"I had no choice but to accept" - Alberto Contador reveals he has been forced to race Tour de France with a 'slower' bike
CyclingThursday, 17 April 2025 at 09:27
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:
Read also
"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.
Read also
claps 15visitors 10
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
May 12, 11:09
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Gilbert was an amazing racer, 4 of the 5 monuments, and that Ardenne triple in that miracle season of his. And yet, here's Pogacar who was one dumb sprint away from winning the triple this season, just like he was one dumb wrist injury away from doing it a few years ago. What did Pogacar do, to lead to these words? Perhaps it was that he simply defeated the Visma LAB team, and didn't even try to compete hard on the last climb of the race. He didn't give the satisfaction of racing hard, after racing hard. Perhaps that's it, a kind of humiliation while winning?RidesHills16-06-2025
- "to force a one-on-one. We succeeded"... oh yes... a big success, because you were alone (no yates, no gee). Most stupid strategy of the year. At least Isaac is a boy... you a very experimented man (supposedly) .
maria2024202416-06-2025 - Carapaz did what he always does: race against the guys he is with, even when it's against his own interest. He seems like an absolutely lovely guy off the bike, but he hasn't mastered the basic rule of cooperating at the front until everyone's chances have been improved, before attacking repeatedly. Carapaz has done this too many times for this to be on Del Toro.
Barney16-06-2025 - IDT didn't whine about losing the Giro. Carapaz lost it, and hasn't stopped whining.bobo16-06-2025
- Roger was racing tomato farmers ...bobo16-06-2025
- Good to know these guys always have a home on Cycling Up to date to whine and complainCrashjames16-06-2025
- Sadly, some people have a problem with greatnesscaptmike16-06-2025
- Some people have a problem with greatnesscaptmike16-06-2025
- I love this team. A warriors team. Sorry for Kristoff but it's not a TdF suitable for him.maria2024202416-06-2025
- Add up Vingo and Pogi's race days from 2021 to 2025. They are almost the same number. No one says Pog barely races.mobk16-06-2025
I could believe it can make a small difference, but nowhere close to the difference between 1st and 5th place.
Well, one of those years that was less than 4 minutes, which over 86 hours makes less than 0,1% or about 4 seconds per hour. I don’t know about you but when I ride the same bike over the same path on two different days for an hour, I can’t tell if I’m faster or slower unless it’s by a minute, maybe 30 seconds if I really really pay attention, and he was pretty sure about noticing the difference, for me that sounds bigger than 4s/hour.
Yeah well I understand that pros will much sooner notice small differences, and it can bother them.
Sure, but then again, if it’s just their feeling we should remain skeptic;-) Some days I feel really fast and the clock doesn’t back me up, others I feel slow and the clock tells me I’m not. A different pair of sunglasses is enough to change the impression of speed, making you feel you’re closer or further from the ground.
Typical anal Specialized
Possibly Specialized? By 'faster bike' did he mean the one without a motor? The non 'turbo' version?
Anyone know the “gravel” climb in the photo?
I do, Col de Finestre in 2015. Mikel Landa was the first to summit that day.
Thanks :-)
These days you get paid a lot better to suck it up so I guess there are fewer complaints now ;-) Anyway, the faster bike argument these days is about as significant the whiter washing powders, only instruments can “feel” the difference unless a manufacturer makes a major cock-up. There is always one exception though, a rider that’s more “comfortable” on a slightly slower bike will probably be faster than on a faster uncomfortable one in all but the shortest time trials, the mental fatigue of discomfort is often ignored, in fact many mental tweaks have probably not been integrated yet, the most interesting topic of the future will be what will be considered mental doping and what will be considered acceptable, anyone?
2011 won by wheel sucker Cadel Evans and 2015 Chris Frome with Team Sky.
The above photo was not from the Tour.
Why the random and unnecessary disrespect to Cadel? At least he didn't cheat like Contador.
I mean the year before cables were external aspect should help narrow down the options as that can only be 1 year if you look at every bike it's the year cables disappeared.
I'm pretty sure that it was 2011, when he as on the Saxo Bank team, and the bikes in question are the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL3 and SL4.
It looks like either year, they were sponsored by Specialized. Good to know.