Thursday 17 July 2014 11:59, UK
Alberto Contador has revealed it will take three to four weeks to recover from his broken leg and doubts whether he will be fit in time to race the Vuelta a Espana.
The 31-year-old Spaniard fractured the tibia in his right leg in a crash with just under 100km remaining on stage ten of the Tour de France and although he tried to continue, he was forced to abandon the race around 15km later.
He will not require surgery on the injury, as first feared, but is unlikely to be ready to make his comeback at the Vuelta, which starts on August 23.
Contador tweeted: “I've not pass under surgery, but otherwise the recovery period (3-4 weeks) is higher than expected. Now I go day by day. Thank you all.”
In a video released on his website, the Tinkoff-Saxo rider added: “Now I only think of recovering as soon as possible and preparing for my next objectives. The next one is the Vuelta in Spain, but I sincerely think time is too tight to do that one. Of course, I will try my best to be there, but I’m not sure it’s possible.”
Contador crashed when he appeared to hit a snag in the road surface while reaching into his jersey pocket. He was the second pre-race favourite to exit the Tour through injury, defending champion Chris Froome abandoned on stage five following the last of three crashes in the space of 24 hours.
“It was difficult to sleep,” Contador added. “I have woken up two or three times, thinking this was something that wasn’t real, but every time I opened my eyes, it was real.
“I think I was in good shape and had good results in the general classification, but that’s sport, and that’s cycling. You cannot control everything and, in one second, the work of months and months goes in the bin.”
