Alberto Contador: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 10:46, 30 March 2008
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alberto Contador Velasco |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 62 kg (137 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Astana |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climbing specialist |
| Major wins | |
  Tour de France (2007)Paris-Nice (2007) Setmana Catalana (2005) Vuelta a Castilla y León (2007) | |
Alberto Contador Velasco (born 6 December 1982 in Madrid, Spain) is a professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam Team Astana and winner of the 2007 Tour de France with team Discovery Channel. While he competes for the overall titles, he is considered a climbing specialist.
Contador lives in Pinto, Spain [1].
Career
An early career highlight is his Stage 5 victory in the 2005 Tour Down Under, his first win after overcoming a massive blood clot in his brain, for which he underwent a risky surgery and a long, painful road to recovery to get back on his bike. The blood clot was discovered after he crashed and went into convulsions during the first stage of the 2004 Vuelta a Asturias. He had suffered headaches for several days beforehand.
Following the demise the Manolo Saiz–run Liberty Seguros-Würth team, Contador was without a professional contract until mid-January 2007, when he signed with Discovery Channel under a cloud of suspicion due to the Operación Puerto doping case.
Contador's first major pro victory came with the 2007 Paris-Nice, which he won in dramatic fashion on the race's final stage. Discovery effectively wore down the remnants of the race leader, Davide Rebellin's, Gerolsteiner team, allowing Contador to launch an authoritative attack on the final climb. With Rebellin leading the chase, Contador held off his competitors in the final kilometers, winning him this prestigious race.
In the 2007 Tour de France, he won the 14th stage at the mountaintop finish of Plateau-de-Beille, and was second in the general classification to Michael Rasmussen. Upon Rasmussen's removal from the race after stage 17, Contador assumed the overall lead and the yellow jersey. In stage 19, a time trial, he managed to keep hold of the yellow jersey by a margin of only twenty-three seconds over challenger Cadel Evans and went on to win his first Tour de France, the first win for the Discovery Channel team since Lance Armstrong's victory in 2005.
After the announcement of the future termination of team Discovery Channel, Contador announced on October 23 2007 that he would move to Astana for 2008. [2]
On February 13, 2008, the organizer of the Tour de France announced that Astana would not be invited to any of their events in 2008.[3] Consequently, Contador is unable to defend his 2007 tour victory.
Doping allegations
Contador was kept out of the 2006 Tour de France due to connections with the Operación Puerto doping case. He and four other members of his team at the time, Astana-Würth, were cleared of all charges on July 26, 2006 by the Union Cycliste Internationale after Judge Antonio Serrano dropped the case against all suspects, when he stated that he was not sure Spanish health laws had been breached.
On July 30 2007 German doping expert Werner Franke accused Contador of having taken drugs in the past and being prescribed a doping regimen by Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, who was connected with Operación Puerto.[4][5] He passed his evidence on to the German authorities on July 31, 2007.[6] Contador denied the accusations, saying "I was in the wrong team at the wrong time and somehow my name got among the documents."[6] On August 10, Alberto Contador publicly declared he's a clean rider in face of suspicions about his alleged links to the Operación Puerto blood-doping ring. "I have never doped and I have never participated in an act of doping," said Contador, reading from his prepared statement. "I won the Tour clean. It’s impossible for me to understand the attacks made against me, questioning my integrity as a sportsman, from people who don’t know me but feel they can make such judgments. My commitment against doping is total and I will always be willing to cooperate." Contador was joined by Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel, Spanish sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky and members of his family. Contador is joining the Astana team for the 2008 season, following the footsteps of his team manager(Johan Bruyneel) and Tour third placed winner, Levi Leipheimer. [7]
Major achievements
- 2003 – ONCE-Eroski
- Stage 8, Tour de Pologne
- 4th Overall, Vuelta a Castilla y León
- 2004 – Liberty Seguros
- Mountains Classification, Vuelta a Aragon
- 5th Overall, Setmana Catalana
- 2005 – Liberty Seguros-Würth Cycling Team
- Stage 6 (ITT), Points Classification and 3rd Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
- Stage 5, Tour Down Under
- 1st Overall, Combination Classification and Stage 3, Setmana Catalana
- Stage 4 and 4th Overall, Tour de Romandie
- 3rd, Youth Classification and 31st Overall, Tour de France
- 2006 – Astana-Würth Team
- Stage 8, Tour de Suisse
- Stage 3 and 2nd Overall, Tour de Romandie
- 5th Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
- 2007 – Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
- Vuelta a Castilla y León
- 1st Overall
- 1st Combination classification
- 1st Spanish rider classification
- Winner Stage 4
- Paris-Nice:
- 1st Overall
- 1st Young rider classification
- Winner stages 4 and 7
- Stage 4, Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- Tour de France
Winner overall classification
Winner youth classification- Winner stage 14
- 2008 – Team Astana
- 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a Castilla y León
- 1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Castilla y León
- 1st Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León
References
- ^ Contador Is Thankful, cyclingnews.com, July 31, 2007
- ^ "Contador confirms with Astana". VeloNews.com. 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Haake, Bjorn (2008-02-13). "Alberto Contador may not be able to defend Tour de France title". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "German drugs expert points finger at Contador". Sydney Morning Herald. July 31, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ ""Das größte Ding aller Zeiten"(The greatest thing of all times)" (in German). ZDF. July 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b "Expert claims Contador doped". iol.co.za. 2007-08-01. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Contador: 'I have never doped'". VeloNews. 2007-08-10. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
- Official Site (Spanish & English)
- Profile at ThePaceline.com
- Profile, Palmarès, Media, and Gallery at chechurubiera.info
- Alberto Contador profile
{{{1}}} (AST)