Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) has labelled stage 16 over the Mortirolo to Aprica as the most important of the Giro d’Italia and said that, unlike on his last appearance in 2011, he would like to take hold of the pink jersey as late as possible.
Four years ago, Contador moved into the maglia rosa after taking stage victory atop Mount Etna and he wouldn’t relinquish the lead before Milan – although he was subsequently stripped of Giro victory by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after it held up his 2010 positive test for clenbuterol.
“I’d be happy with taking it on the last day. Better than having it for two weeks straight,” Contador told Marca. “This Giro is very different to 2011, firstly because of the way I’m planning on tackling it. In terms of the route, there are a lot of mountains, but not so much at the ends of stages. There won’t be out-and-out mountain stages until after stage 14.”
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As ever, the most arduous mountain stages of the Giro are crammed into the final week, with back-to-back summit finishes at Cervinia and Sestriere in the final three days. For Contador, however, the tappone comes immediately after the second rest day, on stage 16 to Aprica.
“The key to the Giro will be the Mortirolo. For me it’s the key stage, with the Aprica, Tonale, Mortirolo and Aprica again,” Contador said.
On paper at least, the first major rendezvous of the Giro for the general classification contenders is the long time trial from Treviso to Valdobbiadene on stage 14. Contador has been to reconnoitre the 59.4km course and he found a parcours that was less undulating than he had anticipated.
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