Contador Wins La Vuelta Stage 17

Last updated : 05 September 2012 By Kev Monks

Alberto Contador won the seventeenth stage of the Vuelta A Espana this afternoon.

This race which is providing some classic racing left Santander heading for  Fuente Dé on a stage of 187.3kms.

Eighty of those kilometres were gone when Leonardo Duque (Cofidis), Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Danny Pate (Sky), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Lars Boom (Rabobank), Bruno Pires (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Javier Ramirez (Andalucia) got away and stayed clear.

With 56kms to go, the chasers who had been trying to catch the escapers succeded and now the front group consisted of : Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Danny Pate (Sky), Bruno Pires (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM), Arnold Jeanesson (FDJ-BigMat), Javier Ramirez (Andalucia), Ben Gastauer (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Leonardo Duque (Cofidis), Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD), Sergio Luis Henao (Sky), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan), David Moncoutié (Cofidis) Jesus Hernandez (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Alexandre Geniez (Argos-Shimano), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Benat Intxausti (Movistar), Paolo Tiralongo (Astana), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM), Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Sergio Paulinho (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), Mikel Landa (Euskaltel-Euskadi)

Then with 30kms to go and the road flattening out, Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) attacked along with Sergio Paulinho, Gorka Verdugo, Mikel Landa (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Paolo Tiralongo (Astana), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Alexandre Geniez (Argos-Shimano), Sergio Luis Henao (Sky), Nairo Quintana, Benat Inxausti (Movistar), Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ-BigMat), Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) and Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan). and they were a minute ahead of the chasing group which now contained race leader Joaquin Rodriquez.

Contador (pictured below), who had been tipped by Chris Froome in a rest day interview to win the race as he was always attacking, took the time bonuses at the final intermediate sprint of the day.

Contador was 1.37 ahead of Valverde and 2.22 ahead of Rodriquez with ten kilometres to go and the Saxo Bank rider was riding high in the saddle and treating the closing kilometres like a time trial.

Valverde came back and was fifteen seconds behind Contador with 1.4kms to go but Contador won in a time of 4.29.20 just ahead of Valverde and Haeno.

Rodriquez came in 2.37 down to drop to third in the General Classification behind Contador and Valverde.

Nicholas Roche came in 28th at 4.48 down and Chris Froome came in ten seconds later.

Contador is now in red and leads Valverde by 1.52 and he is 2.28 ahead of Rodriquez.

Speaking after his win, Contador said: I’ve attacked instinctively. I believe this day of racing has shocked a few! Truly, I’ve ridden a bit like a kamikaze. But I had to try. I felt something like an angel and a devil on my shoulders. One was telling me: “Attack”, the other one said: “Don’t attack.” I followed the right advice. I’ve been scared to lose my advantage in the last fifteen kilometers because I hadn’t eaten a lot. I was afraid that other riders could catch me. 

"I wasn’t on one of my best days. But my will to succeed was enormous. Second place isn’t bad but you always have to try and win, even though many people thought it was out of reach for me. My attack with 50 km to go was of an absolute madness. I told my three team-mates via radio to go “full gas”, and nothing more because sometimes the radios are pirated by other teams. And I’ve climbed with the same conviction I had up to l’Alpe d’Huez in the 2011 Tour de France.  

"It’s one of the three most important of my career. The first one was at the 2005 Tour Down Under when I resumed racing after my big accident. The second one was the 2007 Paris-Nice. It’s not finished yet but Joaquim Rodriguez must be congratulated for what he has done during this Vuelta. I wasn’t able to drop him off in the steepest uphill finishes, so every day I had to think of the tactic for the next day. I’ve had to calculate a lot the time not to lose and the ri

 

 

 

 

Picture copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/KM