Sports Eye
Contador, the conquistador
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
THE buzzword now in the cycling world is Alberto Contador, the newly crowned 2009 Tour de France champion from Spain. It’s his second conquest of the world’s oldest, longest, toughest and most prestigious bicycle race.
He did it first in 2007. He was unable to defend his title in 2008 when he and his Astana team were suspended for allegedly using an artificial stimulant enhancing power. But he was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and rejoined the TdF this year to win convincingly against Luxembourg’s rider and co-title favorite Andy Schleck and teammate Lance Armstrong, the seven-time titlist.
Frustrated to duplicate his 2007 TdF victory, Contador joined the other two Grand Slam Tours in the world: Giro d’ Italia (Tour of Italy) and Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), and won both last year. (Except for Armstrong, the best cyclists on earth also participated in these two 21-day races, considered the second and third world’s biggest cycling races).
Contador — whose middle name, interestingly, is Velasco (a name common in Pangasinan, i.e., my media colleagues Jun V, Mel V and Sta. Barbara hizzoner Reynaldo V) — was born in Pinto, Madrid on December 6, 1982, a Sagittarian like me. The third of four children and a former football and athletics player, Contador discovered cycling at age 14 and began competing in Spain at age 15 as an amateur. He rose to prominent status at the age 18, winning several mountains classification prizes in the Spanish amateur cycling calendar after dropping from school at the age of 16.
Contador, now 26, turned professional in 2003 and tasted his first victory by winning the race-against-clock eight stage of the Tour of Pologne. In 2004, he was diagnosed with a cerebral cavernoma, a congenital vascular disorder for which he underwent risky surgery that almost killed his ambition.
Eight months after the surgery, he won many small races in Europe and the biggest was in 2006 when he won the mountain stages in the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse, which were in preparation for his triumphant 2007 TdF diadem. But his first major victory as a pro was the eight-day Paris-Nice Tour in 2007, which he won on the race’s final stage, a very rare happening in world bike racing.
Contador assumed the overall leadership in the 2007 TdF in the 19th stage individual-time-trial, defying expectations and kept his hold on the yellow jersey by a margin of only 23 seconds over contender Cadel Evans of Australia and 31 ticks over his teammate American Levi Leipheimer. It was the closest finish in the history of TdF.
Contador’s victories in the Giro, Vuelta and the TdF made him the fifth cyclist to win all three Grand Tours after Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Italian Felice Gimondi and Belgian Eddy Merckx, a feat that Armstrong has not done. He has also become the youngest Spanish rider to win the three Grand Tours and only the third cyclist to win the Giro and Vuelta in the same year. Merckx did it in 1973 and another Italian great Giovanni Battaglin did it in 1981.
The day after the 15th stage (July 20) of the TdF won by Contador to wrest the coveted yellow jersey from Italian Rinaldo Nocentini, Armstrong, with a tinge of envy, announced that he was quitting the Astana team that Contador skippered. Armstrong hinted he’s contemplating on forming an all-American squad to be sponsored by Texas-based Radio Shack for next year’s TdF. This means that at age 38 next season, he’s ready to battle anew against the best in the world, including defending champion Contador and the brothers Andy and Frank Schleck.
If that happens, it will be a ‘battle royale’ next year and cycling enthusiasts around the world will again flock to France to watch this battle of the giants in wheels, according to my cycling son Jazy, who just arrived this week from France with his wife Mylene, for his second time time to watch the TdF.
Although Armstrong failed to win his 8th TdF tiara this year, he proved to be a marvelous athlete, placing third despite his 3-year lay-off. And if he wins next year, it will be another miracle in his life, like his survival of testicular cancer. The oldest TdF winner was the 36 year-old Frenchman Fermin Lambot who won in 1922.
“Time is not on Armstrong’s side. Knees always go first and not the mind. If at 38, Armstrong wins in 2010, I will christen him “Kneestrong,” my cumpadre and media colleague Al Mendoza said in a text message to me.
But for now, Contador is the conquistador. He is at the prime of his career. I believe he can do it again next year.
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
