"My idol would be Tadej Pogacar" - Alberto Contador talks idol, Juan Ayuso and 2024 Tour de France

Alberto Contador has been riding around Portugal these days promoting the bicycle brand of which he is co-founder, Aurum. He's given an interview where he reveals who his idol in the sport is.

In conversation with TopCycling, the "Pistolero" took a look back at the 2023 World Tour peloton, talked about the current state of cycling in Spain, didn't shy away from talking about a dream and who his idol would be if he were a kid today.

"This has been a year dominated by Jumbo-Visma, I don't think anyone doubts that. A team that wins three Grand Tours doesn't do it by chance. It's something that's achieved through hard work, commitment and the utmost dedication," he began.

"In the Vuelta there was a bit of what we now call modern cycling. A team has two leaders at the start and a third one comes along unexpectedly. I can understand what must have been going through the minds of Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingeggard. Especially Roglic, who prepared for months, had a tremendous diet, he wanted to make history and win his fourth Vuelta a Espana. Jonas Vingeggard wanted to do the double, Tour and Vuelta. However, Sepp Kuss was leading the race and at a certain point the team forced them not to attack the lead, because the cycling fans felt a dislike for what they were doing to him, attacking him. The team's popularity was bad because of what they were doing to Kuss."

"The Tour is the Tour. Vingeggard was stronger. Pogacar got there from an injury and also because he didn't prepare for the Tour properly. I think that in the future, and when I say the future I mean 2024, Pogacar has already told me that he's going to focus his preparation on the Tour de France. And that's a good thing. But it's the cycling fans who love to see the best riders on the road who will lose out. With Pogacar concentrating on the Tour, there will be many races he won't be racing, as he has done in recent years. Maybe he'll do a Flanders and one or two other races, but don't expect to see him in many races, that's for sure."

On the departure of the winner of the Giro d'Italia, Roglic, Contador says: "He went to Bora because they still have at least two more years at the highest level ahead of them and he hasn't given up on his dream, the Tour de France. At Jumbo it would have been impossible."

And what analysis can you make of Spanish cycling? "In Spain we have Carlos Rodriguez, who finished 4th in the Tour de France, Enric Mas and Juan Ayuso who give us guarantees. They give us certain guarantees that we'll be able to fight for podiums in Grand Tours, so I think we can only say that we're happy. You see, Italy and France, countries with very strong cycling traditions, don't have any riders capable or able to win a Grand Tour or even take podiums."

"Ayuso is one of those cyclists who only thinks about winning, he thinks like a champion and he recently made it clear that he wants to do the Tour de France in 2024. I like riders like that, with the ambition to win. He's raced two Vueltas and now he wants a bigger challenge. But for him to be able to take on this challenge, he'll have to be very physically fit and, above all, bear in mind that it's extremely important to know the route well."

It was already a long conversation, but there were still some curiosities that we needed to uncover. Contador's great dream was one of them. "To win three Grand Tours in the same year," he said. "After my excellent year in 2014, I thought... next year. I'm going to try. I won the Tour of Italy in 2015 but I ended up devastated. Astana had a very strong team and I wore myself out a lot, when I got to the Tour de France I wasn't well and I gave up the dream," he said. "If I'd had a great team, all I'd have had to do was concentrate on working on the ITTs and the mountain finishes, I wouldn't have had to start 40 or 50 km from the finish line, I could have taken it easy until the end. If that had happened, I might have had a chance."

Asked to name a cyclist who would be his idol if he were a kid today, Alberto doesn't hesitate: "Pogacar. My idol would be Tadej Pogacar. What an incredible racer. He's one of a kind. He can win any race he takes part in, whether it's a Classic, Grand Tour or modest race. There's no other rider in the world who can do it."

Article written by Carlos Silva.

Article written by Carlos Silva