Alberto Contador considered briefly returning to racing in 2020: "I said to myself: maybe you should go for the Giro. Just one more time"
Cycling
Alberto Contador retired in 2017 as one of the best Spanish cyclists of all time. Winner of seven Grand Tours and a good number of one-week races and important stages, he is remembered for winning on the Angliru on his penultimate day of competition as a professional.
Despite having achieved important accomplishments, the Pinto rider confessed that he considered returning to racing after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Giro d'Italia was contested at another point in the season and he considered returning only to compete once again for the maglia rosa.
In the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast, the Spaniard talks about his itching: "I saw that the Giro d'Italia changed dates. I said to myself, Alberto, maybe you should go for the Giro. Only the Giro," says a then 37-year-old Contador.
"I spoke to friends and they were like: Alberto, calm down. You've had a nice end to your career. Stay home with your family and ride your bike just for fun. And not for competition."
He also took the opportunity to talk about his life after cycling. Nowadays he's still connected to the sport he loves as a commentator for Eurosport: "I don't cycle much anymore, but in the first two years after I retired I did. At that time, it was sometimes difficult to watch TV. In 2017 I was still achieving records on TrainingPeaks. My 5-minute and 10-minute values were never better."
"When you retire you still have two years when you ride alone and you still have a lot of power in your legs. You don't feel tired, because you ride for a day and then you take two days off. When you ride again, your legs are full of power again. But I stopped at a good time. I was 34 years old, but it was a good ending. I am happy with the decisions I made."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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