JOIN USAlberto Contador has promised a more exciting Tour de France this year after Bradley Wiggins’ Team Sky dominated all the way to the Champs-Elysees in the 2012 edition.
Double champion Contador of Spain, back in the race after a one-year hiatus because of a doping suspension, is unlikely to settle for second against Team Sky leader Chris Froome, the overwhelming favourite.
“We are not the only two actors in this film,” Contador, who won the Tour in 2007 and 2009, told a packed news conference at his team hotel on Thursday. “There will be more action than last year.”
Last year, Wiggins’ rivals seemed to quickly abandon hope of winning the Tour as the Briton dominated the time trials and relied on Team Sky’s conservative tactics in the mountains. Wiggins is out of the race, which starts on Saturday, for health reasons but Team Sky directors are likely to use the same methods to help Froome to reach Paris with the yellow jersey.
Australian Michael Rogers, who was Team Sky’s road captain last year but has switched to Contador’s Team Saxo-Tinkoff this season, knows a thing or two about the British outfit’s way of operating.
‘More advanced’
“I think Sky are more advanced in training, in sports science -- they know exactly what’s required from domestiques to do the job properly in the last week, they know so much more about the internals of the sport, in my opinion, than any other team,” he told reporters.
“I think Alberto uses his emotions in the races, whereas I think Chris is very calculated and Brad was very calculated last year. (At Team Sky) you know what you’re capable of and you don’t go outside of that.”
Contador, instead, is a hot-blooded racer who is able to turn around desperate situations.
In last year’s Vuelta, he launched a devastating surprise attack in the 17th stage to snatch the overall lead from fellow Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez.