Alberto counterthe only Spanish cyclist to win the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, considers that the INEOS Grenadiers team “has to give opportunities to Carlos Rodríguez” after his spectacular start to the season in which “Pogacar is on another level“and the main figures show up to the races in shape and to win.
Accountant He analyzed a start to the season marked by the dominance of the great teams on the World Tour and the presence of the leading figures of the peloton in the front row, “something that had not happened before”. Among them, the Spanish Carlos Rodriguez and John Ayusothe first of them from the quarry of the triple winner of the Vuelta and double of the Tour and Giro.
“Without ruling out runners like Alejandro Valverde and with Enric Mas in his maturity, runners with a present, with a lot of talent, such as Carlos Rodríguez and Juan Ayuso, are already coming out. We know Carlos well from the Contador Foundation, and we know his numbers since he was a youth, with data from the World Tour back then. He is already showing good detail in stage and one-day races.”
This performance of the 21-year-old Andalusian cyclist gives him, according to Contador, more opportunities from his team, Ineos.
“Ineos already has to give him the opportunity. They have had him covered for two years and he has to leave now because he is crying out for it. Just like Ayuso, he is a talent and he is in a great block.”
On the change in mentality of cyclists and teams in the way they start the seasons, Contador offered his point of view.
“Before the figures came to the first races of the year to do training with a bib, but that has changed. Now if they arrive out of shape, if they are going to pick up the pace, they are going to take them out of the point and they are going to accumulate fatigue just holding the race pace. If you don’t arrive well prepared at the end you suffer and that is counterproductive for your fitness”, said Contador after the presentation of the tourist proposal for Sant Antoni de Portmany (Ibiza), in which the former runner participated together with Óscar Pereiro, 2006 Tour winner.
NEW FORMS OF TRAINING
Accountant He explained in this regard that “now the training sessions are calculated a lot, they are of higher quality. Before there was not so much concentration at height, now there is, so that when they get to the competition they take advantage of the training”.
Another reason is the importance for the teams and the sponsors that support them of the fact of obtaining victories that make the economic effort visible.
“Every run is worth gold. The teams invest a lot and earning is profitability. Seasons are intense from start to finish. For example, Pogacar won the UAE Tour in February in 2021 and at the end of the season he won in Lombardy.. The fear of performing all year has been lost, and that, for those of us who like cycling, is very good”.
Precisely before the state of form that the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, recent winner of the Strade Bianche and leader of the Tirreno Adriatico, is showing, Contador was blunt.
“Pogacar is intractable, on another level. When it starts you can’t follow it. We already know that there are peaks in form, but now it is like that. We also have to see how many years he can be at this level.”
Regarding the Colombian Egan Bernal, convalescing from a serious fall that caused multiple fractures, Contador was convinced that the winner of the 2019 Tour de France and the 2021 Giro d’Italia.
“I have contact with him and we maintain a good relationship. I think he will be the same as before, but above all I want him to recover well. At the moment he is managing it very well, he is showing that champions make a difference in the face of adversity, both to win the Tour or to overcome injuries, I am confident that he will return to the highest level”.