Following the confirmation of his overall victory in this year’s Giro d’Italia, Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard) addressed a press conference in Milan’s Pallazzo Reale. The now double Giro winner was flanked on either side by green jersey winner Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone), and white jersey winner Roman Kreuziger (Astana). The red jersey was also won by Contador, although Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) has been wearing it for him in the latter stages of the race.
The iconic ‘trofeo senza fine’ on the table in front of him.
“This win that looked so easy has not been easy at all,” Contador began. Since my win in 2008 this victory in the Giro is a very special one because it was a lot of work, it has been very complicated, and I dedicate it to my family, which has always been close to me, my friends, my fans, to my team and my sponsors.”
Each rider spoke in turn, with Garzelli, who won the race in 2000 and was given the honour of race number 1 in this year’s edition, next.
“I feel very proud because I’m sitting next to two young, great champions,” said the 37-year-old veteran. “I’m very proud about my green jersey; I can see the 2011 trophy with my name on it, which gives me great satisfaction [the spiralling gold trophy has the name of every winner etched into it – ed]. I’m very emotional right now; it’s hard to describe the feelings I have right now.
“It’s been a very tough Giro,” he added, “which required a huge amount of work, a lot of stress, many sacrifices from my family, and yet it gave me immense satisfaction.
“Starting from the team time trial in Turin, right down to Etna, coming back up, and going through Turin yesterday was quite exciting; we really crossed the entire country.”
Kreuziger has won his first Grand Tour young riders jersey in his debut in the Corsa Rosa; this achievement though is tinged with a little disappointment that he didn’t perform better in the race for the pink one.
“I’m happy to have the white jersey,” he said, “even though my goal was to be among the top five. It’s been a wonderful Giro, and I’m proud of wearing this jersey.”
Contador was then asked a series of questions about his race, where he was first asked if he had had any doubts at all whether he would be able to win the race.
“In the race, especially during the first week on the flat stages,” he replied, “I had many doubts about my abilities, as I didn’t know exactly how good my rivals were. When we started with the mountain stages things started to go much better, but I had a bad day when I didn’t have good sensations and yet I overcame it.
“On that day though,” he added, “I thought that winning the Giro was impossible; but I got over it.”
With his second Giro under his belt, Contador was asked if the World could expect to see him at the Tour de France in July.
“So far, I’m thinking about enjoying this win,” he said. “I’m not thinking about the Tour, I need to speak with my team manager, and with the team, and see how I recover; then we’ll make a decision.”
There was an impression for some in the media that Contador had wanted to show himself without problems, doping or otherwise.
“My goal was in fact to win, and I did all I could to do that,” he said. “I prepared myself consciously; I exploited all occasions in the parcours. I was in an incredible condition, and my goal was not to show anything to anybody, but to win.”
Once again Contador was probed as to whether he would be participating in the tour next year, particularly with the result of last year’s race still to be finally determined.
“In terms of training I have to see now with my team manager how I will recover and then we will make a decision,” he replied. “As for last year’s Tour, in my consciousness nobody can take it away from me because I won the Tour.”
For the people who have lost faith in cycling, Contador had a message.
“Well they should come out to the climbs, to Zoncolan or Marmolada,” he said, “to be there and witness first hand how exciting and entertaining this sport is. Also, riding into the Piazza in Milan was a wonderful finish to the Giro.”
While he was defiant on the question of having won the Tour last year, Contador refused to comment on the situation of the appeals into his being cleared of doping in the race by the Spanish Cycling Federation.
“Ask me another question,” he said.
During the race, Contador deliberately gave away stage victories; he was asked if he had done this in order to make himself more popular.
“When I let [Jose] Rujano or [Paolo] Tiralongo win, I did it because I believed in what my heart was telling me. Sure, in terms of popularity, it’s important to have fans but I don’t care about what people think, because I believe in what I am doing.”
Contador now has two victories in the Corsa Rosa to his name, after the victory he took in the 2008 race. That year though, he was reportedly on the beach two weeks beforehand, with the Astana team boycotted by a number of races because of the doping positives of riders like Alexandre Vinokourov in 2007.
The team received a late invitation to the Giro, which Contador won, but the two races could not have been more different.
“The Giro in 2008 was completely different,” he said. “I was forced to come by my team manager and because of my sponsors’ needs; I was thinking of staying just a week but then the results forced me to stay longer. It was a Giro where I suffered terribly; in the end I had to focus not to lose time.
“But, in fact, Giro 2008 is the best memory I have from all my life,” he added.
This year though, he had prepared a long time in advance of the race, knowing full well that it was to be the big target of the first half of the season.
“I came to this year’s Giro in completely different condition,” he explained. “Very well trained; very ‘mentalisado’ [focused – ed]. I knew the stages; I had clear ideas; I was focused 100% to fight for victory, and I’m very satisfied about the work I did because I got an incredible result.
“Two completely different Giros,” he concluded.