Alberto Contador told Marca that he will race the Abu Dhabi Tour, though he will not be the team’s GC leader — rather he will work for teammate Bauke Mollema.
“Bauke will be our leader,” Contador said. “I’ll be delighted to help him. The fact that we are both there creates an ideal situation.”
Contador, who finished second behind Alejandro Valverde at Ruta Del Sol, said that he needs to hone his top-end form before Paris-Nice, his first big target of the season. Abu Dhabi will mark the first occasion where Mollema and Contador will race as teammates.
“I’ve felt very good in the Ruta and my race condition is good,” Contador added. “But I need to get sharper form to be able to accelerate hard, and you can only get that by racing, not matter how much you train.”
“I’ve done thousands and thousands of metres worth of vertical climbing in training in Tenerife, but nothing behind a motorbike, and even better than doing that kind of training behind a motorbike is picking up speed in a race itself.”
