Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) has said that he’s unlikely to be ready to contest the Olympic Games road race in Rio on August 7 after suffering illness and injury at the Tour de France.
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Alberto Contador has abandoned the Tour de France.
He was sitting 20th overall at more than three minutes off race leader Chris Froome at the start of the day.
After early participation in a breakaway attempt Contador dropped back to his team auto during Sunday’s stage four times before finally withdrawing.
However, what made it surprising for some people was that Contador had actually attacked, alongside fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, on the opening climb of the day.
Television cameras caught the moment that he pulled over, handed his bike to a mechanic and then waved to spectators before being driven away in his team vehicle.
“As he had attacked, he obviously wasn’t feeling too bad but I guess he was still suffering from his injuries”.
The withdrawal occurred on Contador’s home roads near the town of Vilamur in Spain. “I could not continue”, said the Spaniard. “But who knows, maybe I’ll come back in a few years”.
Contador, who won the Tour in 2007 and 2009, had lost time in the general classification battle in the wake of his injuries.
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It was a sad exit for Contador, the victor of all three of cycling’s Grand Tours, a rider who is listed as a two-time Tour champion though he’s stood on the podium three times; his 2010 victory was stripped due to an anti-doping violation. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission. Images of him climbing into the Tinkoff team vehicle were reminiscent of his abandon in 2014, when he left the race on Stage 10 after a heavy crash left him with a broken leg.
