Contador on the ropes after first Tour de France mountain stage
Spani🐽ard's hopes for a Giro-Tour double in tatters due to breathing problems





168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Alberto Contador crossed the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:🗹finish line in La Pierre-Saint-Martin in a daze, with the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tinkoff-Saxo team staff pushing and escorting him to the team bus parked furthe𒆙r up the road of the Pyrenean ski resort.
Contador seemed to struggle to even turn the pedals, such was the fatigue in his legs. He seemed to be on t🐎he ropes, close to a technical knockout, and was unable or refused to speak with the swarm of Spanish radio reporters who surrounꩵded him. He had lost 2:51 to Chris Froome (Team Sky), finishing a lowly 11th on the stage. He is now sixth overall, 4:04 behind Froome.
It is a situation he has rarely experienced during his successful Grand Tour career and means his hopes of a Giro-Tou൲r double are in tatters.
“I couldn’t breathe very well, it was hard to breathe,” he admitted at the Tinkoff-Saxo bus after recovering slightly from his huge effort to limit his losses.
"For me it was impossible to keep up with Froome, but lots of others too," he said. "We’ve got to con꧟gratulate Froome. He’s three points better than the rest of us. He has done what he wanted and has shaken up the gener💝al classification."
Like all the other riders left defeated on the first climb of this year’s Tour de France, Contador hung onto the hope th💧at Froome has a long way to go before the winner is eventually crowned in Paris.
“The Tour is still very long. I have been in a similar positio🌱n many times and you can never assume that you’ve won,” he said, perhaps knowing all the mountain stages to come could also be a severe test of his own ability.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.