After two weeks of reflection, Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) has shared his impressions of the Tour de France with Spanish sports daily Marca. Tipped as the main threat to pre-race favourite Chris Froome (Sky) in the Tour, the French grand tour ended somewhat disappointingly for Contador who lost his place on the podium during the final mountain stages and never really posed a serious threat to Froome’s dominance.

Despite speculation to the contrary, Contador confirmed that he will not be defending his 2012 Vuelta a España win. Contador also mentioned Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) as his most likely successor.

“The Vuelta has not been on my calendar at any point during the season and that's the main reason why I will not defend my victory from last year. In addition, the Saxo-Tinkoff has a very powerful block of riders who have been subjected to my objectives all season and it's good that they can shine individually. Majka, Roche and Kreuziger, if they decide to participate, are riders who can do very well and have the potential to finish on the podium,” Contador said in an interview with the Madrid-based daily.

Asked if he plans to make any alterations in his preparations for the 2014 season, Contador said that he didn’t feel too many or too drastic changes were called for.

“I don’t think I have to change too many things,” Contador stated. “The important thing is to have good planning and carefully construct a racing calendar. There’s no reason to turn everything upside down just because the results haven’t been as expected this year. Fortunately cycling is not mathematics. Before the Tour I did several tests and the results were the best I've ever had, both with regards to watts and with regards to time on several climbs. However, when I arrived in Corsica, from day one, the feelings were not good, my watts data during the race were far worse than during my training and the results soon became visible.”

“You have to study what happened. Look at all aspects, but it is certain that this year I started racing very soon, in Argentina, and from the beginning I wanted to be competitive in all the races. That might not be the right thing because it achieves a peak too early. That is something we will have to look at and improve on next year.”

Speaking about his plans for the rest of the season, Contador said he would end 2013 by riding the GP Plouay, the GP de Quebec and Montreal GP and, possibly, the World Championships followed by Milan-Turin and the Tour of Lombardy.

After the Tour, Russian co-sponsor Oleg Tinkov has sharply attacked Contador with a statement in which he said that Contador did not earn his salary. When quizzed about the outspoken statement of the often erratic Russian, Contador was diplomatic in his answer.

“It is a subject I prefer not to talk about in public. I'm focused on my work and the team and I try to put the rest of the issues aside. I’m not at all worried because Tinkov will not continue as a co-sponsor. I'm very calm. I trust in the block the team has put together. I’m still optimistic that the results will come,” Contador added.