A few years ago the now defunct magazine Cycle Sport published a feature on Erik Zabel's personal bike-and-memorabilia 'museum'. It turned out that over a 10-year career – which would extend until 2008 – Zabel had built up a collection of close-on everything he'd ever won or worn as a pro, from the hot spot sprints maillot in a minor stage race like the Vuelta a Murcia to his multiple points jerseys in the Tour de France.
Almost all his bikes were there, too, neatly lined up in rows, together with bidons, shorts and jerseys. It felt like everything a squad could need, barring a team car or two, was there. The whole collection took up so much space, Zabel explained, that he ended up buying the basement in another house near his home in Unna, Germany to hold it all.
Travel west 1,500 kilometres or so into central Spain, and if you walk downstairs to the basement of another house belonging to another great of the sport - Alberto Contador - you'll find that he, too, has created his own private collection of cycling memorabilia from his career.
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But whereas Zabel's basement felt almost like a gigantic walk-in store cupboard there was so much stuff jammed in there, Contador's underground bike realm is a much more stylish affair.
When Contador flicks the switch on the dark, windowless cellar, a vast, single room which stretches almost the length and breadth of the entire house, the light blazes from the polished forms of a dozen or so key bikes from Contador's career, placed around a central, circular platform. Beyond that, a further 10 bikes are interspaced on either side of the room, in front of a wall-high photo of Contador winning in the 2012 Vuelta a España at Fuente De, arms raised aloft, yelling with joy in what was arguably his most emotionally charged Grand Tour stage victory.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/alberto-contadors-personal-bike-collection-exclusive-gallery
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