"I had no choice but to accept" - Alberto Contador reveals he has been forced to race Tour de France with a 'slower' bike

Alberto Contador is one of the most renowned commentators of the international cycling scene. The former Giro, Tour and Vuelta winner is a Eurosport reference and usually tells 'little stories' that liven up the long transmissions of the two-wheeled sport. On a recent podcast appearance, he has shared a surprising one.

In a recent interview on the podcast 'Fred's Cycling Obsession', the Madrid-born rider talked about some problems he had with bike brands during his career:

"I've had my run-ins with some bike brands. I'm not going to mention which one, but I remember before the Tour we'd get the new model, we'd test it, and I'd tell them, 'Hey, this doesn't work well, it's not fast'"

The Pinteño, without giving it's name, explains in detail the surreal story with the new bike he was required to use: "I noticed that the performance was worse than the previous year's bike, and the answer they gave me from the brand was something like: 'Alberto, this model is designed differently, now all the wiring goes inside, while in the previous one it was external...' And I replied: 'Yes, it will be more aesthetic or modern, but the bike goes slower'. Then they literally told me: 'We are aware, but you have to compete with it'".

The story is tremendous and the good Contador explained that, while he was 'killing himself' to get small improvements, he was now forced to race with a slower bike:

"I didn't understand how they expected me to go out racing on a bike that they knew was underperforming, when I was taking care of every little detail. I took great pains to tape up the holes in the helmet to improve aerodynamics, to tape the bibs so they would offer less wind resistance, I even went so far as to drill holes in the soles of my shoes to make them lighter... And then they put me on a bike that was clearly slower."

'Victory' in the Giro and 'defeat' in the Tour: "For the Giro d'Italia I was allowed to use the previous model, even though the new one was already on the market. But when it came to the Tour, they told me 'either you race with the new model or your personal contract and the team's contract with the brand are cancelled'. And I had no choice but to accept."

This leads us to know that this was either in 2011 or 2015, with the Saxo Bank team. In both years he won the Corsa Rosa and then went on to finish fifth at he Tour de France, although the first time he did so his results were nullified.