The attack looked assertive, premediated and was completely effective, but Alberto Contador has admitted he was wracked by uncertainty prior to launching the single most decisive move in this year’s Vuelta a España.
Speaking in a video interview recorded after he won the race, the Saxo Bank Tinkoff Bank rider said that he originally had planned to surge far closer to the line at Fuente Dé.
“I remember the night before with my team-mate Jesus Hernandez, in the room,” he said, describing their musings about what to do after each of his previous attacks on Joaquim Rodriguez failed. “‘Tomorrow maybe we can attack..’ but I think in the last three Ks, not before because before it is dangerous, it is very long to the finish line, the last climb.”
Contador then explains that during the stage he told three of his team to go on the attack. As they moved clear and built time, he was still asking himself whether or not to try, was still wrestling with the decision about the best tactics to use.
He and Riis told those team-mates via race radio to keep hammering, but Contador said that even then, he remained unsure. ‘Alberto, try or not in the next climb…try or not,’ he said, remembering his internal monologue. “In this moment I am not sure if I attack or not, but after one kilometre I said, ‘okay Alberto, this is the moment to try. Maybe you don’t win, but if you don’t try, then you never know this.’ Then I attack, take the group in the front, and after at the finish...all perfect.”
In the video below, Contador also talks about emotions of returning, winning on home soil, and triumphing after a lot of hard work in the months beforehand.
Video courtesy of Specialized and @ckeiser