Alberto Contador has confirmed that he will call time on his career at the end of the season. In an Instagram video, Contador said that he would ride the Vuelta a Espana later this month and confirmed that the Spanish Grand Tour will be the last race of his career.
“Hi all, I would like to inform you about two things. The first one is that I will ride the next Vuelta a Espana from August 19 and the second is that it will be my last race as a professional cyclist,” Contador said. “I say this happy, without sadness. It’s a decision that I have thought about very well and I don’t think that there is a better farewell than in a home race in my own country. I am sure they will be three great weeks, enjoying all your support and I’m looking forward to it.”
Contador had been in talks with Trek-Segafredo since the end of the Tour de France about extending his term with the team by a year. He had previously hinted at his intentions to ride on into 2018, focusing on the Giro d’Italia rather than the Tour de France. However, the delay in any announcement regarding his future put that into question. His decision to retire comes after a disappointing Tour de France where he finished ninth overall almost nine minutes behind winner Chris Froome (Team Sky).
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The 34-year-old Contador turned professional with the Once-Eroski team in 2003 and spent four seasons with them. In his second year as a professional, after suffering headaches for several days, he crashed during a stage of the Vuelta a Asturias before going into convulsions. He was diagnosed with a cerebral cavernoma, which required surgery. It would be several months before he could ride again, but eight months after the operation he won a stage of the 2005 Tour Down Under.
In 2007, Contador moved to the Discovery Channel squad, where he claimed his first Grand Tour title at the Tour de France. He moved into yellow after race leader Michael Rasmussen was sent home for a whereabouts violation ahead of stage 17, and eventually beat Cadel Evans by 23 seconds to take the overall title. Discovery Channel shut up shop at the end of the season and Contador moved over to Astana.
That move would prevent him from defending his Tour de France title with the race organiser ASO barring the Kazakhstani team from all their races due to past doping violations. Instead, he went to the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana for the first time and won each race.
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