Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) lost another 12 seconds to Michal Kwiatkowski in today's tricky stage of Tirreno-Adriatico but hasn't given up hope of the overall win. The Spaniard targets the stage victory in tomorrow's queen stage and promises to put his rivals under pressure with his strong team.
Alberto Contador is ready. Riis says it, Mauduit says it and Alberto himself says it. So on today’s 3rd stage of Tirreno-Adriatico it was all about protecting him before the mountainous uphill finish on stage 4
Sometimes, when nothing happens, it’s a good thing. On today’s 210 k stage of Tirreno-Adriatico from Cascina to Arezzo everything went smooth with the team effort going into protecting Alberto Contador before Saturday’s tough stage.
"Daniele Bennati tried to go for the stage win on the finishing hill, but if you’ve been focused on protecting your captain the entire stage, you don’t have the same power as when you’ve been saving energy for the finish. But Daniele was strong and, most importantly, he showed that he is ready for Milano - San Remo," said Sport Director Philippe Mauduit after the stage.
Saturday’s long 244 k stage to Selva Rotonda will bring out the contenders for the GC. If the team captains have ambitions to finish Tirreno-Adriatico with a top result, this is one of the stages, where the strongest really can create some gaps. Philippe Mauduit does not hide the fact that the team is expecting to see Alberto among the serious contenders for the stage win.
"He is good. He is looking really sharp and focused. So it’s pretty simple – tomorrow we will go for the stage win. We have a very strong team with riders like Roche and Kreuziger ready to put the peloton under severe pressure, and then Alberto has to finish it on the final part of the climb."
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