Santiago de Compostela, 14th of September – 2014
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador was just 9.7 kilometers away from overall glory in this year’s Vuelta a Espana when he took on tonight’s individual time trial. With a lead of 1.37 minutes to second place, only accidents could get in the way of the Tinkoff-Saxo captain conquering the overall win. And the experienced Contador made no mistakes and safely crossed the finish line as winner of the Vuelta 2014.
The first half of the peloton was fortunate enough to be riding on dry roads in Santiago de Campostela while the GC contenders were sent out on a wet and treacherous surface on the technically demanding course. Contador sailed through the course having no need of taking chances unlike his rivals and had time to wave to the crowd celebrating as they saluted him across the finish line.
Alberto Contador thereby concluded a magnificent comeback since the Tour de France where he crashed out with a fractured tibia and worked the long and hard way back to top form to win his 6th Grand Tour in total:
A very happy DS, Steven De Jongh says:
“It’s simply as astonishing achievement by Alberto. Coming back from an injury like that after declaring himself out a couple of weeks before the Vuelta and not only rides well but takes the win, is just amazing. We entered the race hoping that we could get a stage win in the last week of the race but as the race progressed and Alberto felt stronger by the day, we had to change strategy and go for the overall classification. So, with two stage wins in the pocket, the combined jersey as well as the overall win, we couldn’t be happier”, said a smiling sports director after the final stage.
Stage result
1 Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar Team 0:11:12
2 Jesse Sergent (NZl) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:08
3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:09
4 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:00:17
5 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Team Europcar
6 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:18
7 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Cannondale
8 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
9 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing
10 Damien Gaudin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
Overall classification
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 81:25:05
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:10
3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:50
4 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha 0:03:25
5 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:04:48
6 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:09:30
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin Sharp 0:10:38
8 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano 0:11:50
9 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale 0:12:50
10 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:13:02
