Above you can see a picture of Alberto Contador wearing the yellow jersey and time trialing his way to the title. Yep, that looks kind of familiar...Contador capped his impressive weekend by winning the final stage ITT and defended the yellow jersey he took after winning yesterday in the mountains.
Contador looked impressive in Algarve this year too, but then the wheels came off in the ITT. Today's success shows the improvement in his form already, although he acknowledges that he is nowhere near where he needs to be in the summer (which is perfectly ok considering it's only March).
Whether he is simply not bothered by the impending UCI appeal or is trying to bank as many wins as possible before it happens, this is a statement win from Contador against a rather strong field.
Speaking of statements, how about his runner-up Jerome Coppel.
Coppel, who was also 2nd yesterday, was able to maneuver the course just 8 seconds slower than Contador to hold on to 2nd place alone. Coppel is beginning what everybody thinks will be his breakout year, and a strong finish in early events like this should give his team confidence heading into the late classics and eventually the Tour.
So if 1st stayed 1st and 2nd stayed 2nd, it only makes sense for Denis Menchov to finish 3rd on the day to hang on to his 3rd place.
Menchov is also riding with a purpose. He is trying to secure a bid for his Geox team into the Giro, which he will probably be the odds-on favorite to win this year (considering his team was not invited to the Tour). Menchov is a strong rider, and should be pleased with his results this week.British youngster and TT specialist Alex Dowsett was 4th on the day and Movistar's TT man Vasili Kiryienka took 5th.
Wout Poels can claim 4th overall, and Fabio Duarte brings home 5th for the race.
Contador finished 1st in the points race, Sojasun's Laurent Mangel took the KOM, and Geox-TMC won the team prize.
Final Podium1. Alberto Contador
2. Jerome Coppel
3. Denis Menchov
No comments:
Post a Comment