24 hours after dislocating his left shoulder twice, Alberto Contador rode 264km to consolidate his pink jersey on the longest stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia. Like the rest of Tinkoff-Saxo, Contador expressed his satisfaction with making it through the stage despite having suffered ahead of tomorrow’s important mountain stage.
 
Alberto Contador, backed by a dedicated and concentrated squad, showed willpower and determination on stage 7 of Giro d’Italia. Crossing the line in Fiuggi, Contador explains that the day had been a big test.
 
“I’m happy because I made it through this very long day and that is something I wasn’t sure about before the stage and especially not yesterday. On the other hand, I have suffered a lot experiencing much pain. It was a stage of more than seven hours and after around four hours I had a moment where I didn’t know where to place my hand on the handlebar”, says Alberto Contador and adds:
 
“Now I hope that with more days on the bike I will be a little bit better, but for sure I have some very difficult days ahead of me. I hope that I can make it through them as best as possible”.

Tomorrow, Tinkoff-Saxo and Alberto Contador will face another crucial test, as the Giro d’Italia moves into the mountains with an uphill finish to the 1st cat. climb of Campitello Matese.
 
“Yes, tomorrow is a complicated day for me. It’s a day that I was waiting for prior to my crash, because it was a stage, where I could have attacked. But now I have to be calmer and quieter on the bike and wait and see what my rivals do. At this moment, the only thing I’m thinking of is to put ice on my shoulder and knee to recover in the best way possible”, states Alberto Contador.
 
Stage 7 of Giro d’Italia was the longest in 26 years with its 264km. A decimated field arrived to the finish line, where Diego Ulissi (LAM) won the stage, while Alberto Contador and Roman Kreuziger maintained their positions as 1st and 4th in the GC. Tinkoff-Saxo’s Head Sports Director Steven de Jongh tells that the squad did “more than a great job”.
 
“Alberto had a tough day with a lot of pain. We will see tomorrow, but we have two hard days before the rest day. Today the strategy was pretty simple. We wanted a small group in the front so we could take control of the situation, as we didn’t know how he would ride. In the end, it went well and the sprinters’ teams took to the front in the finale after we had been in the front to protect him”, comments Steven de Jongh before elaborating on tomorrow:
 
“First we’ll see how the night goes after today. And then we’ll take a decision once we’re in the race tomorrow in terms of the tactics there. We will support him all the way like the guys did today. All of them were more than great. They assisted him with getting food and stuff out of his pockets and they were acutely aware of the responsibility we as a team have”, finishes Steven de Jongh.