Contador brushes off fall, on cruise control

Alberto Contador came close Monday to learning that sometimes clichés are true.

Ever since he took the Vuelta a España race leader’s jersey with an emphatic victory atop the Angliru on Saturday, he’s been sounding like a broken record and kept repeating that nothing’s won until the final stage in Madrid on Sunday.

Contador dodged a bullet Monday when he rode away with relatively light abrasions and scrapes to his left elbow, knee and shoulder after he hit the deck in Monday’s 202km 15th stage after riding into the gutter and falling hard on his left side.

Images of the race leader getting his left knee bandaged by the race doctor only proved that sometimes those old sayings ring true.

“Cycling is a risky sport and you never think you’ve won only because you’re in the lead,” Contador said after the stage. “When I say nothing’s won until Madrid it’s for a reason. We were lucky today to save the day.”

The 25-year-old said he expects some soreness in the morning and maybe a rough night sleeping, but the fall has been about the only misstep so far in the 63rd Vuelta.

He rode a very strong time trial in stage 5 and then won back-to-back summit finishes in Asturias to ride out of the weekend with a 1:17 lead to teammate Levi Leipheimer.

Archrival Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank) is a distant 3:41 in third and has already admitted he doesn’t have the same legs he did when he won the Tour de France in July.

Leipheimer proved he’s working for a Contador victory by taking a huge pull up the first steep sections of the Angliru on Saturday to set up his Astana teammate for victory.

Sunday’s summit finish at Fuentes de Invierno could have been a good chance for Contador to let Leipheimer win another stage to say thanks for the sacrifice, but the Spanish climber took matters in his own hands to win the stage and earn the finish-line bonus.

His crash aside, Contador is on cruise control until Saturday’s climbing time trial up the Navacerrada climb.

“Right now I feel good both mentally and physically and even though every stage has its challenges and problems, I will try to ride as calmly as possible to Navacerrada, controlling the race without too much out of the team to arrive as fresh as possible for Saturday,” Contador said.

Apart from a first category climb early in Tuesday’s stage, finishes Zamora, Valladolid and Las Rozas during the next three stages present no major hurdles for the GC riders. The wide-open terrain will favor the remaining sprinters and breakaway artists.

Friday’s 145.5km 19th stage tackles both the Cat. 1 Navacerrada and the Cat. 1 Puerto de Navafría, but with nearly 60km of wide-open roads before roaring into Segovia, there’s plenty of asphalt for Astana to chase down any threatening riders who might dare to try something.

Contador, who lives in nearby Pinto in a suburb of Madrid, will have home-road advantage for Saturday’s 17.1km climbing time trial over many of his rivals.

“It’s a good climb for me and I believe that I can do well. It’s extra motivation to have the stage finishing there, because I train there often and I rode well the last time I rode it three weeks ago,” he said. “I’ve arrived to the third week in a privileged situation and things in Asturias couldn’t have been better.”

Contador is trying to become the fifth man to win all three grand tours, but Monday’s close call could have left him stuck at two.

FILED UNDER: Road / Vuelta a España TAGS: Alberto Contador / Vuelta a España