The rain materialized for stage five as projected, creating a tricky ending to the final day in the Vuelta a Andalucía, but when the peloton arrived to the line nearly two minutes after the breakaway, everyone arrived safely and there were no changes to the general classification.
“Today was really complicated to take back time because the parcours was dangerous due to the rain and the wind, especially at the beginning of the stage” explained Contador, who chose to play it safe in the finale. “I did not want to take too many risks; it is the beginning of the season, I have worked hard, and I did not want it to all end with a crash.”
Alejandro Valverde clinched the overall victory with a one second advantage over Contador.
“I am very happy with my sensations in my first race of the season. From the first day, I was fighting for the victory, and my feelings on the bike were very good.,” agreed Contador.
“Paris-Nice is my first major goal. Now I will go to Abu Dhabi to help my preparation, but it is not an objective. I hope that in Paris-Nice I will be in good shape to fight for the win. I am very happy with everything in the team; everyone worked super well together, and the morale couldn’t be better.”
Contador congratulated Valverde on taking his 100th win. “He’s an amazing rider, able to win in all sorts of terrain, and that’s something very impressive,” he concluded.
