When Alberto Contador entered the Tour of the Basque Country, the most recent leg of the World Tour, he did so with the intention to emerge victorious but after six days and 800 km, questions are emerging whether the Saxo Tinkoff leader is too fatigued for the coming up Ardennes Classics or not.

Cantador participated in the Klasika Primavera de Amorebieta (one day) only after finishing fifth overall at the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco the previous day and though he inched towards victory following the attack of final climb he finished at the third position. The winner’s jersey was taken home by Rui Costa (Movistar). So, Contador has had a very busy start to the season and this has already started taking a toll on the rider’s body.

After his 1.1 race in Spain, Cantador said, “My legs are burdened and my body is fatigued. However, though we could not win, it was a lot of fun”.

Talking about his performance at the Klasika Primavera de Amorebieta, he said it was only Beñat Intxausti and he on the last climb after his attack and it was a pity that others caught up with only 25 meters left to go and he could only achieve the third place.

Though the Spaniard is never known to participate in a race for mere training or to find his rhythm, his schedule for the 2013 has left people thinking whether or not should he take some rest ahead of the key events like La Fleche Wallonne, Liege Bastonge Liege and the Amstel Gold.

Contador has not yet won at the Ardennes Classics and his best result was the third place that he managed to achieve at the La Fleche Wallonne in 2010 but he has found a place in the provisional start list for both Fleche and Liege.

Now it is to be seen whether he is able to bounce back from his state of tiredness or not.

Two times Tour de France champion, Alberto Contador shared his view over the Armstrong drug abuse confession, terming it a “bleak day for cycling” but expressed his utmost faith over the future of the sport despite its tattered condition at present.  Contador, in his thirties now had lost his third championship title in the year 2010 owing to the presence of performance enhancing drug, Clenbuterol that had been found in his blood. According to him, the confessions, despite being utmost damaging for the sport and anybody related to it, at least provides an opportunity to close any portal that might tarnish it any further and move on to prove its glory once more.

He said that it’s imperative for all to forget that past decade and the incidents that marred the face of cycling and move ahead and look forward to “what tomorrow holds”. In his interview he also informed that nothing, that had been admitted by Lance Armstrong had him, or for that matter anybody, surprised at the least.

The Spanish cyclist started off with his routine last August and went on to winning the Vuelta a Espana. Contador also stressed on to something that has been shoved under the curtain for long time now, he highlighted the fact that the medical tests are yet to be standardized in a high performance sport like that of cycling. The lapses have resulted the sport into innumerable incidents amounting to sheer face lose. Despite his hopeful tone regarding the future of the sport, his voice still ringed of despair when he started about the inadequate testing procedures and facilities.

Contador had won the coveted Tour de France in the years 2007 and 2009 and as he spoke to the reporters, he also mentioned his preparations for the Tour de San Luis in Argentina.

Professional cyclist Alberto Contador is currently working on his regime to prepare for the Tour de San Luis which is being held in Argentina this year. The Tour de San Luis started on 21^st January 2013 and it’ll go on till 27^th January 2013. He is a part of the Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank. Alberto, along with his teammates, Jesus Hernandez, Sergio Paulinho, Niki Sorensen, Benjamin Noval, and Bruno Pires went to Argentina earlier in January to seek out and understand the place and start their practice in the area as a warm up practice regime.

They said that they have a very strict training session prepared in mind and that’s why they wanted to arrive early and start training there itself. Alberto Contador was banned for a few seasons as he was caught in a doping test but he made his comeback, clean, in the Vuelta-a- Espana. In 2012 and he even won it.  That helped him gain back his confidence in the sport. He is also considered to be the best climbing specialist in this field. He and his teammates said that everyone is very helpful and friendly in Argentina and they are happy and inspired by the enthusiasms of the supporters and other teams in this season’s Tour de San Luis.

Alberto also said that he is looking forward to his other races after the Tour de San Luis. He is all set to be a part of the Tour of Oman which is going to be held from 11^th to 16^th of February in 2013. March is also a busy month for him as he will be talking part in the Tirreno-Adriatico and Crieterium International which are going to be scheduled somewhere from 6^th March to 24^th March in 2013. Alberto has also shown his desire to win the Tour de France this year.

Alberto Contador has known well how it feels to be banned due to doping and has clearly stated that proper measures should be taken so that the innocent are not framed and the guilty ones are let off. He strongly feels that over past few years the spirit of the sport has been tainted due to these doping cyclists and many innocent have been thrown behind bars. Pulling in the context of Lance Armstrong, he has also pointed out that Armstrong had been dodging UCI and WADA’s norms and winning as many as seven Tour de France overall wins and has bagged many other titles for so many years until 2012.

It was not before 2012 that USADA went on for a thorough investigation and a 1000 page report was published along with the 26 cyclists testifying for the case and finally Lance was stripped of the titles. Not only had he, Alberto Contador also mentioned there were 11 other like Armstrong who engaged in such activities. They are his former teammates include, Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie  and Jonathan Vaughters.

On having questioned about his suspension Alberto Contador said, “I worked according to the regulations and they said that the victory is not mine, it’s an injustice,” Contador defended himself saying that he had consumed a beef the night before the Tour which may have been contaminated and the test results came unfortunately positive about traces of clenbuterol in his system he said. He missed the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia 2012 but won the Vuelta a Espana. The best cyclist of Peloton is on a mission to make up for the loss at the Tour de France 2013.