<figure ><img title="Cycling: 98th Tour of Italy 2015 / Stage 20" src="http://cdn.velonews.competitor.com/files/2015/05/20155023-270180-320x213.jpg"/><p>Alberto Contador had to ride up the dirt roads of the Colle delle Finestre by himself, but he managed to limit the damage done by his rivals and hold on to his position as race leader. Photo: Tim De Waele | <a href="http://www.tdwsport.com" target="_blank">TDWsport.com</a></p></figure><p>SESTRIERE, Italy (VN) — Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) stumbled just once on his stroll to another grand tour win in the Giro d’Italia. Saturday, one day before the conclusion of the race in Milan, he was unable to respond to his rivals’ attacks on the Colle delle Finestre.</p>
<p>Instead of hitching on to the wheels of his opponents or shooting away from them as he has done in the last 19 days, an isolated Contador kept riding at his own pace in the race leader’s pink jersey. Rivals Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa (both of Astana), second and third overall, rode clear with several other GC names on the slopes of the day’s penultimate climb. Contador topped the Finestre 1:28 minutes behind.</p>
<p>However, on the descent that followed and then the short climb to the stage 20 finish at the Sestriere ski station, Contador appeared cool and calm, the rider who had already won six grand tours. He closed out the last tricky stage of the Giro 2:25 behind Aru and kept his overall lead by a comfortable 2:02.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t a hunger knock,” he said in a press conference.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure. My weight this morning was low in respect to yesterday. Maybe I didn’t eat as much as I should have last night. Maybe that was my problem, not a hunger knock.”</p>
<p>Contador often responds to questions with “bueno” ahead of his answer, but today briefly appeared “no bueno” for him. If a crisis had hit hard, he might have lost every second of the 4:37 cushion that he had begun the day with.</p>
<p>“I always said, the race is not over until Milan,” Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Steven De Jongh explained when he arrived at the team bus.</p>
<p>“Hunger flat? I don’t know, when we asked if you want a bidon, or a gel, he said, ‘No, I’m OK.’ He still had gels and drinks with him.”</p>
<p>Contador momentarily looked unlike the rider that rode into the pink jersey at the Abetone ski resort on day five, or the rider that destroyed the peloton on the Mortirolo on Tuesday. Momentarily.</p>
<p>The Giro quickly returned to its expected script: “El Pistolero” or “The Gunslinger” handles inexperienced rivals en route to seventh grand tour win.</p>
<p>“I had to keep my eyes on my rivals, I had to analyze my situation,” Contador added.</p>
<p>“I knew that I had a good cushion. I knew the final kilometers and I kept going well.”</p>
<p>All that remains between Contador and a seventh grand tour title is a 185-kilometer flat stage to Milan on Sunday. Of course, the sixth stage in southern Tuscany was also flat, and that one proved to be among the trickiest days in the Giro for Contador when he fell as the pace picked up near the stage finish, dislocating his left shoulder and putting his Giro in doubt. Most, however, expect that he will ride to another win tomorrow and turn his focus to the Tour de France double.</p>
<p>Contador counting the 2015 Giro title as number three and not number two could be a talking point in Milan: Saturday, he said that this Giro makes his third after 2008 and 2011, ignoring the anti-doping positive in the 2010 Tour de France and the ensuing suspension that stripped the 2010 Tour and the 2011 Giro victories from his palmares. It seemed to be the only sour moment in another grand tour win for Contador.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/05/news/contador-shows-weakness-but-giro-win-in-sight_372233">Contadorshows weakness, but Giro win in sight</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com">VeloNews.com</a>.</p>
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<p>Instead of hitching on to the wheels of his opponents or shooting away from them as he has done in the last 19 days, an isolated Contador kept riding at his own pace in the race leader’s pink jersey. Rivals Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa (both of Astana), second and third overall, rode clear with several other GC names on the slopes of the day’s penultimate climb. Contador topped the Finestre 1:28 minutes behind.</p>
<p>However, on the descent that followed and then the short climb to the stage 20 finish at the Sestriere ski station, Contador appeared cool and calm, the rider who had already won six grand tours. He closed out the last tricky stage of the Giro 2:25 behind Aru and kept his overall lead by a comfortable 2:02.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t a hunger knock,” he said in a press conference.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure. My weight this morning was low in respect to yesterday. Maybe I didn’t eat as much as I should have last night. Maybe that was my problem, not a hunger knock.”</p>
<p>Contador often responds to questions with “bueno” ahead of his answer, but today briefly appeared “no bueno” for him. If a crisis had hit hard, he might have lost every second of the 4:37 cushion that he had begun the day with.</p>
<p>“I always said, the race is not over until Milan,” Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Steven De Jongh explained when he arrived at the team bus.</p>
<p>“Hunger flat? I don’t know, when we asked if you want a bidon, or a gel, he said, ‘No, I’m OK.’ He still had gels and drinks with him.”</p>
<p>Contador momentarily looked unlike the rider that rode into the pink jersey at the Abetone ski resort on day five, or the rider that destroyed the peloton on the Mortirolo on Tuesday. Momentarily.</p>
<p>The Giro quickly returned to its expected script: “El Pistolero” or “The Gunslinger” handles inexperienced rivals en route to seventh grand tour win.</p>
<p>“I had to keep my eyes on my rivals, I had to analyze my situation,” Contador added.</p>
<p>“I knew that I had a good cushion. I knew the final kilometers and I kept going well.”</p>
<p>All that remains between Contador and a seventh grand tour title is a 185-kilometer flat stage to Milan on Sunday. Of course, the sixth stage in southern Tuscany was also flat, and that one proved to be among the trickiest days in the Giro for Contador when he fell as the pace picked up near the stage finish, dislocating his left shoulder and putting his Giro in doubt. Most, however, expect that he will ride to another win tomorrow and turn his focus to the Tour de France double.</p>
<p>Contador counting the 2015 Giro title as number three and not number two could be a talking point in Milan: Saturday, he said that this Giro makes his third after 2008 and 2011, ignoring the anti-doping positive in the 2010 Tour de France and the ensuing suspension that stripped the 2010 Tour and the 2011 Giro victories from his palmares. It seemed to be the only sour moment in another grand tour win for Contador.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/05/news/contador-shows-weakness-but-giro-win-in-sight_372233">Contadorshows weakness, but Giro win in sight</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com">VeloNews.com</a>.</p>
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