Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) has had four stages to observe and analyse some of his leading Tour de France rivals at the Criterium du Dauphine but he believes that a more precise indication of his and their form will come when the race hits the mountains.
Contador currently leads the race by six seconds over Richie Porte, with Chris Froome a further seven seconds back. Contador has been keen to relinquish the leader’s jersey since winning the opening stage time trial in a bid to conserve his energy and that of his teams. However, in the last few days the sprinters’ teams have ensured that any time gaps are minimal.
Speaking exclusively to Cyclingnews at the start of stage 3, Contador said that his rivals are, “very skinny, especially Richie and Froome. I’m sure that they’re working very hard in the last two months and will be ready for the Tour de France.”
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He also hinted at possible vulnerabilities within Team Sky. The British team have attacked on both of the last two stages but saw Wout Poels and Michal Kwiatkowski dropped on stage 2. The Pole was distanced again on stage 3 and confirmed to Cyclingnews that he has been ill.
“For me it was a big surprise that they lost many riders yesterday [on stage 2]. I think in the group they only had two riders, and when you think that they have potential to have maybe five riders in that group… The tactic on stage 2 was to put more pressure on me and rivals but they lost Poels and Kwiatkowski. Maybe in the end it wasn’t the best result for them.”
Contador did remain cautious though, adding that the mountains would give a clearer indication of who was the strongest both at the Dauphine and going into the Tour.
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