Spain’s Alberto Contador, racing his first Grand Tour since returning from a two-year doping ban last month, won his second Vuelta a Espana crown on Sunday.
The Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank rider, also a two-time Tour de France winner who lost his 2010 Tour and last year’s Giro d’Italia titles after testing positive for clenbuterol in 2010, safely negotiated the 21st and final 115km largely flat stage from Cercedilla to Madrid to claim victory.
“This is the culmination of many months of work and sacrifices, and not sparing any effort,” Contador said. “People sometimes think it is easy, but it is not. I dedicate this victory to those who stuck by me in the good and bad moments. It is because of them that I sacrificed myself.”
Photo: Reuters
“You feel like laughing, crying, it is a series of emotions that you can’t express with words. It is incredible,” he said. “It has been hard from the beginning, but the more things cost you, the better they taste. Given the background that I arrived here with, this victory is very special for me. I had not competed for a long time and things were complicated.”
Germany’s John Degenkolb of the Argos-Shimano team won the final stage in 2 hours, 44 minutes, 57 seconds, Contador coming through buried in the peloton in 54th spot.
The 29-year-old Contador clocked 84 hours, 59 minutes, 49 seconds for the race that covered a total distance of 3,300km, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) completing an all-Spanish podium.
Valverde was 1:16 off Contador’s pace, with long-time leader Rodriguez a further 21 seconds adrift.
“I am super happy, in the end we won points. It was a good Vuelta for the team, I want to thank them for fighting for me,” Valverde said.
“Purito” Rodriguez vowed to carry on battling after the disappointment of losing out to his Spanish compatriots.
“We did everything we could,” Rodriguez said. “Sometimes things do not turn out like one wants, but I am not going to stop fighting and trying to win a major tour. Where and when I don’t know, but I will try again.”
Contador had only words of praise for Rodriguez, saying: “Purito was very strong, he endured the climbs very well.”
“It was very hard to win this race, but I enjoyed it very much because it was a spectacular Vuelta,” he said.
Contador had taken control of the Vuelta in Wednesday’s Fuente De stage 17, producing a long-distance attack a day after having failed to shake off Rodriguez on the climb of the Cuitu Negru in stage 16.
His precious lead of 1:35 came under attack on Saturday in the grueling climb of the Bola del Mundo, with both Rodriguez and Valverde attacking Contador, but the champion showed all his experience to hold his nerve for a remarkable victory, the Spanish heavyweight trio having called a truce as the sprinters battled for the stage win on Sunday.
A breakaway of six riders were hauled back with one lap of the final 5.7km circuit left and the Argos-Shimano team managed to get Degenkolb into position for his record-breaking five stage wins on the Vuelta.
“I’m unbelievably happy. The team and I we wrote history, since I think I’m the first German to win five stages in a Vuelta,” Degenkolb said.
The Argos-Shimano rider said he was now thinking of taking part in the next Tour de France.
“I think we will manage to make this step next year because the team is good and is supporting me 100 percent,” he said.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS