Alberto Contador finished Friday’s Tour de France stage with the same goal as the entire Saxo-Tinkoff team; to protect the team standings, which also served to keep the individual general classification, waiting for the final uphill of the Tour tomorrow in Annecy. That’s why he would not attack today.

“My team was doing a great job, controlling for the team classification and if I attacked all that I could achieve was to unhook Roman Kreuziger”, he said. “There was a moment when I thought about attacking, because the rain is good for me, but we decided the best thing was to stay together.” said Contador, who also refrained from attacking on the last descent.

Commenting on Saturday’s summit finish stage, Contador said that his legs would have the final say in determining his plan of action.

“Everything will depend on how the legs are. Today I felt good at the finish and tomorrow, depending on whether there is breakaway or not and how we are doing, we will race accordingly,” he concluded.

Prior to Saturday's penultimate stage, Contador trails race leader Chris Froome (Sky) by 5'11" in second spot.