's penultimate stage, it was the last real competition of the race (since

8400-602: The overall lead in the Giro, as well as the points classification lead. Contador extended his overall lead to 3 minutes over second place Vincenzo Nibali where he broke away with José Rujano on the Grossglockner. He solidified his lead through stage 14 up the Monte Zoncolan and a very difficult stage 15 through the Dolomites taking his lead up to 4 minutes ahead of second place Michele Scarponi . He also won

8512-423: The peloton and beats it to the finish line. Typically these stages are somewhere between flat and mountainous. Breakaway stages are where the rouleurs, the hard-working, all-around riders who make up the majority of most teams, get their chance to grab a moment in the spotlight. (The climbers will want to save their energy for the mountains, and the sprinters are not built for hills.) In the big multi-day events like

8624-481: The pink jersey, the first time he lost the leader's jersey in any Grand Tour up to that point in his career. However the next day, on a 59.3-kilometre (36.8-mile) individual time trial, Contador led the field, taking back the pink jersey and created a sizable time difference over the rest of the peloton. On stage 16, Contador suffered a mechanical problem on the descent of Apria and other teams including Astana tried to take advantage. Still, Contador made contact with Aru at

8736-418: The possibility of leaving the team if he was given a secondary role supporting Armstrong but Bruneel said in no uncertain terms that he would hold Contador to the terms of his contract but he also said "Alberto has had a magnificent year and is currently the best professional cyclist in the world", Contador was later given assurances by Bruyneel that he would remain team leader and decided to remain at Astana for

8848-401: The process he also became the first Spaniard, youngest (age 25), and shortest amount of time to accumulate all three wins (15 months). He also became only the third cyclist to win the Giro and the Vuelta in the same year, joining Merckx (who did it in 1973) and Giovanni Battaglin (who did it in 1981). Later in the year, Contador won the Vélo d'Or award for the best rider of the year for

8960-423: The prologue and the toughest mountain stage, but suffered a breakdown in stage 7, losing his yellow jersey to fellow Spaniard Luis León Sánchez . Contador and his Astana team later blamed the breakdown on Contador eating inadequately, leaving him without the energy to chase attacks. Contador finished fourth overall; he continued his build up to the Tour de France by racing the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré . He put in

9072-428: The race in order to gain more experience on his new Trek time trial bike, but he came away with a convincing victory over Sánchez, the defending champion, winning by 37 seconds. This was his first national championship as a professional. Contador won Stage 15 of the Tour de France by soloing to the finish line more than a minute ahead of most of his closest general classification competitors, and in so doing took

9184-435: The race, taking third in the second stage and fourth in the third stage individual time trial before taking his first win of the season on the fourth stage. In the stage featuring a summit finish at Alto do Malhão, Contador attacked a kilometre from the finish as he eventually soloed to the stage win, three seconds ahead of Rui Costa . He eventually finished second overall, 19 seconds down on Kwiatkowski. Contador's next race

9296-459: The rest of the season. Contador returned to racing in the Tour of the Basque Country in April and finished fifth in the general classification. He was too late to be in optimal condition for the Tour de France , where he could not match up to Chris Froome and finished in fourth place. After the Tour, main sponsor Oleg Tinkov expressed critical comments on Contador's style of riding. At the end of

9408-418: The road race, Contador rode in support of his Spanish teammates and finished 53 seconds in arrears of the victor, Belgian Philippe Gilbert . Days later, Contador headed for Italy to take part in the newly resurrected Classic Milano–Torino . He took the win by accelerating on the final slope of the day in sight of the final kilometre banner, dropping all contenders. It was the first time in his career that he won

9520-432: The road, the other in the team hotel. Armstrong's control of the team during the race extended to its entire fleet of team cars, forcing Contador to rely on his brother to take him from stage finishes to the hotel. On 31 July, Contador's agent (who is also his brother) announced that Contador had turned down an offer to remain with Astana under a new four-year contract because he had felt so uncomfortable being caught between

9632-461: The road. Riders are permitted to touch and to shelter behind each other. Riding in each other's slipstreams is crucial to race tactics: a lone rider has little chance of outracing a small group of riders who can take turns in the strenuous position at the front of the group. The majority of riders form a single large group, the "pack" (in French , the " peloton "), with attacking groups ahead of it and

9744-451: The same finishing time as the first. This operates transitively, so when the peloton finishes together every rider in it gets the time of the rider at the front of the peloton, even though the peloton takes tens of seconds, and possibly even a couple of minutes, to cross the finish line. Riders who crash within the last three kilometres of the stage are credited with the finishing time of the group that they were with when they crashed, if that

