A week after a dramatic crash which forced the Tinkoff-Saxo leader out of the Tour de France, Alberto Contafor spoke to the Spanish TV stadion Teledeportes, commenting on some controversies concerning his early exit from the French grand tour race.

Contador confirmed the information from Spanish media about inflammation in his injured leg prolonging his recovery period and forcing him to stay out of training for three weeks.

“It’s not easy, the leg is limiting me a lot,” he told the television station.

“The inflammation has been developing and gone down a little, but I’m still in a lot of pain. I need to give it three weeks, because the wound could open again and the delay could be a lot longer. I will have three weeks without my bike, too much.”

As an exact moment of Contador’s crash hasn’t been shown on television, plenty of speculation arose around its circumstances, including some rumors suggesting that in fact the Tinkoff-Saxo leader went down twice before abandoning the race.

The former Tour de France champion also admitted that following the action of this year’s edition of the greatest three-week event is psychologically difficult for him and he is hurt after hearing other riders’ opinion that his accident was caused by taking too much risk on a descent.

“It was something that hurt me a lot because I take a lot of care to detail. It was said that I took an unnecessary risk,” he said. “I'm a racer that knows what I'm doing and that is important to me. You have to be aware and try to avoid all risks, try to avoid any problems. For that reason it makes it even more annoying to have had a fall like that when you're careful.”

 “I thought only about finishing the stage with grupetto but I saw that what I had was very serious and could not continue,” explained Contador. “I had excruciating pain and could not continue pushing the pedals. After five seconds without pedalling, I could not move my leg back because I was cooling so quickly. With a lot of sadness I told my teammates that I could not continue.

“The miles in the car to the medic truck was a very bad time because you have many emotional changes: you start thinking about everything you have worked for, everything you've fought for... You see everything is going perfect, the legs respond very well and in a second all goes away. This is cycling. You have to look on the bright side; I had a huge fall and I'm here; if not, you do not find comfort.”

While it is yet to be seen whether Contador will ride the Vuelta a Espana, the Tinkoff-Saxo rider made it clear that he is highly motivated to compete in his home country and the final decision will be based on a progress of his recovery and reached disposition.

“There's no question whether I could do the Vuelta, it's whether I would be in form. I love to compete, I want to compete and I want to enjoy this race in my country and to be there. I have to see if I can be at a good level, but it is not easy,” said Contador. “I am really motivated for the future, I just hope that the recuperation goes well and if I can’t be there this year then I will prepare just as well or better for next year’s Tour.”