PINZOLO, Italy (VN) — Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) is taking nothing for granted as he’s riding into the final decisive week of the Giro d’Italia.
Though he’s firmly in the pink jersey, he’s refusing to look too far down the road, and certainly not so far ahead as the Tour de France this summer. Contador knows that the race isn’t won until he arrives to Milano, still brutally far away.
“The hardest stages of the Giro are still ahead of us. Nothing is won yet,” Contador said during a press conference on Monday’s rest day. “I didn’t imagine it quite like this, or even having the jersey with this amount of time. Going into the final week, I thought it would be my opportunity to get the jersey if I didn’t have it yet. So far, things have gone better than I could have hoped for.”
Contador is firmly in control of the pink jersey. Following his dominance in Saturday’s time trial, coupled with the untimely exit of GC threat Richie Porte (Sky), the veteran Spaniard is very much in control of his own destiny.
Contador is 2:35 ahead of Fabio Aru (Astana), and more than four minutes ahead of Andrey Amador (Movistar). Mikel Landa (Astana), who looks stronger than Aru at this point of the race, hovers in fourth at 4:46 back.
“We’ll have to see what tactics Astana plays. If Landa has a bit of freedom, he could end up on the podium,” Contador said. “Aru is more than two minutes ahead of the others. There are others, too, Amador, Trofimov, Konig. Who knows, maybe I won’t even be on the podium.”
It seems at this point of the race, above all, Contador wants to avoid another mishap that could throw away months of work. Two crashes so far in this Giro have reminded Contador just how thin the line can be between disaster and success.
Contador’s approach to this Giro is unique. With the Tour on the horizon, he admitted he is trying to spend the smallest amount of energy possible to win the pink jersey. He wants to come out of Italy with the tank as full as possible.
“To win a stage is secondary. I cannot put in risk the GC to try to win a stage. If I manage to win a stage, great, but the objective is to win the GC above all,” Contador said. “With the stages ahead of us, we are talking about one hour of hard effort on the final climb. That’s something you have to think about when looking ahead to the rest of the program.”
When asked if his 2011 Giro victory, which was erased as part of his controversial two-year clenbuterol ban, was giving him extra motivation, Contador wouldn’t bite.
“People who saw that race in 2011 know what happened there,” he said with a smile. “I am enjoying this Giro like I enjoyed the other two Giros.”
With the Mortirolo looming in Tuesday’s stage 16 to Aprica, and with two more long-distance mountain stages at the close of the week, Contador is taking nothing for granted.
The post Contador on Giro pink: ‘Nothing is won yet’ appeared first on VeloNews.com.
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