Alberto Contador’s options for winning the Vuelta a Espana took another serious blow on the Lagos de Covadonga as both Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Chris Froome (Team Sky) gained yet more time on the Spaniard.
Contador (Tinkoff) initially stuck with Quintana when Froome slid backwards out of the main group of contenders, but then saw himself drift out of the battle for the stage to finish eighth, 1:05 down on Quintana.
It is undeniable that Contador has suffered more setbacks than others in the race, with a major crash on stage 7 leading to thoughts of abandoning and ongoing injuries. But the GC tide was also flowing strongly against him already, given the crash in Puebla de Sanabria was also preceded by a poor opening team time trial and a below-expectations individual ride to Ezaro on stage 3.
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Combining all of these factors as well as his latest defeat in Covadonga, the Tinkoff leader is now fifth overall, which is two spots higher than 24 hours ago. But after slipping 65 seconds on Quintana and 40 seconds on Froome, the GC gaps on the Colombian and Briton and even perhaps Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Esteban Chaves (Orica-Bike Exchange), both ahead of him at Covadonga, look increasingly unreachable.
After 10 days racing, Contador is now 2:54 down on Quintana and he recognised that both in terms of strength and strategy, the Lagos de Covadonga had proved a climb too far.
“The climb was very long for me,” Contador said. “I tried to hold on and not lose too much time, but for one reason or another the differences became enormous. Now the most important thing is to keep on trying to recover from my injuries.”
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