9856-423: The same transfer: Jesús Hernández , Daniel Navarro and Benjamín Noval . Amidst the clenbuterol controversy, Contador earned his first win in the Vuelta a Murcia . He won the overall classification as well as two stage victories en route to his victory. Later in the month of March, Contador entered in the Volta a Catalunya , where he claimed a win on the third stage to Vallnord , maintaining his advantage until

9968-434: The season, Tinkov bought the team ownership, but Contador stayed loyal to the team. After a disappointing 2013 season, Contador went into the season trying to find the form that allowed him to take numerous victories in the past. Contador's first objective of the season was the Volta ao Algarve . Although he would lose time to Michał Kwiatkowski after his two consecutive stage wins, Contador showed his much improving form in

10080-521: The second consecutive season. The Giro and Vuelta winner beat Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara and Sastre in a vote by international cycling writers. On 9 September 2008, Lance Armstrong announced that he was returning to professional cycling with the express goal of participating in the 2009 Tour de France . Astana manager Johan Bruyneel , Armstrong's former mentor and sporting director , said that he could not allow Armstrong riding for another team and later signed him. Contador hinted at

10192-418: The seventh stage, the queen stage of the race. Contador attacked with 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) left on the stage and Froome (who was suffering from the effects of a crash on the previous day's stage) was not able to bridge the gap to him as Contador took the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification. However, Contador fell victim to an ambush on the next stage as several riders in the top ten went into

10304-424: The simple laws of physics. Firstly, the slower speeds mean that the aerodynamic advantage gained by slipstreaming is much smaller. Furthermore, lighter riders generate more power per kilogram than heavier riders; thus, the sprinters and the rouleurs (all-around good cyclists), who tend to be a bit bigger, suffer on the climbs and lose much time—40 minutes over a long stage is not unheard-of. Generally, these riders form

10416-432: The stage 19 time trial, Contador beat Schleck again, taking 31 seconds from him. Contador went on to win the Tour de France for the third time with an advantage of 39 seconds over Andy Schleck, the exact amount of time he had taken from Schleck on Stage 15. Contador became the seventh rider to win a Tour de France without winning a stage, but this win was later nullified due to his doping suspension. Contador signed

10528-506: The stage to Luz Ardiden and finished two seconds behind Andy Schleck at the top of the Plateau de Beille . On the sixteenth stage to Gap , Contador attacked on the ascent of the Col de Manse, with Cadel Evans and Samuel Sánchez joining him in taking a time advantage over the other favourites in the general classification, including more than a minute over Schleck. He was also aggressive in

10640-453: The stage's penultimate climb before soloing to the finish. He kept his lead for the remainder of the race, finishing more than two minutes clear ahead of runner-up Quintana. Contador raced the Volta a Catalunya next, where he had his first duel with riders such as Chris Froome and Joaquim Rodríguez . On the race's first mountain stage, he followed attacks set by his fellow general classification contenders before he had to settle for second in

10752-418: The stage, 5 seconds behind Rodríguez. He finished the race in second place overall, just 4 seconds behind Rodríguez. Contador's next objective for the season was the Tour of the Basque Country . He got into a duel with fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde and both riders did not disappoint on the first stage. Contador followed Valverde's attack on the stage's last climb before putting on an attack that Valverde

10864-514: The start list of the race. His Vuelta started well as his team, Tinkoff–Saxo , finished seventh in the opening team time trial, 19 seconds behind the Movistar Team , the team which fielded fellow overall contenders, Quintana and Valverde. On the race's first mountain stage to La Zubia , he was able to stay with the overall contenders as he eventually finished the stage in third place behind Froome and Valverde. He showed his improving form on

10976-556: The start of the race he was implicated along with several teammates in the Operación Puerto doping case by the Spanish authorities, and the team was not able to start. He was later cleared by the Union Cycliste Internationale , cycling's governing body . Contador returned to racing in the Vuelta a Burgos but he crashed after finishing fifth in stage 4, when he was riding back down to the team bus, and briefly lost consciousness. After having been implicated in

11088-569: The time trial on stage 1b, finishing fourth. Contador then won stage 3, a mountaintop finish, by attacking with 7.5 kilometres (4.7 miles) to go. He did however lose the race leader's jersey on the very next stage, another mountain affair, where Chris Froome snatched both the stage win and the race lead. Froome did not relinquish his lead and Contador finished the race second in the overall classification, only 2 seconds behind. In mid-March, Contador finished fifth overall at Tirreno–Adriatico , helping his teammate Peter Sagan win stage 6 by accelerating on

