Yesterday Alberto Contador confirmed his calendar for next season but there is still uncertainty whether it will be his last year as a pofessional or whether he will continued as an active rider with his own team for another year as he indicated in an interview with BiciCiclismo in September .
Contador's decision will largely depend on his performance in the Tour de France, the race he desperately want to win again. If he wins in Paris, his dream is to retire "at the top" but if he suffers "a setback" he will continue for another year. There is, however, a "very attractive" second variable which he often refers to and which he also highlighted yesterday: the chance to "get a professional team" with his Foundation.
Contador is excited about the prospect that his Foundation can establish a new Spanish professional team and his brother and agent Fren Contador has been working hard for months to realize my plans. "If I get my own project, the chance to be part of it is something that could motivate me to continue," he told BiciCiclismo on September 15. The key is to find a sponsor to provide sufficient economic support, a possibility that his brother had explored abroad due to a lack of possibilities in Spain. In fact, the two main sponsors of the U23 team are Rh + and Polartec.
Yesterday Contador visited the Ramon y Cajal Hospital in Madrid as a speaker at a conference about strokes, a disease for which he underwent surgery almost 13 years ago, and reiterated the idea of continuing with his own team. "It would be very attractive option to pursue a personal project if we get a sponsor to get a professional team with my Foundation, which would continue the work we are doing with young riders," he said.
First the challenge is to win the Tour de France and that is the main goal in 2016. "I constantly think about it (the Tour, ed.). It is a race that I like and that suits me. I'm very excited. It is likely to be my last season, unless U suffer a mishap, and I would like to finish on a high. Maybe that's why it motivates me in a special way," he said. He does not close the door to continue with his current team. "If that happened" (a setback, ed.), the first choice would be to talk with my team, Tinkoff, to continue for another year." However, it is still unclear whether Oleg Tinkov's team will continue in 2016.
For now the focus is on the work for next year. "Yesterday I startedt with he preparation, full of energy and eager to start the season," he said. And he revealed "a classic calendar." "Almost certainly I will start at the Tour of the Algarve, this year I will return to Paris-Nice and then do the Volta a Catalunya and the Tour of the Basque Country. That will signal the start of a period of rest before returning to the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France," he said . Another goal will be the Olympic Games, both the road race and the time trial.
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