Former Tour de France winner and cycling commentator Pedro Delgado believes that with Alberto Contador’s imminent retirement, the end of Spain’s “golden era” of cycling is fast approaching.
“Alberto will leave a big gap, that’s for sure,” Delgado told Cyclingnews, before quickly turning his thoughts to the consequences of the Trek-Segafredo rider's retirement next month for the sport in Spain.
“Everybody in Spain is waiting to see what Mikel Landa can do as a team leader, so that gap is, looking towards the future, a relative one. But Contador also forms part of a “golden age” of cycling in Spain, which started off in the era of Miguel Indurain and myself, then it had Alberto for the Grand Tours – and let’s not forget Carlos Sastre, either.
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“What made that golden age even greater for Spain was the way it was rounded out by the riders who were or are great Classics riders as well, like Oscar Freire and Joaquim Rodriguez or Samuel Sánchez and Alejandro Valverde.”
Yet that generation is increasingly limited in number. “Some have already left the sport, others are moving towards leaving,” Delgado said. “But all in all, Contador’s retirement forms part of the end of that ‘golden age of cycling.’”
The full background to Contador’s decision to quit at the end of this season has yet to be resolved. Winner of the Giro d’Italia in 2015, Contador targeted the Tour de France in each of the past two seasons, but was forced to abandon last year and could only manage ninth overall this time around.
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