11200-577: The top of Galibier with Schleck, but their effort proved unsuccessful and they were captured by the rest of the main contenders following the long descent from the mountain. Contador launched another attack on the first kilometres of Alpe d'Huez but he was eventually beaten to victory by Pierre Rolland with Samuel Sánchez second. Contador finished fifth in the overall classification, 3 minutes 57 seconds behind Evans, bringing an end to his streak of winning six consecutive Grand Tours that he entered. Contador started his season with still no verdict in

11312-515: The yellow jersey. Contador also competed in and concluded the Critérium International with a second place in the final time trial, only 2 seconds behind stage winner David Millar , while Pierrick Fédrigo successfully defended the maillot jaune against rivals such as Cadel Evans and Samuel Sánchez . Contador was a favourite coming into the Tour de France , along with Team Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck . On Stage 15 Schleck

11424-444: The yellow jersey. He then extended his lead on Stage 17, after finishing second in a breakaway of three riders with the same time as the stage winner, and then the next day he won the second time trial, increasing his overall advantage to more than four minutes. Contador won his second Tour de France on 26 July with a winning margin of 4' 11" over Andy Schleck , and finished 5' 24" ahead of Armstrong, who finished third in his return to

11536-471: Was Nairo Quintana , a competitor he had to contend with at the Tour de France. Contador had solid opening to the first week of the tour; despite losing a little time to Chris Froome in the team time trial , he gained time on his rivals including Nibali and Quintana who both lost time on stage 2. He struggled though on the opening summit finish losing 3 minutes to stage winner Froome putting a serious dent to his victory chances. Despite this setback he improved on

11648-399: Was Tirreno–Adriatico where he faced stiffer competition with riders such as Nairo Quintana and Jean-Christophe Péraud . He continued to show his strong form by winning the third stage of the race going to Cittareale after he outsprinted Quintana, his main rival for the race. He took the lead in the general classification on the next day, winning a second successive stage as he attacked on

11760-526: Was 15, he began to compete in races at the amateur level in Spain, joining the Real Velo Club Portillo from Madrid. Although he got no victories that year or the next, he demonstrated great qualities and was soon nicknamed Pantani (after Marco Pantani , regarded as one of the best climbers of all time) for his climbing skills. In 2000, he experienced his first victories, winning several mountains classification prizes from prominent events on

11872-399: Was able to finish but dislocated the shoulder again before the podium presentation. Despite this, Contador was able to continue in the race, holding on to the jersey. However, on stage 13, on what most assumed was an "easy day" of racing, Contador crashed in a pile-up, 3.2 kilometres (2.0 miles) from the finish; he crossed the line 42 seconds behind the peloton, including Aru. Thus Contador lost

11984-547: Was announced that Contador would rejoin Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank upon the completion of his ban, signing a contract that would keep him with the team until the end of the 2015 season. After the completion of his suspension, Contador competed in the Eneco Tour as preparation for the Vuelta a España where he finished 4th in the general classification. Consequently, Contador was named leader of Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank for

12096-516: Was confirmed on 15 August, when a spokesperson for the Kazakhstan sponsors of Astana said that they intended to sponsor the Astana team on the UCI ProTour through 2013 and that they intended to enforce the last year of Contador's contract with Astana in 2010. On 21 February, Contador won his first race of the season, the Volta ao Algarve , by winning its queen stage and finishing second in the final time trial. Due to new UCI regulations concerning

12208-486: Was dropped. Contador won the stage by six seconds over the first chase group and took the lead away from Rodríguez, who was relegated to more than two minutes in the general classification. He held on to the race lead during the last mountain stage leading atop the Bola del Mondo, where he was dropped by Rodríguez and Alejandro Valverde ( Movistar Team ), who held second place overall. He managed to limit his losses and retain

12320-461: Was known as an attacking rider who excelled as a climber, and on his best days was also an excellent time-trialist. He was also known for being able to turn races around to his favour, most notably during the Fuente Dé stage at the 2012 Vuelta a España. Following his return from suspension, he won the Vuelta twice and the Giro once more. On the penultimate day of his career, he won a stage victory at

12432-439: Was not able to answer. He negotiated the descent and soloed to the stage win and yellow jersey, 14 seconds ahead of Valverde. He kept the race lead to the end, finishing second on the final stage time trial and winning the race by 49 seconds ahead of Michał Kwiatkowski. As his final preparation for the Tour de France , Contador entered the Critérium du Dauphiné where he battled with Froome and Vincenzo Nibali , his main rivals for

12544-422: Was race leader and pressing the pace over the day's final climb of Port de Bales when he threw his chain . Contador and Denis Menchov immediately moved to the front and attacked, pressing the advantage over the crest of the climb and all the way back down into Bagneres-de-Luchon. They were aided by Samuel Sánchez and two others making a group of five riders. Schleck chased hard, but had no other riders to help bridge

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