Spaniard eyes next step in bid to win the double
Saturday 30 May 2015 18:23, UK
Alberto Contador admitted he has already turned his attention to July's Tour de France after effectively sealing overall victory at the Giro d’Italia on Saturday.
The Tinkoff-Saxo rider leads by 2min 2sec ahead of Sunday’s race-ending sprint stage into Milan and will win the Giro for the second time in his career as long as he avoids crashing.
The impending victory means Contador remains on course in his bid to become the first man since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both the Giro and Tour in the same year.
He said: “We will have a good dinner tonight, although I have to watch my weight for the Tour. This Giro d'Italia is in the bag now, with just tomorrow's stage to come, so I'm already thinking of my next target.”
Contador was dropped by his rivals on stage 20’s penultimate climb and crossed the line at the summit finish in Sestriere 2min 25sec down on winner Fabio Aru, who is set to finish second overall.
Contador admitted it had been a chastening day but insisted he did not fear losing the leader's pink jersey.
“Today was not a great stage for me,” he added. “I wasn't feeling good, probably because of the accumulated effort, but I knew I had a good cushion in the general classification and, even though there were plenty of kilometres to go before the finish, I preferred to ride at my rhythm.
“There was never a moment when I thought the jersey was in danger. I maintained my calm because I knew that the difference in speeds between the groups was going to be small.”
